Create a VIDEO

One awesome way to raise awareness: Create your own Walk to Cure Diabetes video!

A Walk video will be sure to catch peoples’ attention. Whether you make it funny, informative, or heartwarming, this technique gives you a chance to use your creativity and raise awareness for your team. Make sure to inform your viewers’ on what they can do to help JDRF and your Walk team.

You can create a photo slideshow along with a script or of course, you can grab your video camera or Smartphone and record a skit for everyone to enjoy! Once you have your finished product, upload it to YouTube and other social media accounts. You can copy the YouTube link to your video and e-mail it to friends, family and co-workers. It’s also really easy to upload videos to Facebook.

Hold a Contest!

For a great way to raise funds, think about holding a contest. Incentive prizes will get your network motivated to help out. Try to get a small item or gift card donated to your team for use during a Team contest! Make sure to create a professional letter of request to give to the business when you ask for the donation.

It’s important to set goals for your Team so that you have something to strive for. Start out with a simple goal. Ex. “I want to increase my amount of walkers by 2 people by the end of the month” or “We want to increase team fundraising by $50 in the next two weeks”. Once you’ve reached that goal, create another!

Thank you for reading! I hope you found these ideas appealing. Feel free to comment with what has worked for your team! Thanks again to everyone who has registered so far for this year’s Walk, it really is going to be “The Greatest Walk on Earth” and we couldn’t do any of this without your help.

Jackie

So, you’ve stepped up and taken on the role of “team captain,”  now what? The title can be a little overwhelming if you haven’t been a captain before, but don’t worry, we at JDRF are here to help!

JDRF has a special event planned for all of our team captains where you’ll have the opportunity to meet other captains, receive fundraising and recruiting  tips during a fun-filled coaching session, and collect printed materials to take back to your team!

Team captains, come out and join JDRF on February 7th at the UNF University Center for an official Team Captain Kick-off Luncheon! The event will be from noon to 1:30 p.m. RSVP your attendance to Pwilliams@jdrf.org.

We are lucky to have Celebrity Emcees, Mike and Tera Barz from Action News, joining us for the event.  We’ll also have circus entertainment and a world record setting juggler in attendance. You won’t want to miss out on the fun as it’s the best way to get energized for “The Greatest Walk on Earth!”

To all of our team captains and walkers, thank you for your hard work and support! Keep it up!

Jackie

It’s time for another Walk to Cure Diabetes competition!  Walkers, if you raise $100 or more by January 31st (12 days left!), you will be in the running to win a Blaine Gabbert autographed football!  Yes, I said a Blaine Gabbert autographed football! Simply ask 10 people to support JDRF by donating $10 each and you’ll meet your initial goal! If you haven’t registered yet for the Walk, please do so now at walk.jdrf.org! If you have already registered, log back into your account at walk.jdrf.org and start fundraising today!

I’ve come across so many fundraising tips that the JDRF team has collected from various successful Walk teams and wanted to share them with you!

Fun and easy ways to raise money for your team:
•    Sell pizza or host a bake sale, yummy!
•    Have some fun! Host a benefit party and kindly recommend that your guests donate to your walk team.
•    Go Home Early Campaign- Sell coupons to allow employees to leave work an hour early.
•    Make a fun video encouraging people to donate.
•    Use your social media skills! Start a campaign on Facebook or Twitter!
•    Make it personal! Write letters to family, friends and local businesses.
•    Sell blue rubber JDRF bracelets. http://tinyurl.com/d7daf9d
•     Create and sell Valentine’s Grams, St. Patty Grams.
•    Host an at-home promotional party (ex. Tupperware, Silpada, Pampered Chef).

These are only a few of the countless ways to add some fun to your fundraising campaign. I couldn’t list them all, so please comment with your favorite fundraising tips and ideas!

Everyone likes to know that their contribution made a difference, so be sure to thank your donors and remind them that their support could save lives and help find a cure for type 1 diabetes.

Don’t worry, I won’t forget my “thank-you!” either, THANK YOU for all of your support!

Jackie

Back in 2011, we started a Walk to Cure Diabetes 2012 early registration contest, which ended on December 31st. Molly and her son Graham from Walk team “UBS” won a brand new Amazon Kindle, kindly donated by TSG Realty. Congrats to them! Thanks to everyone who registered for the Walk! We are so lucky to have your participation!

And now for our next contest! Individual walkers who raise at least $100 by January 31st will be in a drawing to win an authentic NFL football signed by Blaine Gabbert! This football was donated by the Jacksonville Jaguars and we’re so excited to give it out as our next prize! To register and start fundraising, visit walk.jdrf.org!

And now, more about our family event!

When thinking about our Walk to Cure Diabetes 2012 family event, we wanted to plan something fun that went along with our “Greatest Walk on Earth” theme. When we found out that the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus was coming to Jacksonville in January, we were thrilled!

Type 1 families are invited to the circus on Sunday, January 22. We’ll meet up at the Historical Society ahead of time from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for a family Walk kick-off program. After the program, your family will collect circus tickets and food vouchers for the circus afterwards. The circus takes places at 1 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Arena. Come clown around with us! For more information you can email Pam at Pwilliams@jdrf.org. SPACE IS LIMITED!

Thanks for tuning in!

Jackie

With that being said, our first contest has begun! All you have to do is register for the Jacksonville Walk to Cure Diabetes by December 31, 2011 and you will be in the running to win an Amazon Kindle, courtesy of TSG Realty! Visit www.walk.jdrf.org to get started. Ready, set, register!

Did you have a team last year? To make things easy for you, there is an option on the registration website that allows you to “re-create” your team from last year.  The system will re-generate all of your information from last year and will save your contact list, making it easy for you to send out donation requests!

So you can’t have a circus theme without a circus, right? We are in the midst of planning a family circus outing for families on January 21st! We will keep you updated so that you can join in on the fun!

Thank you to everyone who has helped to make this year a success! We can’t wait to kick off 2012 with The Greatest Walk on Earth!

Jackie