Step Out for Starlight

Winner of the 1999 ICFM award for most effective use of volunteer fundraisers

Step Out for Starlight began, like most fundraising, with a small idea and a lot of enthusiasm.

Target market

Fitness Industry nationwide. Specific individuals who ran aerobic classes.

Marketing

Marketing increased each year with finding new avenues to get to the target market. Initially associations dealing solely with fitness instructors were approached with some more glamorous marketing via interviews with celebrities fronting the campaign in the prestigious magazine. All marketing included reply paid leaflet or freepost address to facilitate response. The event ran for one week at the beginning of March.

Incentives

Incentives were on two tiers.

Firstly for the event organisers themselves. They were based on industry equipment, the usual 1st, 2nd, 3rd prizes, donated and then there were incentives for anyone who rose over x amount. This was because it was felt that the importance of raising funds lay more with more people raising less than with a few raising a lot. These incentives were industry based and were not donated but were negotiated at a cost price. This particular aspect of the incentive scheme worked very well as it motivated Event Organisers to reach a specific target rather than try and necessarily aim for prizes, thus giving a clear focus.
Secondly for the participants themselves. Again these were based on hitting targets e.g. £50 raised meant you got a campaign t-shirt, £200 you got a campaign sweatshirt etc. The Event Organisers were in charge of this and it was their job to collect the names and addresses of those who had achieved these targets. Initially the Event Organiser would hand the incentives out, but they found this too hard to do post-event and it was decided that as long as the charity had the names and addresses they would do this. All Event Organisers got a free t-shirt in the second pack.

Merchandise:

Merchandise was sold (mainly t-shirts). These t-shirts were sold at a very small profit with the focus being on participation. It also meant that any local publicity gained also usually involved the t-shirts and therefore was good for the Charity as free PR. Organisers received a free t-shirt and were allowed to use the t-shirts in inclusive prices if they thought that would be good for their particular markets (ie. ensuring everyone participating received a t-shirt which lead to some great PR photos).
The t-shirts sold by the Event Organisers were sold on a sale or return basis. This is because people are not willing or indeed able to put money up front, and besides why should they if they are going to be investing huge amounts of time. Remember the t-shirts were sold very cheaply, aiming to cover costs.
To keep costs down to a minimum, merchandise did not change style each year, but did change colour i.e. each year there would be a new campaign colour that would run through the merchandise and literature allowing an identifiable 'brand' without additional cost.

Organisation:

From the charity viewpoint one person ran it with volunteers being brought in at various intervals to stuff the packs, send t-shirts etc. Through the years it became necessary to pay people to come in, mainly to make sure they turned up! In reality it was probably too much to have one person running the campaign.

Step out week was in March.

During June/July negotiations for prizes, costs for t-shirts, marketing possibilities etc would be addressed and organised.
August - leaflets would be designed and printed.
September - February - marketing of campaign through industry magazines, public fitness magazine, Charities own list, bought in mailing list.
First Pack goes out before Christmas, Second Pack just after New Year's, Third Pack early-mid February.

Contained within the packs was everything that an inexperienced Event Organiser needed to know and do to run a successful event. There was also heavy focus on marketing the event so that the Event Organiser created publicity for their own work/leisure centre.

Initially the information was sent out in sheets but through continually monitoring and talking with the target market it was understood that this would be better in a booklet formation as loose papers, especially over the Christmas period was deemed annoying, distressing and they were often lost.

The Packs were also geared to be very simple and Event Organisers were positively encouraged to telephone the campaign organiser any time they wanted to get information and discuss any problems they were having. This was extremely important as it meant the Event Organisers felt really supported, not just to raise money, but for them to have a successful and even focussing on PR for their work.

It is also important to note that every Event Organiser understood that it did not matter how much they raised, that it was important for them to have fun, and that everything they did raise did matter. The packs had a no pressure rule, which stated that the Event Organisers were not to feel pressure that they had to raise enormous amounts of money. In effect most of the money raised by Step Out came from smaller Event Organisers.

Why was Step Out so successful?

It focussed on the target market and got to know these individuals very well.
It got to know and understand the fitness industry very well, what the issues were, what was important to these individuals, make relationships with those running the fitness industry.
It encouraged individuals to try and raise money and made sure they were well supported.

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