Featured Campaign
My goal is to ride my bike (aka The Rig) between my home and work every day in March. My commute...
Campaign Tips & Ideas
“Your campaign is a gift to yourself and a gift to ATC, what could be better??” –Allison MacQueen Felder, 2010 participant
Yes, it’s time to get started. Now that we’re in our fourth year, we’ve seen more than our share of campaign ideas. You can check out the list below for inspiration, peruse last year’s campaigns, or send us an email and we can help you brainstorm!
Getting Started? Here are some questions to ask yourself before starting your campaign: Are you moderately busy, extremely busy, or not really busy?
- If you’re moderately busy, think of a small goal that you can incorporate into your every day life (not using plastic bottles, walking 10 minutes a day at lunch time). Maybe your campaign goal is something you’re already doing, but could use some more motivation to keep going. Maybe it’s a New Year’s resolution that you’ve never been able to keep.
- If you’re extremely busy, think of things that you’re are already doing that you could use some motivation or encouragement in continuing, or something that doesn’t take time (quitting smoking, not getting on the internet after 8 PM).
- If you’re not really busy, brainstorm large goals you’ve always wanted to accomplish, something you’ve never done before that you’re really excited about (learning a new language, running a marathon)!
Are you someone who likes taking big risks, or are you someone who likes to do things in small steps? Pick a goal that is consistent with your way of doing things.
Need some inspiration?
Think about where you are in life right now. Are you trying to get in shape? Enrich your mind? Are you too busy to have time to do anything elaborate? Wherever you are, we promise that there is an idea that will work for you. Look at what people from past years did, and we trust that it will help you think of ideas, or you can even take their idea and do it yourself!
Health and Wellness
Family and Relationships
- Take your kids biking every weekend
- Host dinner parties for friends you don’t see often enough
- Turn off your phone when you get home
Personal Improvement
- Get a life
- Go Green
- Complete that project you’ve been meaning to do (hanging pictures, fixing squeaky doors)
Community Service
No Time At All
Absurd and Bizarre
- Embarrass yourself publicly
- Give up sarcasm
- Avoid making snide remarks about your husband’s Campaign
Creative
- Make new works of art
- Sing the National Anthem at a Giants game!
- Learn how to make watercolor paintings
Intellectual Enrichment
Or, if you’re feeling ambitious, how about 4 goals?
Tips for a successful campaign
- Come to our Launch Party. It’s free, it’ll be fun, and the Campaign Coordinators will be there in the flesh to answer any and all of your questions!
- Cast a wide net. You will be shocked at who donates. Random high school Facebook friends. Coworkers that you thought hated you. Among others.
- Keep your people in the know, but don’t overwhelm them! You know your community better than we do, so you’ll know how best to communicate with them. We’ve found that keeping update emails and Twitter and Facebook posts short and sweet with a fair amount of frequency works well.
- Use incentives for donations. Erica Morse did a great job with this in 2010.
- You can also make your campaign progressive, based on how much money is raised. Here is an example from Rob Gitin’s 2009 campaign.
- Thank people with status updates on Facebook, tag them when you do (use the @ symbol and then their name), and include your campaign URL. In thanking them, you’ll be letting everyone else know about your campaign.
See more social networking tips.