Run for a Reason at the Chicago Half Marathon & 5K on September 13th, 2009

On September 13th, 2009, GiveForward.org and 200 young professionals will run in the Chicago Half Marathon and 5k as part of GiveForward.org’s Run for a Reason, a fundraising competition and celebration of Chicago’s amazing smaller non-profit community.

Our goal is to help raise as much money for Chicago charities as possible while showing the Chicago community how important young philanthropists are to these organizations.  This year, 200 young professionals, volunteers, junior board members, and non-profit staff will compete for a grand prize that will go to the winning team’s organization.

To participate, as an organization all you need to do is create a free Group Page on GiveForward.org and invite your supporters to join your efforts.  If you are an individual running for a cause you care about, you can join the GiveForward Run for a Reason Group Page.

Competition starts now and ends the day of the race, Sunday September 13, 2009.

Why you should get involved:

• Raise extra money for your organization with very little effort–on average, fundraisers who participate in 5k races raise about $1,000 on the site
• Introduce your organization to a new group of young philanthropists
• Get publicity for your organization and its mission
• Gain access to young and small-scale donors through a social networking style campaign
• Learn new, Web 2.0 techniques for fundraising that will boost donations
• And of course… Awesome T-shirts!

What you need to do to participate as a non-profit
1. Create a Group Page and customize it with photos, videos, an event calendar and more
2. Encourage your junior board members, volunteers, and supporters to register for the Chicago Half Marathon & 5k at www.chicagohalfmarathon.com
3. Invite participants to create their own personal fundraising pages branded with your organization’s logo and banner
4. Join us for a pre-race celebration and party on Thursday, Sep. 10th
5. Bring your team to the race day meeting point where we’ll announce the fundraising champions!

About us: GiveForward.org is a Chicago-based online fundraising site designed to help individuals and organizations raise money for the causes they care about most.  We are a young company with a passion for empowering grass-roots campaigns through personalized fundraising pages.

Come join us in the first annual Chicago Run for a Reason!  We are certain the event will be a huge success for non-profits throughout the city!

If you have any questions, please contact Desiree@giveforward.org.