In 1953, Ramón Rivero took to the streets in Puerto Rico. As the main participant and organizer for the first-known walkathon, Rivero walked 80 miles from San Juan to Ponce and raised the equivalent of $85,000 for the Puerto Rican League Against Cancer.

Who knew that those first steps would launch a movement of movers around the globe?

Since then, using a walk for the dual goals of generating awareness and raising money has become a strategic choice for many charitable organizations. With today’s emphasis on all-around “engagement”, walkathons remain a worthy event for many charities, providing an opportunity to get people moving and motivated to help, donate and give of themselves to a cause close to their hearts.

More than the bottom line

Organizations report that walks may generate as little as 1-2 percent of their overall annual funding, or in some cases, can be their largest revenue source.

The international development organization Oxfam Canada coordinates the Trailwalker, a challenging walk/hike that enlists teams of four to complete 100 kilometres in 48 hours. An event used by several national offices globally, Trailwalker is currently in its third year in Ontario, and revenue sits at about 5 percent of Oxfam Canada’s overall annual donations. A tremendously successful event in other countries, there are plans for expansion to Quebec next year and the five-year goal is for Trailwalker to be a leading source of revenue.

But it’s not just about the money. The walk is also designed to give participants some experiential education.

Ryan Hollinrake, the provincial manager of Oxfam Trailwalker Canada explains, “We use Trailwalker to drive awareness, as many people are focused on the event. But in any fundraising we do, we want to tie into our policy and outreach. We do our best to make a direct correlation between the walk and the reason for the walk. For example, when a walker gets to the 36-hour mark we have a sign that says ’36 hours of walking is how long a woman may have to walk to get water’. It gives the participants a sense of accomplishment and of what is actually being supported.”

For the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada (MS Society), their walk is principally used to generate funds: over the past 20 years it’s become their single largest revenue source. It has also allowed for a program that could be used across the country — for communities to get involved, raise funds and awareness, and to bring together people who believe in the cause.

“It seemed like a real natural fit for people to get involved and to feel like you are not alone — it’s very empowering,” says the MS WALK Canada’s chief development officer, Ken Mayhew.

“I think our community needs to be involved and active and walkathons are a great way to do this.”

Building community and sparking social action

Part of the appeal of walks is this simple yet powerful opportunity for people to take action to support something they believe in.

The Walk of Hope, founded in 2002 by Peggy Truscott, a dedicated volunteer and a woman with ovarian cancer, had a vision. She wanted to create an event that would help raise awareness about the disease, as well as develop more visible support and a sense of community for women and their families touched by ovarian cancer.

She’s reached that goal in spades.

Allyson MacQueen, national walk director at Ovarian Cancer Canada says that the “Walk of Hope is now the largest event in the country raising money solely for ovarian cancer. Funds raised support ovarian cancer research, education and awareness programs.”

The walk is powerful for them because it creates an opportunity for women and their families touched by ovarian cancer to come together to celebrate life, and to give one another hope and inspiration.

When the charity is directed at helping those with physical ailments, it seems even more appropriate to engage them in an activity. The Walk to Fight Arthritis recently completed their second annual walk and raised an impressive $1.3 million towards vital arthritis research and programs for people living with arthritis. As Shelagh Tippet-Fagyas, VP revenue development of The Arthritis Society points out, “It is something that people with arthritis can participate in. They need to stay mobile, so this is a healthy lifestyle choice.”

Perhaps one of the best-known and most effective walks has been the [now] Scotiabank AIDS Walk for Life, which for 25 years has been a strong force in helping to reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS. National coordinator John Sharp describes it as “a unique opportunity to bring the issue of HIV/AIDS to the forefront in a caring and supportive way.” He says it’s very much a grassroots event, a march of sorts that brings communities together across the nation. All proceeds go directly to support services and programs for people with HIV/AIDS in the communities where they’re raised.

The task of organizing a walk

Though it seems like a relatively simple task, be it for a grassroots charity or a large multinational organization, orchestrating a walk takes a lot of work and there can be many challenges. Even after doing it for 20 years, Mayhew says it requires incredible logistics and a complicated infrastructure to coordinate the MS Society’s 160 walks from coast to coast, for example.

Paula Murphy founded Maya’s March to benefit SickKids hospital and their research for Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD), a rare genetic disorder that now six-year-old Maya was diagnosed with as a baby. When Murphy decided to start this 5K walk, she says she had never organized anything like this before.

Murphy found herself dealing with a huge to-do list and logistics ranging from obtaining police escorts and seeking a variety of permits and permissions, to booking porta-potties, and even a water truck to cut down on waste. But she pulled it off, raising $14,000 in 2010 and looks to raise more this year, with the help of a strong and dedicated planning committee.

At the Canadian AIDS Society, Sharp cites the challenge to ignite or renew the passion for a movement that has been around for so long, though he concedes that their walk has been lucky to maintain a strong support base.

And there can be other challenges. Given many walks are in support of health-related organizations, consider when the cause has a high mortality rate. This is the case for Ovarian Cancer Canada. When 70 percent of women do not survive longer than five years after a diagnosis, “It is emotionally difficult to see so many of our walkers and volunteers pass away from the disease. This, however, reinforces how important it is for us to continue to raise awareness and crucial funds to combat this disease and to find an early detection test,” says MacQueen.

Ways to get the word out

But what brings in participants? How can one charity get the word out when there are so many vying for attention and needing donations?

Several organizations report that they are using the Internet for their major, if not sole, source of marketing and promotion.

Many charities also rely on the use of free marketing through social media and other online tools. To cut down on advertising fees and keep budgets low, cross-promotional marketing and the use of free web-based technologies are key.

Sharp, for example, says the AIDS Walk is the largest single HIV/AIDS annual fund and awareness-raising event, yet they “have virtually no budget for advertising.”

Like many other organizations, they have corporate partnerships and are supported by media partners who donate advertising space and services. They have a public service announcement that is shown during pre-shows at certain theatres in the weeks preceding their event, for example. Posters, flyers, press releases and word-of-mouth are also utilized for promotion.

And while they don’t use social media outlets as their primary source of publicity, social media is used by many of their walk participants, who use Facebook and Twitter to direct donors to personal donation pages.

As far as how far he plans on going with using social media as a fundraising tool, Sharp says, “We have barely scratched the surface, but we continue to add social networking links to our web sites.” He also adds that their web-based donation platform has been very successful in terms of attracting participants and revenue opportunities.

Growing support with social media

Social media has also allowed many organizations to find audiences they may not otherwise have reached. “It is a constant opportunity for Ovarian Cancer Canada to post notes, messages and important information and to engage the social networking community. It also allows for group discussion, participation and idea sharing within each community,” says MacQueen.

At the Arthritis Society, social media is a tool used to drive people to their own website. And for smaller, grassroots charities like Maya’s March, Facebook has helped drum up participants and spread awareness. Murphy explains that after creating a Facebook page for her event, she passed it to her friends and her friends passed it to their friends and eventually the event page made its way to hundreds of people’s Facebook pages. She believes social media has likely been the driving force in helping the event become so successful. The Toronto-based event has received pledges from as far as Alberta.

But it takes a mix of high-tech tools including social media and other, more traditional types of promotion to make a walk successful.

Mayhew evokes this sentiment, describing how the MS walk uses an “important combination of ‘high tech and high talk'” for promotion. Many participants find out about their walk through the website, but he explains that volunteers tend to use technology along with building one-on-one relationships. They also use print materials, newsletters, media partners and word of mouth. The biggest evolution, of course, has been their movement away from a heavy reliance on print.

But is it a crowded market?

With so many walkathons out there, one wonders if the “walkathon market” is saturated. Ryan Hollinrake of the Trailwalker doesn’t think so, believing “there will be as many walks as there are organizations that need to raise funds.”

Walk organizers emphasize that many of their core participants are those who have some kind of personal connection to the cause. With so many organizations and so many causes, there will always be at least one that stirs emotion in an individual. Despite what appears to be stiff competition for these events during the short Canadian walk season, it’s important to recognize that each cause and each walk will be relevant for a certain group of people.

So while the pace of life only continues to accelerate, it appears community walks have not fallen behind. They continue to offer good value to charitable organizations, and remain appealing to a wide range of participants.

Allyson MacQueen perhaps sums it up best: “I believe the number one reason people participate in one event over another is he or she has a personal connection to that specific cause or organization. A walk offers family and friends an opportunity to give back, to show support and to honour loved ones.”

Tips to make your walk run smoothly

1. Ensure you have a strong volunteer base who is committed to making the event successful.

2. Have a strategic, detailed and well thought-out marketing and communications plan.

3. Put together a team of dedicated staff who are willing to work hard and are prepared for any situation.

4. Make sure to have sponsors and financial supporters help pay for the event.

5. ALWAYS thank and show appreciation to participants, volunteers, staff and sponsors.

6. Keep connected to your supporters throughout the year.

7. Set specific goals (whether financial or participant based, it’s always important to have a way to measure your accomplishments.)

8. Have fun and enjoy what you have worked so hard to organize.

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