The Hub November 2014 | Page 26

“Now it seems every organization is waiting to find that one big thing...” Share your most humourous fundraising experience with us! Submit a photo of you participating in the event to The Hub’s Facebook page! For every fundraising photo we receive in November, we’ll donate $5 to the local Toys for Tots campaign Below, left to right: U Windsor Lancers support the ALS walk Hallowoof along the riverfront 26 The HUB - November 2014 Amherstburg Marathon, due to lack of interest. One walk-a-thon that did take place in October was Hallowoof. According to Amanda Orr, one of the coordinators of the event, it was the Humane Society’s 24th walk but only their second themed walk. The charity decided to add a Halloween theme to their walk two years ago to meet an increasing demand from the community to make their walk more family-oriented and unique. “We always have to look at what's going to be viable in the next year and plan for that accordingly,” said Orr. “Right now we have a lot of interest from the community and great media sponsors, so that will probably keep our event going for the next few years.” November will bring one of the area’s most highly anticipated fundraising events of the year, the Crystal Ball Gala. Because some residents have started to view this type of fundraiser as old and uninspired, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has teamed up with the Windsor Regional Hospital Pediatric Metabolic Unit in an effort to increase their target audience. JDRF employee, Nicole Cozad said the partnership has had a positive impact on both parties and allowed them to raise more money through the gala than some of their other fundraisers. “The gala does a great job of raising a lot of funds for both organizations so we're very lucky,” said Cozad. “You just can't wake up one day and raise that much money. It's really forming relationships over years and years of fundraising.” Tips from a fundraising expert Loraine Goddard has worked with many fundraisers during her time at the United Way of Windsor-Essex County. Her experience has taught her more residents should be more cautious when choosing an event to partake in. “I notice that the majority of new donors are saying, ‘I'm willing to give you some money but what am I going to get in return?’ That seems to be the lens which I think is driving the change in terms of how organizations are conducting their fundraisers today,” said Goddard. Goddard went on to describe a time she met a local couple who had just come from a fun run, but had no clue what organization they had supported and whether or not they had made a charitable donation. She believes fewer charities would struggle if more people took the time to research events before attending them.