2012 Relay For Life Individual Fundraising Program Parameters

(Program Outline, Resources & Process)

In 2010-2011, the East Central Division, along with all other Divisions in the country, agreed to a standardized individual incentive program now known as the Individual Fundraising Club (IFC) - where we have the ability to market and promote the program on a grand scale. The fundraising levels and offerings are consistent nationwide – which allows Relayers across the country to feel united as one in the fight against cancer.

Program Outline:The goal of the IFC program is to recognize Relay For Life team members (individuals) by validating their fundraising efforts while increasing satisfaction. Our ultimate goal is to retain team members while motivating them to achieve higher fundraising goals to meet the overall event’s income goals.

As staff it is our responsibility to motivate and thank volunteers for their commitment to fundraise on behalf of the Society . We will utilize the IFC program using these objectives:

Motivate – Data shows that the use of an incentive program helps to encourage and motivate volunteers to reach larger fundraising levels.

Recognize & Reward– Incentives are gifts and a means to recognize all volunteers and their fundraising efforts. It also helps us as it promotes the American Cancer Society by putting our brand out into the communities…. thus raising awareness of Relay For Life!

Retain – Volunteers are not expected to return to Relay each year; however, the IFC program provides an outlet for the Society to extend some form of recognition and show of appreciation – this incentive program is one strategy to do just that!

Tools & Resources:To assist in promoting the IFC program to your Relay events, the Division will provide the following:

1. Poster board of the IFC flyer to each Relay For Life Staff Partner;2. Each event will receive courtesy flyers: 100 for Community/200 for College/All Youth events;3. Each Region will be provided 1 free sample kit for sharing within the Region – provided to Relay

Manager.4. IFC flyers will be posted on both RFL.org and Convio websites; and5. Encouragement emails will be set up for each event to schedule to send to RFL participants.

Attached are the IFC flyers, as well as the RFL Team Fundraiser Collection Form that assists team captains with allocating team fundraising donations down to their participants. Please remember, only funds allocated down to the participant level will be credited towards incentives. Estimated revenue at the Team level is at the discretion of the team via the Team Captain(s), NOT a placeholder for funds to be split at a later time.

Process & Strategy:The East Central Division IFC program will be managed by two vendors for the 2012 Relay season:

Peter Kleine Company – Community Events Relay Gear/Halo – College/Youth Events

Purpose of the Individual Fundraising Club Program with combined email strategy:1. To increase total Relay For Life income by encouraging Relay participants all throughout the year

and recognize them for all their fundraising efforts.2. To ensure consistent recognition nationwide, while maintaining budgetary controls for a

standardized program.3. To provide a tool for retention and recruitment for Relay For Life events.

All Relay For Life events will participate in the program and the expense of the incentive items will be allocated to the Division budget. It will be incumbent of the Relay staff to:

1. Promote the program ongoing throughout the year to all volunteers to complement the email campaign strategy;

2. Collect data and record to the participant record in a timely manner throughout the Relay season, this includes: Online data (PA run imports weekly) Offline data – donations turned in offline should be recorded, batched with Shared Services

weekly and its revenue entered into TES or EMT weekly as estimated revenue.

Email Strategy:

COMMUNITY: There will be a series of three (3) emails sent from Peter Kleine Company directly to each event’s Relay participants (RFLFundraisingClubs@pkcomp.com). The first will introduce the program and will be a standard email to all previous year Relay participants. The remaining 2 will be general in nature, promoting the IFC program and encouraging participants to continue with their fundraising efforts, pre-event, and turn in their donations for credit towards their incentive prize. The final, post-event email will serve as the direct-to-participant redemption email and will include a Certificate# and website for participant to redeem prize. (Participants with no email addresses in EMT/TES will receive their Certificate# and website information via mail.)

COLLEGE/YOUTH: There will be a series of three (3) emails sent from Relay Gear/Halo directly to each event’s Relay participants. The first will introduce the program and will be a standard email to all previous year Relay participants. The remaining 2 will be general in nature, promoting the IFC program and encouraging participants to continue with their fundraising efforts, pre-event, and turn in their donations for credit towards their incentive prize. The final, post-event email will serve as the direct-to-participant redemption email and will include a Certificate# and website for participant to redeem prize. (Participants with no email addresses in EMT/TES will receive their Certificate# and website information via mail.)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

What this means for you (Relay Staff Partner & Admin)?The email to each Relay participant will be sent out according to the Email Timeline Schedule, found on The Link (to be provided in an upcoming email. Based on the date of your Relay event, it will include the following:

The dates that our vendors will send the 3 marketing emails that introduce and promote the IFC program to encourage fundraising efforts; The date National will pull your event’s data (2 weeks post-event); The date Certificate Codes expire for your event.

When will each Relay participant receive their Certificate?You will have 14 days post- event to ensure your data is accurate and you have allocated the monies correctly. Be sure the data:

Includes any and all donations that were turned in as Team Money that should be distributed/allocated by participants;

Includes all offline donations turned in day of event. (Note: Program is designed to encourage donations being turned in prior to and including day of event and therefore post-event donations do not count towards incentive items.)

Only participants with ($250+ Community/$175+ College/Youth) fundraising totals will be sent to vendor. Vendor will send Certificates with codes within 1 week following date pull.

How many emails will my Relay participants receive throughout the year?Relay participants will receive 4 emails (3 marketing/1 redemption) beginning in January and throughout their Relay season. The final email will include a Certificate with a unique code to redeem their incentive prize - the url to the vendor’s website will be in the included in the email. Participants have 45 days from the date of their Relay to redeem their prize or their Certificate expires – see Email Timeline which includes certificate expiration date. We ask that anytime you promote the program to volunteers in any form of communication, such as: email, newsletters, google calendar, etc – that you include your event’s certificate expiration date.

How will Relay volunteers that do not have email addresses receive their Incentive?It is critical that email addresses are legibly captured through the offline registration process for entry into TES/EMT. All participants who register offline and do not provide an email address will receive a hard-copy Certificate redemption letter instead directly from vendor – which will include the website and/or toll-free#, along with Certificate# to redeem prize.

Will there be any exceptions for inaccurate data?Yes, however, on a very limited basis. Exception as defined by Webster Dictionary: an instance or case not conforming to the general rule. We are providing you this vital information well in advance of any Relay event, thus the reason behind your ongoing promotion and communication with your Relay participants. When donations are turned in offline, it’s important for you and/or your Accounting/Registration Chair to ensure exactly how the donations should be entered in the database for proper credit towards participant’s incentive awards. Specifically, team fundraising donations turned in should include the Team Fundraising Collection Sheet to assist with the allocation credit for individuals who participated in the team fundraiser.

What is the process for requesting an exception?You will provide the necessary information to your immediate supervisor on a weekly schedule and include the following: Lawson Staff Partner Team Name Participant First/Last Name Current Level New Level Amount Raised Reason for exception request

Your Regional Relay Manager will work with your immediate supervisor to obtain your exception requests. Attached please find specific instructions and the process for requesting incentive exceptions:

Can I direct my Relay participant to contact vendor directly?Yes and No. Yes, if the Relay participant does not have internet, they may contact vendor’s toll-free# indicated on their Certificate to redeem their prize. No, if the Certificate is expired or the Certificate# is incorrect due to data errors – the Relay Manager is included by name in each email sent out by vendor and therefore should be the go-to to provide for follow-up.