Bird-a-thon

Best Practices for Bird-a-thon promotion and fundraising

Team Members Recognition/Incentives

• Promote the T-shirt incentive for your team members! The t-shirt is very popular with many team members.
• Establish prizes for team members who reach certain pledge amounts.
• Set a fundraising goal and, if it is met, reward Team with hats, t-shirts, special dinner or other recognition.
• Develop a model where if Team members reach certain goals (ten pledges, or specific amounts) they are eligible to win a prize or be entered into a raffle.  Be careful that you do not establish a raffle where anyone who donates gets to enter a raffle.
• Set a specific fundraising goal and help your team members understand how it will be achieved:
• “We have a goal of $5,000 and 25 team members; this means we hope each member will help us raise $200 each.  If each Team member asks 10 people for $20 – we will achieve our goal!”
• “We have a goal of $5,000 and typically see about 125 species that means we have to get about $40 worth of pledges per species seen.”
• Adapt the following formula to meet the needs/expectations of your site:
• If our 25 Team members ask 25 people for $25, our site will raise $15,625.

Publicity to promote fundraising

Encourage friendly competition using this tool – donors may be inspired to give more than once, so that their friend’s page is more successful!

• Include Bird-a-thon information in your email newsletters and your Mass Audubon Webpage.
• Develop a Bird-a-thon display, thermometer or tree at your site with pictures from last year, where the money went, goals for this year and a way to pledge for this year.  Try to make this interactive with a “bird quiz” or something that engages the passerby.
• Wear Bird-a-thon buttons for the month before Bird-a-thon.
• Give pledge forms and online fundraising information to all program participants and/or mail a pledge form with all program registration confirmation letters.
• Offer the   “Bird-a-thon Calling Card” to your sponsors – to help them remember to pledge, find the web donation address, your phone number, your team name etc.  These business card sized calling cards will direct your sponsors to the MAS Bird-a-thon website where they can donate online – using less paper!
• On Bird-a-thon day, make it clear that Bird-a-thon is going on – even if it might not be obvious since teams will be off the sanctuary.  For example, create some other event at your site that parallels and helps advance Bird-a-thon, so that the casual visitor is exposed to Bird-a-thon.  The “Big Sit” at Joppa and the IBA regional effort are examples of this concept.  Other ideas – a mini-Bird-a-thon - on your site; birding-specific programming.
• Promote how the Bird-a-thon funds will be used.  For example, at some sites this might be for a particular piece of equipment.  For the vast majority of sites, the Bird-a-thon funds are needed for operating, so try and tease out a specific part of your operating needs to focus Bird-a-thon – local school outreach, bird conservation at your site, etc.
• Promote Bird-a-thon at your site in a big way!  Large banner, posters, etc.

Solicitation Techniques

• The most successful Bird-a-thon Teams are those that rely on personal solicitations and a motivated Bird-a-thon Team – try personal solicitations rather than mailings – this strategy is more successful and less paper-intensive.
• Set a specific fundraising goal and make it public.
• Specifically ask previous donors to give more money this year than they did last year.
• Set up a table at a local post office, library, supermarket etc. publicizing Bird-a-thon and asking for pledges/direct gifts.
• Ask (require if possible) each Sub-Team Captain to solicit each and every member of the sub-team for a specific amount.
• Set a specific amount a person has to raise/give to be a part of the Bird-a-thon Team.
• Solicit your vendors and the people you deal with on a regular basis – don’t forget your mailman, UPS driver, etc. Solicit non-traditional givers such as natural history travelers, day camp parents, etc.

• Take time to “train” all Bird-a-thon Team members in solicitation – tell them why it is important, establish a key goal and give them tools to help them fundraise.
• Ask for and expect 100% participation from your sanctuary committee members and other volunteer groups.

Team/Constituency Building

While team/constituency building might not influence the current year’s fundraising, it is very useful in developing the spirit for the following year.

• Host a post- Bird-a-thon meal or get-together where results are tallied, pats on the back are given and the stage gets set for the following year’s Bird-a-thon.
• After the event send flowers or some other recognition to the person/people who went above and beyond for Bird-a-thon, or who raised the most in pledges.
• List and thank Bird-a-thon Team members publicly – in local newsletters or bulletin boards.
• Provide all Team members with a small gift or certificate thanking them for being on the Team.