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How the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation raised $100k+ with Virtual Race Fundraising

October 15, 2020 |

Like many nonprofits, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation was scrambling to adapt to a new reality. Physical events for fundraising, building communities and raising awareness for their cause fell victim to the pandemic. The Foundation turned to atlasGO. We helped them organized the first virtual “Get Gutsy: Tour Across America” presented by Team Challenge. This was a virtual race fundraising, raising more than $100k from 721 participants and Corporate partners.

A simple format

The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation extended an invitation to their community to join the virtual challenge. They did this by making a donation through atlasGO’s customized registration page. Supporters took the chance to register and gear up with swag. People wore bibs, medals, headbands, and cooling towels to get ready for the challenge to start on August 1. The goal: to run, bike, swim, and more to rack up miles for a digital tour across the Foundation’s US Chapters.

Get Gutsy challenge dashboard

With Gutsy across America

The Foundation introduced a mascot named Gutsy, who was an integral part of the Tour. With every mile logged by the participants on the atlasGO app, Gutsy moved from chapter to chapter on the virtual map. And there were photo and/or video check-ins at each location. The Foundation posted updates from Gutsy in the atlasGO app and the Team Challenge for Crohn’s & Colitis Facebook page.

The initial goal was for Gutsy to virtually visit all 40 chapters – covering more than 12,000 miles – before August 22. After starting in New York City, and after only 7 days, Gutsy was already crossing the finish line in San Diego! Before the Get Gutsy: Tour Across America concluded on August 22, the participants logged over 8,000 activities on our app and covered a distance of 40,000 miles. That’s almost twice around the globe!

woman with dog in a park

Funds, Awareness, and Engagement for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation

Even more important, the Get Gutsy: Tour Across America allowed the Foundation to unite its supporters and community virtually across the US during times of social and emotional distancing. 1,484 “sweaty selfies” were posted, and the community exchanged more than 10,000 virtual high-fives over the course of the challenge. Here are some of the most inspiring posts from participants of the 2020 “Get Gutsy: Tour Across America.”

virtual race fundraising father and son with biclycle helmets
Crohns and colitis foundation raising money
city next to a lake with boats sailing
How the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation raised over $100k with their virtual tour across America
How the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation raised over $100k with their virtual tour across America
How the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation raised over $100k with their virtual tour
How the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation raised money with their virtual race fundraising
How the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation raised over $100k with their virtual race fundraising
Get Gutsy Tour across America
get gutsy virtual tour
get gutsy tour across America

Visibility and engagement for Corporate sponsors

Thanks to the attractive value proposition to create visibility and employee engagement opportunities, four corporate sponsors supported the “Get Gutsy: Tour Across America,” helping the Foundation to double their initial fundraising goal of $50,000.

woman showing a medal and certificate from the crohns and colitis foundation virtual race fundraising

Gutsy will be back in 2021!

Paul Fulton, who was managing the project on the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s side, is ecstatic about the result of their first virtual “Get Gutsy: Tour Across America.” “This campaign has exceeded all of our expectations, and we can’t wait to be back in 2021. It has been a pleasure to work with the atlasGO team, and the way they supported us during this project has been all but fantastic,” says Paul. Check out here what Michael Osso, President & CEO of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, has to say about the first “Get Gutsy: Tour Across America.”

We want to thank the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation for their trust in atlasGO. We also wanted to congratulate them for this fantastic success in their virtual race fundraising event. We are looking forward to the 2021 Challenge and making use of our new exciting features, such as our brand new P-2-P fundraising solution.

If you are interested in running a virtual campaign with atlasGO to raise funds, awareness, and engagement for your nonprofit organization, reach out to Magali!

virtual race fundraising woman with mask in a park virtual race fundraising

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