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How can we replace over $300 million for charity?


In the four months since COVID-19 turned the world upside down, we have seen firsthand the devastating direct effects it has had: loss of life, loss of jobs, shortage of PPE, economic instability, among so many other things. We are now seeing the derivative effects, such as whether or not school should come back in the fall and, come November, how the virus will affect the presidential election and voting in general.

Often overlooked by the loss of revenue teams and leagues are incurring, charitable organizations are missing out on fundraising dollars that are tied to these events to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Additionally, despite the major professional leagues getting the overwhelming majority of the media’s attention, most of these lost donations come from mass-participatory sporting events such as runs, walks and rides. For example, the 2019 TCS New York City Marathon raised over $40 million for their charity partners and, as part of their 50th anniversary, the 2020 event publicly stated its goal to raise $50 million for charity at this year’s race.  

In fact, if you take some of the top marathons in the world — New York, Boston and London — we are talking about $40 million, $39 million and a whopping $83.35 million, respectively, in donations from their 2019 reported events. And, if that is not enough, let’s look to cycling.

Pan Mass Challenge is one of the oldest and most successful mass participatory cycling rides in the world. Founded in 1980 by Billy Star to benefit cancer research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, PMC raised $63 million in 2019 and over $700 million since inception. The annual first weekend in August event will be reimagined as a do-it-yourself campaign that allows riders to ride on their own instead of at the traditional, highly produced event. Obviously this was the right call to make from a public health perspective, but look no further to the fundraising numbers of this year to see the derivative effects COVID-19 is having across charitable organizations. As of July 14, PMC had raised $17,549,103 — a $45.5 million difference from its 2019 totals — with two weeks from when the 2020 event would have been held.

2021 presents a lot of question marks, too. Cycle for Survival, one of fastest growing indoor sporting events in the country, raised just over $40 million in 2020 before its last weekend of events in New York City were canceled in early March. The annual indoor spinning campaign that raises funds for rare cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering usually opens up registration in September for their rides that span the country beginning in January and up until March. With the potential for no vaccine ready until summer of 2021, and a growing fear of a second surge of cases in the fall, events that are planned in the first and second quarters of 2021 such as Cycle for Survival and the Boston Marathon (April) present more questions than answers at this point.

Studying the three of the top running and cycling mass participatory events, based on their 2019 fundraising data, we are looking at over $300 million in potential lost donations for 2020. Some of this will be made up of course, but the majority will not.

Having worked in this space since 2007, here are my three best alternatives in being smart, connected and efficient:

Balance individual giving alongside corporate sponsors

Individual giving has been a relative breath of fresh air during these last 4 months while corporate sponsors have been much more ambivalent in spending especially with taking on new partnerships. Balance the dependency on individual giving versus corporate sponsorships. If your revenue model skews 50% or higher on corporate support, invest more resources in individual giving. Additionally, use your corporate partners and the money they are giving you to create matching gift campaigns. It’s zero sum for them, added benefit for everyone and will allow you to use it to target more individual giving.

Be careful with do-it-yourself “DIY” fundraisers

So many organizations I am talking to are putting a lot of faith in DIY fundraisers. DON’T. Everyone falls in love with the the idea of a fundraiser who comes out of nowhere and raises $100,000 running, biking sailing, swimming, walking, skipping, etc. across the country. It’s impossible to scale this and for every one of these there are 99 who disappoint and don’t meet goals. Create structure for your virtual and digital campaigns. Invest in structure and marketing. Would you create the sponsor materials, packages, and infrastructure only to wait for a $100,000 sponsor to fall right in your lap? Of course not. So why expect the same thing from individual fundraisers in this economic climate and instability? As John Madden once said, prevent defense only prevents you from winning.

Plan accordingly for 2020 and 2021

We are advising our WCPG clients to try to go for 50% of the budgeted revenue pre-COVID-19. That is a huge win especially for the official charity partners of the mass participatory events that were canceled.

If you are pushing revenue to 2021, it is a huge mistake and there won’t be additional revenue made up in 2021. For example, the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon will not be doubling capacity to allow charitable partners to make up for the 2020 lost revenue. Don’t bet on 2021 — plan accordingly to recoup 50% of 2020 projected goals.

Harrie Bakst is a founding partner of WCPG (www.wcpg.co), an agency focusing on cause and social impact.