Information
about fundraising for Hot Flashes team members
Click Here
if you want to download a Donation Record Form to keep track of the money you are
raising.
Ask people to sponsor you — you
don't get sponsors if you don't ask.
If you work for a company that can
make charitable contributions, please ask your company if they will
sponsor you. Companies tend to give substantial contributions. You
won't get the contribution if you don't ask for it!
Tell
sponsors to make
their checks payable to the "National MS Society" (that's the payee name
recommended by the MS Society; however, I can tell you
that "MS
Walk" and "MS Society" also work).
People can also sponsor
you with a credit card online, via the MS Society Web Site. To get the
URL that you can send to people to ask them to make an online
contribution, do the following:
Click on the link in this sentence for the Walk site at which you're registered (just Westchester this year) to open the Hot Flashes team page for that Walk site in a separate window or tab.
Click "Login" at the top and login with your user name and password, if you're not already
logged in from when you registered.
Click on "Your Page" in the black bar at the very top. You're now at your Personal Page.
Scroll down to a a horizontal bar of three buttons - "My Story", "Donations", and "Settings". Click on "Settings".
Look for Page Link and click on
Customize, and set up your customized URL. It will start
with https://mssociety.donordrive.com/participant. (For example,
the customized URL for my personal page is
//mssociety.donordrive.com/participant/Alan-Legatt-2024)
That's the URL that you give to
others to sponsor you; it takes them directly to your personal page,
where they should click on the orange button that says "Donate". That, in turn,
will take them to a secure (encrypted) page on the MS
Society web site where they can sponsor you with a credit card.
You can go to your
Participant
Center and personalize the appearance of your Personal Page. The login
at the top of the page gives you access to your Personal Page. Take a
look at what I did for mine, if you want. Change the "boilerplate"
text supplied by the MS Society to your own - make it truly personal.
Speak to people
and ask them to sponsor you. Send out e-mails and letters in the
mail asking people to sponsor you. MS Walk participants with Facebook
accounts can extend
their fundraising efforts to their social networks on
Facebook. To get the information from the MS Society about
fundraising on Facebook, click Here.
You might wish to know
that everyone who has ever sponsored me has given me a fixed amount
rather than making a "per mile" pledge.
Although you
can't always do this, it's best to collect the pledge at the time that
it is made, rather than having to go back later to collect the money.
When someone
sponsors you, always ask if their company has a matching gift program — it
can double or even triple the amount of their
contribution. If their company does have such a
program, they have to get a matching gift form to you, which you will hand/send in
with the check.
When
someone
gives you a check to sponsor you, you can deposit it using your smart
phone and the DonorDrive app; there's a newer version this year and it
works quite nicely. To get instructions for that app, go Here.
If you're going to hand in the check at the MS Walk or mail it in to the MS Society, please write "Walker:your name, Team: Hot Flashes, Walk MS Westchester 2025" on the memo line of the check. That's
to
make sure you and the team get credited properly for getting that contribution.
Convert cash
contributions into a check or checks (payable to "National MS Society"); do not hand in or mail in cash.
If you need another
Donation Record Form (and I hope that you have so many sponsors
that you do need more forms), click
Here
to
download one (please remember to indicate your Walk site).
If
a single check is meant to include contributions from several people
(e.g., self-sponsorships for multiple members of the same family
who are doing the MS Walk together), then fill out a Donation
Distribution Form and attach the check to it. Click Here
to
download a
Donation Distribution Form.
If
you have collected a lot of money as checks prior to the MS Walk, you
can mail them
in to the M.S. Society so that the checks can be processed and
deposited early. Don't send cash, and make sure the checks are
marked as described above. I recommend that you include a cover
letter giving your name, the name of the team
("Hot Flashes"), the walk site (Westchester, NY or Rockland. NY), and the total amount of money enclosed.
Do the same for money that you collect after the MS Walk has occurred
(you can also turn in checks at the Walk site on the day of the MS
Walk). The mailing address is:
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Walk MS: Westchester 733 3rd Avenue, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10017 If you mail in money
to the MS Society, keep a
record of the amount you send in and the date you mail it.
Please note
that you will have several months after the MS Walk itself to raise
additional money. Remember to write
"Walker: your name, Team: Hot Flashes, Walk MS Westchester or Rockland 2025" on the
memo line of each check that you receive. Again, I recommend that you include a cover
letter giving your name, the name of the team
("Hot Flashes"), the walk site, and the total amount of money enclosed.
Please follow up later on to ensure that the money was properly
credited to you, and let me know if there are any problems.
The
deadline for contributions to be received in order for them to
count
towards the personal and team totals, is September 30, 2025.
On-line contributions must be made by then, checks that are
scanned into the Walk MS App must be scanned in by then, and for
checks
that are mailed in the envelope must be postmarked by then.
