Sue Ryder December Daily Dash goes virtual & sees income grow 512%
Melanie May | 17 February 2021 | News
Sue Ryder turned its annual December Daily Dash into a virtual event last year, and saw income rise 512%.
The event started in 2015, when Sue Ryder supporters Jackie & Mark Smith challenged themselves to run 3 miles every day in December for the charity and persuaded a small group of friends to join them. The event has repeated every year since, attracting around 500 people to take part in 2019 who raised £53k between them.
Last year, Sue Ryder worked with fundraising consultancy Wayforward to develop the event from supporter led to a staff led virtual mass participation event.
This time, the month-long event encouraged supporters to take on the daily 5k challenge either with friends or family (if restrictions allowed), or solo, to raise funds for end of life and neurological care as well as bereavement support.
Wayforward liaised initially with Fundraising and Comms Directors to set the objectives for the event. Wayforward produced a financial model for achieving it, covering a detailed development budget, KPIs and revenue forecast. They then introduced their product development methodology and led the in-house Sue Ryder through the process.
Wayforward also helped to procure third party support for a creative refresh and media plan to reach a larger audience, most of whom would be new supporters for Sue Ryder.
After setting a target of £150k – aiming to nearly triple the income in one year – the event raised a total of £324,000, from 1,236 participants.
Rob Alcroft, founder of Wayforward said:
‘’We are delighted with the results. As soon as Sue Ryder approached me with this event, I knew it had the potential to grow substantially. The ambitious target of tripling the income in one year felt bold, but achievable. To smash through that and increase the income six fold is better than even I had hoped for. It is testament to the team at Sue Ryder and their will to work together with high ambition. And it is certainly something for every charity to learn from – there is still a lot of latent capacity for giving within the UK.’’
Todd Harris, Senior Events Manager at Sue Ryder commented:
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“We are of course extremely happy with the results we have achieved with this event. Wayforward’s knowledge and expertise has enabled us to look at the event from a holistic perspective and identify areas of growth. Throughout the process, we have been able to bounce ideas off them and discuss new strategies in order to shape the event into one that promotes sustainable growth. The event has huge potential to grow further in the coming years and we are looking forward to yet more future successes.”
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.