Welcome
Thank you for taking the time to be a
team captain and support our mission to
change the future for all who struggle
with autism spectrum disorders.
This guide was designed to answer all of
your questions about fundraising for your
team, recruiting teammates, and raising
awareness in the community.
Why am I a team captain?
Eight years ago, Tyler’s aunt started a team for the Los Angeles Walk event.
It was a simple act. She was not trying to raise a million dollars but simply
trying to express her love for her nephew. As we all know, supporting our kids
is not as simple as buying a toy or hosting a sleepover.
This “simple act” has turned into a huge endeavor for our family each year.
We have had over 10,000 donations totaling $2,000,000! How do we do it?
We send out emails and ask! Our personal emails express not only our love for
Tyler but also the joys and struggles of the journey. And, while it helps to have
generous friends, an individual’s small gift can make a difference.
And while you raise donations, you will also be raising awareness. Since we
started, the incidence of autism diagnosis and the willingness to be public with
that information has risen dramatically. Our Walk efforts exist to support Tyler
and all of his friends who share this story.
As you get started, a few tips … keep it personal. Share some positive
stories in your emails about your year. Make sure you customize your email
from the standard note provided by Autism Speaks. That one is fine for your
team members, but as a captain, you need to lead the charge with a custom
note. Follow up frequently. Don’t overdo it, but keep sending updates and
unique stories to your mailing list. As they hear that others are contributing,
guilt will push people to reach in their wallet. Finally, don’t edit. You will be
surprised who will contribute. Friends, acquaintances, and even people you
have never met — as everyone is touched by autism, you will find the
generosity surprising.
Good luck!
Sincerely,
Ari and Andrea Greenburg
Team Greenbean
Los Angeles Walk Now for Autism Speaks
Table of Contents
Register Your Team
1
Team Captain Checklist
2-3
Features of your Personal and Team Page
4
Emails (samples)
5
Sample Fundraising Letter
6
Raising Awareness in Your Community
7
The Puzzle Piece Promotion
8
Fundraising Ideas
What is a Wrap-Around Event?
9
Tribute Signs
9
Matching Gifts
9
Other Ways to Support
Charity Miles
10
Team Up! 10
Autism Speaks U
10
Marketplace
10
Team T-Shirts & Team Signs (examples/ideas)
11
The Grand Club – Are you a member?
12
Frequently Asked Questions
13
Register Your Team
It’s Easy!
1
2
3
4
5
Log on to www.autismspeaks.org/walk.
Search for your event by state OR click on the
map. If your state has more than one Walk, all
Walks will be listed. You will be able to select
the nearest one to your community.
Click on “Register For This Walk”.
Read and click on “I Agree” to the waiver.
Choose Start a Team. Create a team name
and set a team fundraising goal. Aim high!
*Returning Team Captain
Don’t forget to register with your username
and password from last year. If you do, you
will have access to those who donated to
you last year, your address book, and past
team walkers.
New Team Captain
Create a Username, Password and a
Security Question.
6
Fill in all required information. Don’t forget
to create a personal and a team URL.
Include these friendly links when asking
for donations from your personal email
account or recruiting team members!
You are now registered for the Walk!
Team Captain Checklist
Use this checklist to ensure you have completed these important steps to
have a successful Walk Now for Autism Speaks team this year.
4 months
to walk
Contact your local staff person. Feel free to call or email with questions about the Walk, team-building, walker recruitment or the walker fundraising process.
Register as a Team Captain at www.autismspeaks.org/walk.
Set a fundraising goal and team member goal for your team. If you’re a returning team captain, aim for a higher goal than last year.
Personalize your team and personal fundraising pages.
Build your team. Send emails to previous team members (if appli-
cable), friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. Remember: sending an e-mail from your Headquarters includes a link for them to easily register and donate to your team.
3 months
to walk
Ask each team member to set a fundraising goal. For example, a team of 5 can easily raise $1,000 if each walker raises $200.
Continue to ask people to join your team. Use email, social net-
works, voicemail, and word of mouth to reach as many people as possible. Tip: Don’t forget those friends and family who prefer a written letter or a phone call to communicate!
Email or call team members regularly to answer questions and check on their progress. Stress the importance of fundraising throughout the pre-Walk period.
Encourage all team members to be active fundraisers. Remind them that the purpose of this Walk is to raise money for autism research, awareness, family services and advocacy.
2 months
to walk
Attend (or RSVP to) the KICK OFF event and get all the information, materials, and motivation you need!
Make it a point to involve your company/employer and those who help your family member affected by autism. Did you email your co-workers to join the team? Did you involve your boss to rally your company? Does your company have a matching gift program?
Enlist the help of your community and faith based organizations. Let them know you’ve started a team and are looking for members. See if they will add that announcement to the weekly bulletin.
Add your Team Page link to your email signature.
Team Captain Checklist
1 month
to walk
1 week
to walk
Send out team updates and acknowledge the great fundraisers on your team!
Did someone commit to a donation but you haven’t received it yet? Follow up. Life gets busy so a friendly reminder may be appreciated.
Become a FAN of your Walk FACEBOOK page and recruit ALL your friends to become FANS!
Enlist the help of your community and faith based organizations.
Let them know you’ve started a team and are looking for members. See if they will add that announcement to the weekly bulletin.
Create your own Team T-Shirt or button, Team Banner or Team Sign for Walk day.
Check your fundraising progress. Have you reached your goal? If so, consider increasing it to motivate your team members to keep striving for more!
Encourage team members to send out “remember to donate” emails using the online fundraising tools.
Send an email reminder to your team members asking them to bring their cash and/or check donations to the Walk.
Make sure everyone on your team has individually raised enough to receive an official Walk Now for Autism Speaks T-Shirt.
Establish the time and location of where your team will meet on Walk day.
Download the free Charity Miles App to your smartphone (see page 9 for details).
Enjoy the Walk!
after the walk
Send thank you notes to your donors and encourage your team members to do the same.
Congratulate your team members with a thank you get together. Encourage them to bring any donations raised or collected after Walk day. Fundraising doesn’t stop on Walk day!
Post Walk day pictures on the Walks’ Facebook page. Share your team spirit!
Your Personal and Team Page
Once you’ve registered, you can set up your own personal page and your team page!
Your “HQ” is a one-stop shop for recruiting and managing your team. From here you
can send emails, track team donations, and see how each team member is doing.
My HQ
Social Sharing
Send a tweet, a Facebook
message or update your
Facebook status with a
couple of clicks.
Go Mobile!
Use our new custom iPhone
and Android application. Just
follow a couple of easy steps
and you can start fundraising
through your Smartphone.
Fundraising Statistics
Add a badge to your email
signatures and let your friends
know the status of your
fundraising goal every time
you send them an email!
Time Saving Tools
My Webpage
Email
Reports
Tools
Set up your personal
and team page with
photos and text, and
share your story of why
you’re walking.
Send emails to recruit
teammates, send updates
and request donations.
Run a donation report to show
who donated, the amount and
when the donation was made
for current or past years. As a
team captain, you will also be
able to see any general donations made to your team. Run a
team participant report to show
current and past team walkers.
Print donation forms, edit
profile/log-in information
or assign a co-captain
from the tools tab.
You will be able to keep
track of who you’ve
reached out to in your
email history log.
Emails
Did you know that
people who fundraise
online raise
200% more
on average than
those who do not?
Additionally, the
average online
donation is
40% higher
than a check
or cash donation.
Want to recruit, motivate, and inform your team but can’t put it
into words? Sending emails is easy to do right from your
personal headquarters! If you don’t want to create an email, you
can use one of the messages already created for you.
Emails to Recruit Walkers
Join our (Family) Team (team name)! We’re walking for our (son/daughter, name).
You can help Autism Speaks build a better future for families like mine that live with
the challenges of autism every day. Every 11 minutes, another child is diagnosed
with autism – that’s 5 or 6 in the time it will take us to walk on (date). To walk with us,
contact (Team Captain name/email address/phone number) for more information or
visit (URL) and sign up today!
Please join our Walk Now for Autism Speaks team! We’re walking to celebrate our
(son/daughter) who has made incredible strides this year. We know that all families aren’t as fortunate as we are; they need our help as they continue to search for
answers and hope. Autism Speaks is investing millions of dollars to fund research
into the causes, prevention, treatments and cure. Contact (Team Captain name/email
address/phone number) for more information or visit (URL) and sign up today!
Email to Motivate/Update Walkers on Your Team
Walk Day is almost here, but there’s still time to raise money to fund research, raise
awareness, and bring hope to all who live with the challenges of autism. 130 individuals are diagnosed every day – that means between now and (Saturday/Sunday), (#
days x 130) families will get the devastating news that their child has autism. By walking and raising money, you can help us get one step closer to the answers.
Email about Autism Speaks Mission
Every 11 minutes, a child is diagnosed with autism. The goal of Autism Speaks is to
change the future for all who struggle with autism spectrum disorders. Walk Now for
Autism Speaks raises the dollars necessary to support research into the causes, prevention, treatments, and cure; raise public awareness and its effects on individuals,
families and society; and bring hope to all who deal with the hardships of the disorder.
Prefer a written letter?
Here is a sample...
Dear Friends and Family:
In August of this year, our son Matthew turned 18 years old. This is an important milestone for most young
people. It means, at least in the eyes of law, they have reached the age of majority. For most kids, turning 18
years old is exciting. They are usually finishing high school, applying for colleges, attending their senior prom
and looking forward to a carefree summer. For them, the future, although uncertain, is exhilarating. It was very
hard to watch Matty blow the candles out at his birthday party and not be a little angry and deeply saddened.
Autism robbed Matthew of much as a child. While other kids were playing outside, attending parties, making
friends and participating in sports, he was spending hours with a parade of therapists working endlessly
and repetitively on mundane and simple tasks. He spent hours in speech therapy trying to force just a few
functional words out of his mouth. All that effort has resulted in some progress; however he is still profoundly
impaired. Consequently, his future is far from exciting.
It is painful to think about Matthew’s past and terrifying to consider his future. Yet, we will not and cannot give
up. Autism effects and afflicts Matthew and we do know not why. However, we know that Matty is bigger
than Autism. His spirit and gentleness transcend his disability. We know he has a voice and will never stop
working and fighting to hear it. So, we fight for the best educational program therapies that will give a chance
for the future and work closely with those who implement them. We also Walk! Since 2000, our friends, family
members, colleagues and students have participated in the Walk Now for Autism Speaks Walk. Our team,
Marchers for Matty, has raised nearly $175,000 for autism research, awareness and advocacy. The Walk is
a symbol of hope. Seeing 10,000 people united in common effort to help so many now afflicted is inspiring.
It allows us to understand that we are not alone in the fight for Matty’s future. We know the dollars raised will
fund research that will hopefully solve the puzzle of autism.
Many receiving this letter have walked with us or donated to our cause in the past. I hope you can help us
again this year. It you can walk, great! If you can walk AND raise money, even better. If you have donated in
the past, I hope you will consider supporting us again this year. If you would like to join us, please register
online at the address below. If you would like to donate, you can also do that on online or mail a check made
to Autism Speaks. Thank you for help in making Matt’s future birthday’s true celebrations of a hopeful future.
Mark Wallace
Motivate, Thank and Grow!
Raising Awareness in your Community
There are many ways team captains and participants can help publicize the
Walk in the local community. Here are 6 ways you can help spread the word
about Autism Speaks and the Walk Now for Autism Speaks event!
1
Visit local department stores and give the manager
the posters and brochures and ask them to create a
company Walk team. They can wear their company
shirts on Walk day and promote their charitable giving.
2
Are you a member of the VFW, Elks Lodge, Rotary
Club, Junior League, or any other service organization
that needs community service hours? If so, recruit
your fellow members to come out and start a team or
volunteer on Walk day.
3
Become a neighborhood leader! Ask your staff person
for a supply of posters and brochures to distribute to
businesses around your community.
4
Take a team photo and write a short article for your
local paper! Community papers love stories about their
local residents, especially when community events are
highlighted. If you need ideas or sample stories, please
contact your local staff person.
5
6
Share information about the Walk, and your Walk team
on local community calendars. Go to your local newspaper, radio station or news station website to submit
your event.
Host the Puzzle Piece promotion to raise money and
awareness in your community.
For additional information or materials,
contact your local office.
Puzzle Piece Promotion
The Puzzle Piece promotion is a point of purchase
program that can be a great fundraiser for your
team. This highly visible fundraising campaign
can be implemented into your local community.
How do puzzle pieces work?
Employees/staff ask customers at the point of purchase
to buy a paper puzzle piece for a minimum of $1.00
(they can donate more) to help the store support
Autism Speaks. The customer signs his/her name or the
name of a loved one on the puzzle pieces. Store
employees post the puzzle pieces throughout the store.
Where?
Banks, gas stations, grocery stores, fast food outlets,
convenience stores, warehouse stores, large retail
outlets, restaurants, schools, etc..!
What’s in it for your company
and your stores?
The Puzzle Piece promotion can be used to build a
strong Walk team, enhance employee morale and
contribute to how much the company can raise for
autism research. Customers will feel good about
patronizing a store that gives back to its community.
Once the puzzle pieces begin to “take over” your
store’s walls, call the media. Puzzle piece sales are
a great way to build your company’s visibility in the
community. Best of all, you can raise a substantial
amount of money for Autism Speaks at no financial
cost to you!
Fundraising Ideas
What is a Wrap-Around Event?
A Wrap-Around event is any fundraiser that your team organizes to raise funds for
the Walk. Wrap-Arounds provide additional and fun ways to increase awareness and
fundraising. All expenses for wrap-arounds are incurred by the sponsor team.
Visit the “Fundraising Tools” tab on your Walk homepage for more great ideas!
Tribute Signs
Show your support for a loved one with autism, a walker, or a team – and pay tribute
to their commitment to Autism Speaks. Don’t know anyone?
Honor one of the 1 in 88 individuals who have autism. Be a part of “Tribute Trail”,
located along the route and throughout the registration area.
Contact your local staff person for more information.
Matching Gifts – Double Your Donations
Matching Gifts are a great way to increase your total fundraising dollars for Autism
Speaks. Find out if your employer has a matching gifts program.
Some companies don’t just match gifts made by employees – but gifts made by
spouses and/or retirees. Some companies provide donations to “match” the volunteer hours you have spent on your efforts for Walk Now for Autism Speaks.
To find out if you can double your donations visit
http://www.doublethedonation.com/autismspeaks.
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c=100 m=86 y=30 k=22
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Other Ways to Support
Below are some other fun and creative ways to support
Autism Speaks outside of Walk Now for Autism Speaks!
Charity Miles is an iPhone/Android app
that empowers you to earn donations for Autism
Speaks by walking, running or biking. As you
walk, run or bike, the app tracks your distance
and you earn money. Bikers earn 10¢ per mile;
walkers and runners earn 25¢ per mile. So please
join the movement and please invite your friends.
If you are an endurance sport enthusiast and
wish to participate in cycling races, running
races, extreme sports, mountain climbing while
fundraising for Autism Speaks, join us on
TeamUp! with Autism Speaks.
www.autismspeaks.org/teamup
Are you a college or university student and want to
host an event for, and with, your fellow students?
Register at Autism
Speaks U.
www.autismspeaks.org/u
Marketplace
Go to the store and shop!
http://shop.autismspeaks.org/
(shown here: wristbands, pins, car magnets)
Team T-Shirts & Team Signs
Even though some walkers will raise enough to receive a Walk Now for Autism
Speaks T-shirt on Walk Day, many teams still decide to print their own t-shirts in
matching colors with clever names to wear to the Walk. Team T-shirts help build
enthusiasm for the Walk during the weeks leading up to the event, and unite a
team on the day of the Walk.
Go to www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/teamcaptaincorner for downloadable tools and logos.
Official Walk Logo for Shirts and Banners
Here are some tips on creating a
team t-shirt:
Be creative! The more unique your
shirt, the more your team will wear it
year-round.
Stand out! The best shirts are bright
and colorful.
Tell your story! Include the name or
photo of the person or child for whom
your team is walking in your design.
Ask local companies to sponsor
your team shirt.
If they pick up the cost of the shirts,
you can put their logo or name on it!
The Grand Club
What is the Grand Club?
The Grand Club is special membership
for participants of Walk Now for Autism
Speaks who raise at least $1,000.
Autism Speaks recognizes those individuals who go above and beyond by
raising $1,000 or more for Walk Now for
Autism Speaks by inviting them to join
the Grand Club.
WALK
2014
UB
GRAND CL
Each year a new commemorative pin
will be issued. Add this year’s to your
collection!
How Can You Become a GRAND CLUB Member?
1. Show your commitment and contribute $100
2. Ask spouse/friend to match your donation $100
3. Ask your boss $100
4. Ask vendors/suppliers $100
5. Ask someone who has been affected by autism $ 50
6. Ask someone who has asked you for support$ 50
7. Ask everyone in a club or organization to donate (10 x $20 each) $200
8. Send a letter to your holiday card mailing list inviting friends to contribute $200
9. Ask your five best friends for $20 each$100
Total
$1,000
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do I have to send in my donations? Can I bring them with me to the Walk?
A: While you can always bring your donations to the Walk, it is preferable that you mail them in as soon as you can to: Autism Speaks
INSERT YOUR WALK CITY HERE
Walk Donations Department
1060 State Road, 2nd Floor
Princeton, NJ 08540
Please submit the donation forms with correspond-
ing checks to ensure proper credit.
Q: What if people want to give me cash?
A: It is safest and best for record-keeping that you convert all cash received to checks or money
orders. If you’re able, send a personal check
covering the full amount, along with the corre-
sponding donation forms, to Autism Speaks.
We will credit your friends and family for their generosity. If this is not possible, you can always bring the cash donations and appropriate donation forms to the Walk.
Q: What if my donors don’t want to donate online?
A: You can always have your donors mail their donations directly to our Princeton address above. Please have them submit the corresponding donation forms with their checks so you will be credited for your fundraising efforts.
Q: Do I have to fill out one donation form for each check?
A: Yes. This is the best way to ensure you receive credit for all your fundraising efforts.
Q: Will the money turned in before the Walk, at the Walk and after the Walk, show up on my webpage and my donation report? How long will it take?
A: Absolutely. If the corresponding donation forms were filled out and submitted along with your donations, then you should see your fundraising efforts reflected on your webpage and donation report within four weeks.
Q: Where do I get donation forms?
A: Donation forms can be printed from each participant’s individual webpage. The link “make a donation offline” is just under your goals.
Q: Who should checks be made payable to?
A: Please ask your supporters to make checks payable to Autism Speaks.
Q: Is there a fee to participate?
A: No. There are no registration fees, but we encour-
age each person to reach out to their friends and family for support.
Q: What happens if it rains on the day of the Walk?
A: All Walks will be held on the date scheduled “rain or shine”.
Q: How do I find my supporter ID number?
A: There are a few ways to find supporter ID numbers for yourself or for your registered family members. If the suggestions below do not help, please contact us at [email protected].
You will receive an email confirmation after you register with your supporter ID number.
From your webpage - click to open the Offline Donation link. (This is listed just under goals.) The ID number is listed in the top corner under the participant’s name.
On your personal webpage - your ID number is at the end of the URL.