THE THREE C’S OF PLANNING A FUNDRAISER FOR C3:
COLLABORATE  COMMUNICATE  CALCULATE
Thank you for joining the C3 community as we work together to treat and cure LGMD2A/calpainopathy. These guidelines are meant to serve as a framework to help ensure the success of your event. Please know that we are also here as a resource for you, and you are welcome to contact us before, during, and after your event. COLLABORATE
 Collaborate with your friends and family to brainstorm the type of event that will best suit your abilities, your availability, and your community. If you want to brainstorm with us, too, we are happy to do so. Some ideas include putting together a team for a walk or run that is already established in your community; organizing your own walk/run/cycling/sporting event; planning a ‘virtual fundraiser’ by creating an online fundraising page through our “Crowdrise” donation system (http://www.crowdrise.com/coalitiontocurecalpa); hosting a dinner and/or party (with or without a silent auction component); or even holding a bake sale or setting up a lemonade stand. Any sized effort is welcome, and every cent of net proceeds raised will help make a difference!  Contact us about your event; email Co-­‐founder Michele Wrubel ([email protected]). - Share with us the three W’s: (1) What type of event are you planning? (2) Where will your event take place? (3) When will it be held? - As a 501 (c)(3) non-­‐profit organization, we are obligated to our board of directors and to the federal government to comply with specific fundraising guidelines. As a C3 volunteer, you will need to understand these guidelines so that you can comply with them as well. By no means are they onerous or overwhelming, but it is important that we discuss them so that you and your team can follow them. (More detailed information on this topic is provided in the “Calculate” section of this document.)  Convene a committee. “Many hands make light work,” so be sure to enlist the aid of family and friends to work alongside you to achieve your goal. Have a kick-­‐off meeting to engage help and to discuss what needs to be done and within what timeframe. At this point, it is often useful to assign team leaders to be responsible for specific aspects of the event (for example, venue contact, publicity, invitations, donation/check collection, refreshments, decorations, etc.). COMMUNICATE
 Communicate the details of your event! Be sure to make everyone aware of your effort to help treat and cure LGMD2A. There are a variety of ways to promote your event among your family and friends, as well as your community. - Once you set the date, you and your committee members can contact family and friends via phone calls, emails, or face-­‐to-­‐face meetings to make them aware of your event. - Send out invitations to a list of people compiled by your committee. - Create a flyer or poster to hang in windows of local businesses. (And while you’re there, ask if they can provide you with donations such as refreshments for your event, goods for auctions or give-­‐aways, or services free of charge. C3 can provide them with a letter confirming the value of their in-­‐kind donation for tax purposes. Contact us for details.) - Distribute a press release about the event to your local media outlets. Please be sure to use the full name of our organization “Coalition to Cure Calpain 3” to help increase awareness of us as a growing non-­‐profit group. Once you have included our name in its entirety, you can abbreviate it to C3. Help us generate awareness by including our website address: www.curecalpain3.org. (We are happy to share with you a press release template that will help you get started and that allows you to personalize it with details about your specific event.) - Let us help by announcing the event on the C3 website, via our Facebook page, and through Twitter. We can also provide you (at no cost) with flyers about the work C3 is doing to overcome calpainopathy.  Create your own personalized fundraising page – specifically for your event – at no cost via the C3 “Crowdrise” account. It's an easy way to collect and track credit card donations from those who want to support your efforts but cannot attend your event. Contact us for more information about getting started.  Convey your thanks! The power to find a treatment or a cure lies in the hands of those with LGMD2A, their families and friends, and those who may not be associated with this disease in a personal way but who are moved to support efforts to cure it. As such, C3 is committed to communicating our thanks to each and every donor. After your successful event, C3 will acknowledge each donation with a tax receipt letter in order to comply with federal law. Additionally, we encourage you to send a personal “thank you” to your donors who are helping move our cause forward. In your note, you may want to include a sentence that states, “Keep an eye out for your official tax receipt in the mail from Coalition to Cure Calpain 3.” (Note that we can give you a blank letterhead with the C3 logo that can easily be printed from your computer so you can type or write your personal thank you note.) CALCULATE
 Calculate your anticipated expenditures. Before you commit any dollars, it is important to think through what the costs of your event will be to ensure that the donations you generate will easily cover the expenses of your event. Local event hosts should strive to keep fundraising costs under 30% of the gross proceeds as government, foundation, and corporate donors pay attention to these percentages in our reporting. Fundraising costs include any expense that you pay out to a vendor or business for goods or services related to the event. Of course we understand that organizing any event will incur expenses and we do not expect you to cover those from your own pocket, so be sure to keep receipts for everything you spend so that you may be fully reimbursed. (We will provide you with expense reimbursement forms as needed, but please note our reimbursement policy dictates that we must have sufficient donation deposits from your event to cover these expenses before you can be reimbursed.)  Collect donations properly, please. C3 has a legal responsibility to accurately report its income using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for non-­‐profit organizations. Therefore, it is critical that you follow these guidelines to help us accurately and legally keep track of proceeds from your event: - How to Accept Checks: 1. Ensure that all checks are made out to “Coalition to Cure Calpain 3.” 2. Be sure that your event or family name is clearly printed on each check. For example, “The Smith Family 5K Run for C3” or “Donation In Honor of The Smith Family.” 3. Please make certain that the donor’s mailing address is listed on the check. - How to Handle Cash Donations: 1.
If you receive cash donations, please tally them and go to your local bank to get one bank check or to your post office to get one money order. The bank check or money order should be issued to “Coalition to Cure Calpain 3” for the total cash amount. Do be sure to keep track of your donors’ names, mailing addresses, and donation amounts so we are able to send each of them a receipt for tax purposes. (You can learn more about this in the “Collate” section coming up next.) 2.
If you are hosting an event where the donation amounts are smaller and donors typically do not want a receipt (such as a lemonade stand), you do not need to track donor names and contact information, but you are still required to get one bank check or money order to send to C3. Please note that in the event that someone does want a receipt for tax purposes, we are happy to oblige. You will just need to be sure to communicate to us their name, mailing address, and donation amount. Please note that while it may seem easier and more expedient to deposit contributions either by check or cash into your personal account and then send us one check, this is considered co-­‐mingling of funds, which is prohibited according to GAAP for non-­‐profits. - How to Handle In-­‐kind Donations: If a friend, family member, or local business has donated goods or services for your event, contact us for a form to complete so that we may issue an acknowledgment letter of their in-­‐kind donation for tax purposes.  Collate your donations and donor information and forward to C3 within 30 days after your event so that we may acknowledge each donation with a tax receipt letter in order to comply with federal law. (Please direct mail to: Coalition to Cure Calpain 3, Attention: Michele Wrubel, 15 Compo Parkway, Westport, CT 06880.) Please note that it will take us approximately two to four weeks – depending on the time of year and volume of donations – to process contributions and send out donor acknowledgment letters. - How to Collate Checks for Processing: 1. Please make photocopies of the front of each check for your records and ours. These copies will provide a cross-­‐reference if there are any problems. 2. Create a spreadsheet that includes the following required information: donor name, mailing address, donation amount (and email address, optional). We can give you a template if desired. If you are unable to do this, it is perfectly acceptable to send us a Word or handwritten document that includes the required information. This document will also serve as a list from which you can write your thank you notes. 3. Bundle the checks, photocopies of the checks, and a copy of the spreadsheet requested in item 2 and mail to the address above. Please email us the spreadsheet as well ([email protected]). - How to Collate Bank Checks/Money Orders (representing cash donations) for Processing: 1.
Keep a copy of the bank check or money order and forward the original to the address above with a note indicating that these are proceeds from your event. 2.
If anyone has requested a tax receipt letter, please send us the following required information: donor name, mailing address, donation amount (and email address, optional). We appreciate your attention to detail to allow for our accurate record keeping. AS A COMMUNITY STANDING TOGETHER, WE HAVE THE STRENGTH TO OVERCOME THIS DEVASTATING DISEASE. THANK YOU FOR JOINING US IN OUR EFFORTS.