Convio Newsletter
September/October 2003

Case Study: Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization Generates Nearly One-Third of $2.35 Million Online from Annual Fundraising RACE

Overview
The mission of Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization (http://www.yme.org/) is to ensure, through information, empowerment and peer support, that no one faces breast cancer alone. With an annual budget of nearly $5 million and a staff of about 30, Y-ME provides free support through a 24-hour national hotline, a quarterly newsletter and other resources for those touched by breast cancer. To deliver these programs and services successfully, fundraising is vital.

Consequently, in 1991, Y-ME founded the Y-ME RACE Against Breast Cancer, enlisting volunteer fundraisers to help drive donations. Today, with nearly 30,000 walkers, runners and volunteers, the RACE has become Chicago's largest cause-related walk/run.

Challenge
Although the RACE has been successful, Y-ME saw an opportunity to increase online participation and donations. Y-ME already used basic online tools, but faced several challenges:

The process for registering RACE participants online was separate from the sponsor/donation process, so sponsors had to leave the RACE registration Web site to sponsor a participant with a donation. The online process also lacked a participant search engine, so sponsors had to type the name of the participant they wished to sponsor. This required Y-ME staff members to then match donations from one database to participants in another database.
Participants could not track online donations made on their behalf and would have to call Y-ME to measure how close they were to their fundraising goals.
Sponsors donating online automatically received a "thank you" message, but not a tax receipt, which Y-ME had to mail, adding costs and delaying customer service.
Y-ME had three databases to manage: an online registration database, an online donor/sponsor database and an offline database, which included mail-in registration forms and checks. This required redundant data entry and little visibility into fundraising totals at any given time.

Solution
Y-ME chose Convio TeamRaiser^TM to power the RACE Web pages. TeamRaiser allows Y-ME to set up Web forms to collect participant contact and registration information. Y-ME also can configure the Web pages to allow corporations and other groups to form password-protected, private teams.

Additionally, TeamRaiser allows Y-ME to deliver online tools to RACE participants so they can easily and quickly organize their own teams and fundraising campaigns. Participants can create personal Web pages explaining their goals and send emails to relatives and friends asking them to visit the Web pages to learn more, register for the race and/or donate. Transactions, including credit card payments, are handled in a secure environment. Participants also are able to send follow-up emails to registrants as well as people who have not yet signed up. They stay up-to-date by logging in to a secure area for announcements from Y-ME and personal fundraising progress reports.

The administrative benefits of TeamRaiser are significant, too. Registrations and donations are processed automatically versus manually. Also, Y-ME can enter offline registration and donation information directly into TeamRaiser for use in email communications, participant tracking and donation reporting. The organization can then view, print and download summaries and detailed reports to analyze the RACE's success. Based on each participant's progress, Y-ME can configure TeamRaiser to automatically send encouragement emails to participants when their personal campaigns meet or fall short of goals. Finally, with TeamRaiser, Y-ME automatically acknowledges processed RACE donations in near real-time with on-screen and email confirmations that can serve as IRS-compliant tax receipts.

YME users Convio's Team raiser for success

Y-ME uses Convio TeamRaiser to deliver online tools to RACE participants
so they can easily and quickly organize their own teams
and fundraising campaigns.

Results
With Convio TeamRaiser, Y-ME now has a more professional looking and functional RACE Web site, and is raising more funds online, increasing customer service and improving reporting capabilities:

Increased Involvement and Donations -- Y-ME nearly tripled the number of online participants in the RACE from 4,000 in 2002 to 11,594 in 2003; almost quadrupled the number of online donations to 19,650 compared with 5,000 in 2002; and reached its goal of raising $2.35 million -- up from last year's $1.8 million -- with close to one-third (31 percent) raised online.
Time and Cost Savings --Y-ME reduced staff time and costs for administering the RACE -- saving an estimated $20,000 in data entry, paperwork and mailing costs. Additionally, this year, Y-ME staff members took fewer calls about registration and donation status.
Improved Web Site -- The RACE Web site looks more professional and its branding is consistent with Y-ME's main Web site, helping participants feel more connected with the organization. The site also has more functionality -- such as volunteer tools for building personal Web pages and soliciting others -- making participation easier, more fun and more productive.