WALK To End
Hydrocephalus

Use the ideas below to increase your personal or team total for the WALK to End Hydrocephalus! Start now and remember: they can’t say “yes” until you ask!

1. Make Your Own Contribution – Lead the way by making your donation first. (Hint: Your personal donation “sets the tone” for the donations others make. If your personal donation is $25 or more, your donors are more likely to make similar contributions)
2. Ask – Ask 20 people for $10 each!
   • Doctors: Dentist, Chiropractor, Orthodontist, Dermatologist, etc.
   • Neighbors
   • PTA/school organization friends
   • Religious schools/organizations you belong to
   • Sporting team you or your family members belong to
   • Coworkers, colleagues, clients- think of all the people you interact with at work
   • People who do work for you: Cleaning service, Lawn service, Pool service, Handyman, Electrician, Plumber, Auto Mechanic, etc.
3. Ask Electronically – Utilize great tools from your WALK to End Hydrocephalus Participant Center. When you register to participate and/or create a team, your own personal WALK webpage is automatically created. Edit your personal page and team page to share your story — your “why” — your family’s reason for supporting HA. Your WALK webpage also has templates for emails making it easy to send a request to family and friends or write your own email. Your family and friends can donate to you using a credit card. It’s as easy as that!
4. Ask Using a Letter Writing Campaign – Send a letter telling your family’s personal story – how hydrocephalus has affected the lives of everyone in your family – and ask for support! Be very real about the challenges of living with hydrocephalus. Send your letter via postal mail or email, but send your letter to everyone you know. (Tip: With a mailed letter, enclose a self-addressed return envelope to make it easy for supporters to send you a check!) 
5. Host a Fundraiser – at a local establishment or home business. Many businesses will host a ‘give back’ night where a percentage of proceeds are donated to a non profit. Examples include: Pampered Chef, Chipotle, Painting with a Twist, MOD Pizza, Buffalo Wild Wings, etc.
6. Bake Sale – An oldie but goodie! Give Mrs. Fields or Famous Amos a run for their money — host a bake sale with you and your friends. Ask if you can hold it at work. Or you can even hold it in conjunction with your garage sale. (If you aren’t a baker, ask local bakeries or retail food stores to donate products to sell!)
7. Birthday Gift Donation – It will be a lot easier for your friends and family to write you a birthday check instead of spending hours trying to shop for you! And then you can donate the amount to your WALK to End Hydrocephalus total
8. Post it on a Bulletin – Place an advertisement in your church/synagogue bulletin/newsletter letting the congregation know what you’re up to. Or better yet, invite them to raise money and join you at the WALK!
9. Clubs and Organizations – Send a solicitation letter to your local Knights of Columbus, Lions Club, Rotary Club, Kiwanis, etc. They support individuals in their communities
10. Company Grants – Find out if your company offers grants to employees who volunteer their time for charitable causes. If so, contact your local WALK Chair and ask how you can help plan and/or organize the event. Earn money for the cause for your volunteer service. You may need a letter from HA stating that you have volunteered – HA’s national office will be happy to handle that for you!
11. Corporate Matching Gifts – If your company doesn’t already have a matching gift program (check with your HR Department) ask your company to match the amount of donations you receive from your fellow coworkers.Check with everyone that donates – ask them if they work for a company that matches employee donations
12. Dress Down Day – Ask your company or school to allow an official HA WALK Dress Down Day. For the privilege of dressing down, employees/students donate $5 or $10 toward your WALK total. Your company already dresses down? Try a “Hats On for Hydrocephalus” or something similar
13. Garage Sale – Do you really need all that extra stuff taking up space in your garage, attic and/or basement? Gather it up and ask your friends to do the same. Then choose a day, put the stuff in the front yard and sell! All the money raised can go toward your fundraising goal!
14. Hair Salon – Ask your barber or hairdresser to donate $2 of every haircut they complete over the weekend
15. Lemonade Stand – Ask your kids to set up a lemonade stand over the weekend with the proceeds going to your WALK to End Hydrocephalus total
16. Meet the Press – Does your company distribute a newsletter? Does your company have interoffice email? Take advantage of these…it’s a perfect way to get the word out about hydrocephalus and the WALK!
17. Newspaper – Contact your local paper and get an article or a feature story – Make sure that you include information on how people can contribute. And have a photo ready to go!
18. Office Fundraising Challenge – Speak with everyone in your office and ask them to join a corporate WALK to End Hydrocephalus team. Put an article in the company newsletter. Challenge each other to raise the highest amount. Give the winner a prize like movie passes or a gift certificate to lunch or dinner
19. Other Parents – If your kids play in the soccer leagues or on any other sports teams, distribute your donation forms to the other parents at the events
20. Pizza Party – Ask your local pizzeria to donate pizzas and charge your coworkers $2 a slice
21. Poker Game – Call your card-playing friends and invite them over for poker night!. Every other pot goes to HA or a percentage of every pot!
22. Raffle – Everyone that contributes to your WALK fundraiser is entered into a raffle to win a special item such as a donated gift card, homemade goodies or baseball tickets
23. Return Address Labels – Print return address labels for your outgoing mail. Print something like, “Support my hydrocephalus fundraiser and donate” Add the URL or QR code to your WALK to End Hydrocephalus website
24. Email Signature/Message – Add a short sentence at the bottom of your e-mail signature saying that you’re walking in the WALK to End Hydrocephalus and ask for a donation. Include a link to your personal or team WALK website
25. Tell Your Story – The more you talk about your participation in the WALK to End Hydrocephalus, the more people will share in that excitement
26. Wine and Cheese Party – Host a party at your home, collect donations after everyone has sampled the wine!

1. Make a List – Of everyone you want to target including family, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances. Use this list to start asking for donations and support for your team. Hint: Go through your email contacts, your address book (both electronic and the one you keep in the kitchen drawer), your club directory and don’t forget people you see every day
2. Add the “Why” To Your Email Ask – Share your story. Add your reason for participating in the WALK to End Hydrocephalus and your personal story. Tell readers about the Hydrocephalus Association and its mission’s importance to you. If you have a loved one with hydrocephalus, tell people about it. (It not only answers the question “why” it also increases awareness about this little known condition!) Who was diagnosed? When? How did that impact the patient and the entire family? Add a photo that will bring life to the written story and make people want to read your email!
3. Start With Your Close Contacts – It’s always best to start with your close contacts because they’re most likely to donate. Try sending some quick email messages to your inner circle to jump start your fundraising. Once you have some momentum built up, use the email you personalized to reach out to other connections
4. Start Your Facebook Fundraiser – From your WALK to End Hydrocephalus Participant Center, connect your fundraiser to Facebook with the click of a button. Next from your Facebook page,customize your message and photo and don’t forget to thank each donor as they contribute. Pro tip: change your message every so often to keep people engaged and repost (from Facebook). Follow these steps to link your fundraiser! 
5. Use Social Media – Now that you’ve gotten the ball rolling, it’s time to use social media. Use Instagram stories, Facebook stories and more to ask for donations and send people to your WALK page. Thank people publicly and share your progress. This lets people know that others are supporting you.  Use our social media graphics and toolkit
6. Re-Engage With Email – It never hurts to send follow-up emails or texts. Your first request may have been overlooked, or people intended to donate but forgot. With the number of emails people receive every day, they may have missed your first few requests. Or, people have opened your email and intend to give but forget to do so. Use email to update people on your fundraising progress as you achieve benchmarks – 25% of goal raised, 50% of goal raised, etc., and ask supporters to help you reach that next level
7. Ask For a Specific Amount – Instead of saying “whatever you can give is appreciated” – although it is – ask for a donation of $25 or $35 or more. Many participants are successful by asking for a dollar for each hydrocephalus-related surgery or number of years since last revision
8. Achieved your goal? – Increase it! If you’ve reached your initial goal of say, $300, increase it to $500. Keep the momentum going and surpass your team’s expectations!

Fundraising takes a little persistence, but we know you can do it! Your support is vitally important to the Hydrocephalus Association’s mission, and we THANK YOU in advance!

1. Write Your Letter Your own letter comes from your heart. As one parent writes, “Someone’s going to ask you to donate to something. It might as well be me. I can think of NO BETTER CAUSE! Please, make the Hydrocephalus Association your cause to support.” Tell your family’s story how hydrocephalus has impacted not only the patient, but every member of the family. (Sample letters here)
2. Make Copies of Your Letter (If using Postal Service for delivery)
   • Sign each letter individually; perhaps with a personal closing.
   • Make sure to leave the signature block blank so you can personally sign each letter.
   • Enclose a copy of the Facts about Hydrocephalus
   • Enclose a self-addressed envelope for their reply (stamped, if possible)
3. Mail and/or e-mail the letter to:
   • Family and extended family
   • Friends and neighbors
   • Co-workers and acquaintances
   • Business associates and vendors
   • Clubs, organizations, teams and classes to which you or your family members belong.
4. If you need help preparing your mailing, organize a letter addressing party. Pull the entire family together to sign, stuff, stamp and address your envelopes even the kids can help! You’ll be surprised what people will do for free food
   Mail or email your letters, ideally eight weeks before the WALK to End Hydrocephalus. But if you’re running late don’t despair, there’s still time you have 4 weeks after the WALK to finish collecting money toward a recognition gift
5. Collect Your Donations Nothing is quite as exciting as receiving your mail or checking your WALK webpage and seeing donations begin to arrive! You can expect to raise approximately $600 - $800 with a letter writing campaign. Some families have raised $20,000 or more!
6. Attend the WALK to End Hydrocephalus Have fun! Join your teammates and others who are walking to make a difference! Take a great thank you photo!

Thank You Notes Let each one of your donors know how much you appreciate their support. Use this occasion to announce how much your team raised. Consider printing your best team photo to say thank you and share the day with your donors.