Enthuse launches product to help charities with virtual event building
Melanie May | 26 January 2021 | News
Enthuse has launched a new product aimed at helping charities build fun virtual events and increase revenue.
Virtual Journeys is a set of map-based challenges, with both pre-made and bespoke maps that are powered by Google Maps.
Pre-made maps available at launch include courses for the London Marathon, the Inca Trail, the London to Brighton Cycle Ride, and Lands End to John O’Groats. Charities can define how participants take part in the challenges – whether it’s a run, walk or cycle – as well as how long the challenge lasts for and if it’s a team or individual based activity. Charities will also be able to work with Enthuse to build their own bespoke maps for courses and fundraising events.
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The map will be displayed across the charity’s event page as well as all individual and team fundraising pages, enabling supporters to keep track of their progress visually. Event leaderboards will show who has finished the route, sorted by the fastest finisher, giving charities ways to incentivise and reward supporters. The team pages will also show how much distance has been covered by everyone, and how many members have completed the route.
Key route milestones will be displayed on the map, such as Big Ben or the Cutty Sark for the London Marathon, to help keep participants motivated, and custom start and finish pins can be set for the route. Progress along the route can be automatically tracked via a linked Strava account or participants can upload manual activities if they are using a different fitness app.
Speaking about the launch, Chester Mojay-Sinclare, Enthuse Founder and CEO, commented:
“Virtual events have proved a crucial lifeline for charities throughout the pandemic to maintain their fundraising income. We know supporters want more though – two thirds of Gen Z and half of millennials tell us they are interested in map and milestone based-challenges, and the launch of Virtual Journeys will help charities deliver this.
“When physical fundraising events start to come back, Virtual Journeys will also allow charities to broaden participation by opening up their events to supporters wherever they are based, as well as creating unique virtual events where supporters team up to try and run a distance together like the length of the British coastline.”
Guy Aubertin, Director of Fundraising and Operations for Walk The Walk said:
“The development of virtual event capability is allowing us to launch a new version of our London Moonwalk. We are creating a 52 mile version of the event using the Virtual Journeys product, and are delighted to be able to bring this new challenge to our supporters, under our own brand.”
The launch of Virtual Journeys is part of Enthuse’s ongoing platform development, which has recently included the launch of virtual races, manual activity uploads and live streaming as well as leaderboards and milestones.
Main image: by Tirachard Kumtanom from Pexels
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.