Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit TEAM CAPTAIN GUIDE TEAM CHALLENGE
Welcome to Give A Meal Team Challenge! Thank you for joining Give A Meal Team Challenge to help us fight hunger in America. Team Captains are the backbone of our program and play a vital role in the fight against hunger by forming and leading fundraising teams. Recruit your co-workers, friends, family members, and everyone you know to join your team. Your team members can also help you reach your fundraising and recruitment goals by asking their co-workers, friends, family members and acquaintances to donate and join your team. Every $1 you raise helps Feeding America provide 11 meals to Americans struggling with hunger. This Team Captain toolkit can be used as your step-by-step guide to reach your Give A Meal Team Challenge goals. Enclosed, you will find valuable materials filled with helpful information and tips to build your team in the most effective (and fun) way possible. ABOUT FEEDING AMERICA GETTING STARTED & FUNDRAISING TIPS PARTICIPATION CENTER GUIDE SPREAD THE WORD CONTACT US If you have any questions or need additional support, the Give A Meal Team Challenge team is here to help! Please don t hesitate to contact us. CONTACT INFO: Feeding America 35 E. Wacker Drive, Suite 2000 Chicago, IL 60601 Phone: 800-914-6307 Thank you for your leadership. Together, we can end hunger in America. 2 Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit Team Captain Guide
ABOUT FEEDING AMERICA How can 48 million people face hunger in a country that wastes billions of pounds of food? Here in America, there is more than enough food to feed every man, woman and child, yet one in seven people face hunger. As individuals, charities, businesses and government, we all have a role to play in getting more food to people in need. Together, we can end hunger. The Feeding America network of food banks is leading the fight against hunger in communities across the country. How We Work DONATIONS ARE MADE: Feeding America secures donations from the food and grocery industries, government agencies, individuals and other organizations. FOOD IS MOVED: Feeding America moves donated food and grocery products through member food banks to where they are needed most. FOOD IS DISTRIBUTED & STORED: Member food banks ensure the safe storage and reliable distribution of donated goods to local charitable agencies. FOOD REACHES PEOPLE IN NEED: Donations are provided to people in need at food pantries, soup kitchens, youth programs, seniors centers and emergency shelters. Many myths exist about the nature of domestic hunger and the people who struggle to get enough to eat. The Feeding America network works every day to educate the public about the facts: Hunger affects people you see every day the cashier at the grocery store, a child in your son or daughter s class, the senior down the street who requires expensive medications. Hunger exists in every county and every congressional district in the nation. 3 Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit Team Captain Guide
Hunger In The U.S. 48 million Americans, which is 1 in 7 people, struggles with hunger. 15 million children, 1 in 5, live at risk of hunger. Approximately one-third of households report having to choose every month between paying for utilities, housing, medicine and food. Feeding America s Impact 46 million Americans served each year through our network of 200 member food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs. 3.7 billion meals are sourced annually. $1=11 meals for people facing hunger. GETTING STARTED STEP 1: START A FUNDRAISING TEAM Register now! There is no fee to register or minimum fundraising goal to participate but all participants are encouraged to raise funds. Once registered, you ll have all the online tools needed to start recruiting and fundraising! STEP 2: RECRUIT YOUR TEAM The more participants on your team, the more money you will raise. As team captain, we count on you to spread the word and encourage others to join you in your efforts. Your team may consist of co-workers, family, friends, etc. Set a goal to recruit at least 10 fundraising team members! STEP 3: FUNDRAISE Set a fundraising goal for your team and keep team members updated on the progress towards reaching the goal. The sky s the limit with fundraising activities utilize the online Participant Center, host a vendor campaign or plan a fun team event! Check out the Fundraising Tips section for more ideas. STEP 4: BUILD TEAM SPIRIT Building camaraderie among your team members will help make the experience more memorable. Be creative choose the team name together, volunteer at your local Feeding America food bank or create team t-shirts, buttons or signs to post outside of your office letting folks know you are participating in Give A Meal Team Challenge. 4 Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit Team Captain Guide
STEP 5: THANK TEAM MEMBERS FOR THEIR HARD WORK You can never thank people enough. Consider writing handwritten thank you notes or publicly thanking your team members for helping raise meals for those in need. Become a Recruiting Pro! Make a list of 30 potential people to target as fundraising team members and follow up with them personally! Send an email to everyone in your address book. Host an internal Kick-off to build excitement and recruit new members. Use social media to share your participation and encourage new registrations. FAST TIPS FOR FUNDRAISING Set a Goal! Encourage team members to set a goal of raising $300, which will provide 3,300 meals. Share these steps and see how easy it is to reach your goal! 1. Make a personal donation $25/275 meals 2. Ask 5 family members to match your donation $125/1,375 meals 3. Ask 5 friends on Facebook to donate $10 $50/550 meals 4. Ask 5 co-workers to donate $10 $50/550 meals 5. Ask 5 friends to donate $10 $50/550 meals Total $300/3,300 meals! Progress Updates. Keep your team up-to-date on fundraising progress with weekly emails. Highlight any star fundraisers! Make it social! Tell your story on Facebook, increase awareness on Twitter and highlight your involvement on LinkedIn. (Samples in Spread the Word Section) Share your personal story. Send an email asking people to make a donation and to join your team! (Sample letters are available in your participant center) 5 Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit Team Captain Guide
Matching Gifts can double your funds raised! Many companies have programs that will match employee donations. Contact your Human Resource Department, and ask your team members and donors too, to find out if the company has a Matching Gift Program and how it works. Involve suppliers/clients. Send an email to your suppliers/clients requesting their support. Often companies you support through regular business relationships like to support causes that are important to you and your company. Host a Team Event! There are endless opportunities to turn your resources, skills and interests into big fundraising! Things like Dress Down Days, happy hours and raffles are great ways to get everyone involved! Team Captain Checklist WEEK 1 Set your fundraising/meal goal. Aim high and remember every $1 raised provides 11 meals. Build your team webpage Include photos and why you are raising funds! Recruit, Recruit, Recruit! Schedule a team Kick-off event. Plan team fundraising events. Share the link to your fundraising page on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. WEEKS 2-3 Ensure all team members are registered and encourage them to get started fundraising and inviting others to become team members. Within your participant center, create your own donation request emails or customize the templates with your reason for participating. Send donation requests to all of the contacts in your Address Book. Find out if your employer offers matching gifts and ask all donors if their company offers matching gifts. Highlight team member success stories on your team page. 6 Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit Team Captain Guide
WEEKS 3-4 In your participant center, send follow-up emails to anyone in your Address Book who has not responded to your email donation/join request. Hold Team Fundraising Events. Recognize any team success stories. Hold fundraising competition or contests to keep excitement high! Remember to thank individuals that have already donated to the campaign and any new members who have joined the team. WEEKS 4-5 Send a personal Thank You note or email to everyone that donated to your campaign. Announce your results and how many meals your fundraising could provide. Send a Thank You to all team members with results of team and company fundraising totals. Collect any outstanding donations and make one last check for matching gifts. 7 Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit Team Captain Guide
TEAM TEAM CHALLENGE CHALLENGE PARTICIPANT CENTER GUIDE Participant Center Team Captain Toolkit HOMEPAGE Top navigation tabs allow you to customize and send emails, check your fundraising progress and personalize your personal and team fundraising pages. Quickly import contacts! You can import directly from an excel document or email account. Use the Email Team tab to share important messages and updates with your team! Not sure what your next step is? This checklist will keep you on the path to fundraising success! Need more fundraising ideas? Download these toolkits to access the latest tips and tricks to make fundraising a breeze! Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit 1 8 Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit Team Captain Guide
Participant Center Team Captain Toolkit EMAIL Did you know? Individuals who send 1-15 emails on average raise more than 5 times the amount of someone who sends 0 emails? SEND YOUR EMAILS TODAY! Click here to help you compose your message(s), view drafts and import contacts. EASY EMAILS Choose from one of our pre-written templates to make sending emails even easier! There are sample messages to recruit team members, ask for donations, follow up and thank donors! 9 Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit Team Captain Guide
Participant Center Team Captain Toolkit PERSONAL PAGE Participants who customize their personal page raise more than those who don t! Including your own photo and/or video is a great way to make your page reflect you! SHARE IT ON SOCIAL Once your page is customized, share it with the world! Use these social share features to spread the word to your social networks. YOUR PERSONAL EMAIL Click on url settings to customize your url that you can share with friends and family. 10 Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit Team Captain Guide
Participant Center Team Captain T Click edit to change your team name. SHARE IT ON SOCIAL Once you have customized your team page, share it with the world! Use these social share features to spread the word with your social networks. YOUR TEAM URL Click on url settings to customize your url that you can share with friends and family. Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit 4 11 Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit Team Captain Guide
SPREAD THE WORD Social Media Tips Social media provides you with a quick and easy way to broadcast your participation in Give A Meal Team Challenge to your entire network. Use these sample posts, cover photos and profile pics to help make your fundraising even easier! GENERAL BEST PRACTICES Always include a link back to your personal page. Switch it up! Use photos in addition to text. Thank your donors publicly on their social media pages or by tagging them. Keep your networks updated on your progress. Make sure that your tweets don t exceed 140 characters (use the & sign, shorten your URL https://bitly.com/, use contractions when possible and sub numbers for words). When Tweeting, use the hashtag for your campaign # Team Challenge and tag your company @ Tag @FeedingAmerica in your Tweets! FACEBOOK BEST PRACTICES AND SAMPLE POSTS Did you know there are 48 million people in America facing hunger? I m doing my part to help by raising funds for Feeding America. Donate today and help me reach my goal! I m on a mission to make a BIG impact for Feeding America! Donate today and help me raise big bucks to provide meals to American s struggling with hunger. Every $1 raised will provide 11 meals for those facing hunger. Support me as I strive to raise $XXX. I m excited to be participating in Give A Meal Team Challenge and I could use YOUR help. Please support my fundraising efforts today. I m working hard to reach my fundraising goal of $XXX for Feeding America Give A Meal Team Challenge. Donate today and help me reach my goal! I m raising funds to fight hunger! 1 in 7 people in America struggle with hunger. You can make a difference by supporting my Give A Meal Team Challenge fundraising! 12 Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit Team Captain Guide
With 1 in 7 people in America struggling with hunger, my purpose is clear raise funds to feed America s hungry. Join me in the fight! Feeding America is striving to eradicate hunger in the U.S. Support me in my efforts in the Give A Meal Team Challenge Today! I m raising funds for Feeding America in honor of {insert personal story}. Support me today! My Give A Meal Team Challenge is halfway over and I ve raised $XXX towards my goal. Don t miss your chance to support my efforts! Thank you to {insert donor name} for your generous support of my fundraising for Feeding America. Your generous gift will help provide XX meals! Sample Tweets I m kicking off my fundraising efforts for @FeedingAmerica. Hunger impacts people in every county in America. Please support my efforts! Did you know there are 48 million people in America facing hunger? I m doing my part to help donate today and help me reach my goal! Every $1 I raise will provide 11 meals for those facing hunger. Support me as I strive to raise $XXX. I m excited to be participating in # Team Challenge and I could use YOUR help. Please contribute to my fundraising efforts. I m working hard to reach my fundraising goal of $XXX for # Team Challenge. Donate today and help me reach my goal! I m raising funds to fight hunger! 1 in 7 people in America struggle with hunger. Please support my fundraising efforts today! I m on a mission to make a BIG impact for @FeedingAmerica! Donate today and help me raise big bucks to fight hunger. With 1 in 7 people in America struggling with hunger, my purpose is clear raise funds to feed America s hungry. Join @FeedingAmerica in the fight! @Feeding America is striving to eradicate hunger in the U.S. Support me in my efforts in the # Team Challenge today! I m raising funds for @FeedingAmerica in honor of {insert personal story}. Support me today! My # Team Challenge is halfway over and I ve raised $XXX towards my goal. Don t miss your chance to support my efforts. 13 Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit Team Captain Guide
Matching Gifts Matching gifts can be a great way to double or even triple your fundraising dollars for the Give A Meal Team Challenge. Remember, each $1 raised means 11 meals to Americans struggling with hunger so every dollar counts! Many employers sponsor matching gift programs and will match charitable contributions made by their employees. Your company may match your donation as well as donations made by your co-workers if they also apply for matching gifts. Some companies even match gifts made by retirees and/or spouses! Remember to ask your friends and family if their companies will match their gift! 14 Give a Meal Team Challenge Toolkit Team Captain Guide
CONTACT US We are here to help. Please do not hesitate to contact Feeding America if you need: Help getting started with your fundraising Assistance with using the online tools Help answering questions about hunger in your local community Feeding America Attention: Teresa Gruber 35 East Wacker Drive, Suite 2000 Chicago, IL 60601 Phone: 800-914-6307