16 Nov 2010 2 Comments

Fundraiser spotlight: Guest post by Lane Phalen, of Mutt Strut 2010

As the annual 2010 Mutt Strut dog parade approached, we enjoyed reading the increasingly excited tweets and updates from TAILS Humane Society. One of the things we noticed was that TAILS used Twitter very well for creating interest and deepening engagement. They also listed regular #FF (Follow Friday) and #WW (Woof Wednesday) shoutouts. We were hooked – dogs dressed up? That sounds like a really fun event – just in time for Halloween, too!  The photos made us smile, and the energy inspired us.

The Mutt Strut is TAILS’ largest online fundraiser: dog owners are encouraged to dress their dogs festively, and create fundraising pages to raise funds for the Mutt Strut. One of the things that TAILS did to expand the fundraiser was to bring in fundraising teams, corporate sponsors, and college students.

Lane Phalen, this year’s top fundraiser, wrote a guest post filled with her passion for TAILS and tips for a successful fundraising experience. Lane is a board member of TAILS and long-time supporter. Her guest post follows.

My dear service dog Beau, along with Firstgiving, enabled me to win the “Me and My Mutt” award from TAILS Humane Society when I raised the most money during the Mutt Strut fundraiser. It was this easy:

First, I told my story: My gorgeous golden retriever, Beau, was rescued from a shelter similar to TAILS. Beau was trained to be my service dog because I’ve been confined to a wheelchair since 1990. Beau rocked my world when he came to me in 1994. He picked up things I dropped (even a dime!), carried a basked filled with mail, grabbed a soda for me out of the fridge and even recycled the can! Because Beau pulled my wheelchair, I was able to have a full life. Beau died in March, 2007, and I became a volunteer for TAILS in his honor. I’m now serving on their Board of Directors and am the PR Committee Chair. (Radar is my service dog since Beau retired.)

I also added a photo to illustrate my story: a photo of Beau and me staring into each other’s eyes. I described the wonderful adoptable dogs at TAILS who have the same sparkle of love in their eyes that Beau had in his.

I emailed my friends and relatives who knew Beau, with a personal appeal: I told them how I gladly work for TAILS and that I’ve kept Beau’s spirit alive by helping dogs (cats & little critters) find Forever Homes. Everyone who knew Beau quickly donated. My sister donated and the company she works for tripled her donation!

Next, I emailed people who didn’t know Beau, but know how dedicated I am to TAILS. I asked them to help me help the pets at TAILS by donating to my page. A few weeks before the Mutt Strut, I emailed people who forgot to donate and reminded them. They quickly did.

I also posted a request on my Facebook page and found more donors that way.
I always emailed my own thank you note to tell donors how their donations helped TAILS. Whenever I was close to reaching my goal, I went into my Firstgiving page and pushed my goal a little higher. People wanted me to reach my goal and in the end, I raised $5 over my goal of $1,250.

When I was told that I won the “Me and my Mutt” Award, I emailed everyone who donated with a note saying, “I won! Thanks to you.” Hopefully, they’ll remember how grateful I am and will support me in next year’s Mutt Strut.

Lane’s tips: post a personal story on your fundraising page, segment your audience with different appeal letters, don’t forget social network appeals, and send personal thank-you notes.

Than came the Mutt Strut. More than 100 walkers and their dogs (many in costumes and many who had been adopted from TAILS) led a small town parade. Puglet marched wearing a bumble-bee costume, a dachshund wore a pink piggy costume, and a Pit Bull mix wore a pink ballerina tutu! A girl dressed as an angel marched with her dog dressed as a little devil.

This year, two sororities from Northern Illinois University, located in the same town as TAILS, joined the fundraising efforts. They brought in 13% more donations this year to TAILS. One sorority, Delta Zeta, won the team fundraising award. They, along with other volunteers and TAILS staff walked adoptable dogs from TAILS in the parade—the dogs loved the walk and attention from the crowd who watched the parade. Many people wanted to adopt on the spot!

In addition to individual and team fundraisers, this year’s Mutt Strut had corporate sponsors from town. Target generously donated money, water bottles, dog costumes and candy to toss to the crowd.

In all, we raised $22,500 to support TAILS. A thanks goes to Firstgiving for making it so easy to set-up pages, offering a secure way to donate, and for informing fundraisers when someone has donated to a page.

TAILS’ Mutt Strut was truly a fun fundraiser and Beau, again, helped me on my Firstgiving page.

by admin in FirstGiving news, Spotlights Tags: , , ,