“Wow” is all I can say after witnessing such an incredible act of generosity and community engagement.

This morning marked the 4th annual First Foundations Children’s Academy Move-A-thon fundraiser which raised a record $12,619 in just a couple of weeks.

This event brings together the school’s parent community together with their kids in an effort to raise money and awareness for Three to Be, an amazing charity whose mission is to support and advance the development of innovative research, therapies and education for children with neurological disorders and their families.

First Foundations does a remarkable job of instilling within their students a sense of social justice, empathy and a willingness to help others. These core values often seed a lifetime of empathy, compassion and an instinct to give back to their community.

Aside from the beautiful weather and the overwhelming amount of sponsorship received to help run the event itself, what set this year apart was the dollars raised – a 320% increase over the previous year’s efforts.  In the past, the Move-A-thon’s fundraising program was managed exclusively offline. Parents were asked to contribute or pledge cash or cheque donations on or before the event.  Each donation was manually recorded by the school and presented to Three to Be in an envelope to be processed manually after the event.

In the event’s first few years, this system would generate between $3,000 and $3,500 in donations. While the money raised was greatly appreciated, the transaction process required to collect the money and relay it to the charity proved to be labour intensive and inefficient.  The parents also had limited involvement outside of cutting a cheque and participating in the event itself.

This year was quite different. First Foundation parents and staff were encouraged to take a larger role, setting up personal fundraising pages through Giving Gateway’s mobile-optimized fundraising platform.  Many chose to customize their page with a personal or family photo and a brief explanation of why they support the cause. The result was an increase in participation from previous years, empowering these newly minted fundraisers to reach out directly to their friends, family and colleagues asking for their support.

Giving Gateway customized and styled its peer-to-peer fundraising platform for Three to Be, setting them up with their own Move-A-thon campaign in such a way where all donations made would be deposited directly in their bank account.  In addition to each donor receiving an instant tax receipt by e-mail, Giving Gateway was able to automate the process of collecting donations, saving a ton of time collecting, recording and depositing the money received manually.

I’m proud of how Giving Gateway can help make a difference (behind the scenes) for the organizations who host these types of fundraisers. I’m also proud of what I witnessed first-hand today as the parents and kids of an incredible school came out to support an incredible cause.

If you have any online fundraising questions related to a school fundraiser, charity golf tournament or annual campaign, please don’t hesitate to call us at 1.888.930.4483