Despite the coronavirus, don't stop collecting: turn your face-to-face events into virtual solidarity events

Third sector entities are suffering doubly the consequences of COVID-19: on the one hand they are seeing their income from donations decrease and on the other hand they are finding it impossible to hold face-to-face events, one of their main sources of collection .

Faced with this situation, the solution we propose for them is to convert face-to-face solidarity events into digital events. The good news is that with good planning and communication, the online event can be very successful.

In this post we give you some ideas and examples of online events that have successfully raised funds:

Sports events:

Despite the fact that the coronavirus has caused the cancellation of all kinds of sporting events, there is no one to stop athletes in solidarity!

A good example is the Association CoRReDoRS.CaT per l´ELA, which with its solidarity challenge the DESCONFINADA managed to raise almost € 13,000 to benefit the Miquel Valls Foundation against ELA. This Association of runners had planned to participate in the Zurich Marathon in Barcelona to be held on March 15. The arrival of COVID-19 truncated their plans but not their spirit of solidarity and improvement. For this reason, after being confined to their homes for 2 months when they were finally able to go for a run, they organized the DESCONFINADA, the first post-confinement virtual solidarity course.

L´Ampa from the IPSI school in Barcelona organizes a solidarity course every year in spring. This year, given the impossibility of being able to carry it out due to the confinement, they decided to organize it online. They proposed to their participants to carry out the sports activity of their choice (running around the house, doing a stationary bike, elliptical, Pilates…). With this initiative they managed to raise a whopping € 17,439 in favor of the Hospital Clínic.

In the absence of marathons and official sporting events, propose to the runners and solidarity athletes who usually support you to put their training at the service of your cause:

Do you know Everesting, the latest cycling madness? Everesting consists of climbing accumulated by bicycle the equivalent of an ascent to Everest. Our friend Victor has successfully carried out this great feat to support the cause of a close person, and with this he has managed to raise € 6,524 in favor of AEFAT Asociación Española Familia Ataxia-Telangiectasia.

September 22, is the international day against leukemia, and the runner Andrés Pascual, set himself a sporting challenge: to run 5 marathons in 5 days. From the mountains, from the sea, from home ... up to 180 people have joined Andrés' challenge and thanks to all of them they have managed to raise € 9,603 for the Josep Carreras Foundation against leukemia.

Webinar or Masterclass on Line: many people, companies and entities have chosen to offer free courses and webinars as a way to raise funds. Classes in fitness, yoga, Zumba, or any discipline that may be interesting to your potential donors are always a good option. "How values ​​and ethics will save your company" is the name of the online webinar that the international business consultancy, Txell Costa, organized through migranodearena and gave in solidarity in favor of the Josep Carreras Foundation against leukemia.

Concerts and Virtual Galas: do not miss your entity's annual charity Gala due to the coronavirus, turn it into a great virtual event!

One of the most important dates of the year for the migranodearena Foundation is the delivery of the migranodearena Awards, which aim to recognize and reward people, social organizations and companies that have carried out successful crowdfunding campaigns through of our platform. The winners are chosen by popular online voting. The migranodearena Awards should have been held on March 26 in person, and had to be canceled due to COVID19. Finally we celebrate them on July 14th through a great online event. We planned the event in great detail and we had the intervention of two exceptional speakers. The result was a highly successful gala that was very entertaining as well as emotional.

Flamenco Vacuna Fest is a festival that was born with the need to unite the best flamenco artists to raise funds with the aim of getting a vaccine to combat COVID-19. Thanks to this initiative, this group of flamingos managed to raise € 5,407.

Solidarity online tournaments: Solidarity online escape room tournaments, Solidarity FIFA 20, Solidarity Fornite online ..., betting on a solidarity tournament is practically synonymous with success. Players sign up not just for the sheer pleasure of playing and participating, but the personal satisfaction of helping sign up for a good cause comes into play. During the confinement, an initiative was created to combat the coronavirus with the help of chess. #ConfinamentSolidari was an online chess tournament with which it was possible to raise € 2,000 that was allocated to the Vall Hebrón University Hospital for the investigation of COVID19 treatments.

Online celebrations: creativity and imagination are essential for fundraising. The Esade Foundation had planned a series of solidarity activities during the Sant Jordi day, including the sale of solidarity roses. Despite the fact that COVID19 prevented them from being physically, they maintained their spirit of solidarity and putting ingenuity and imagination into it, it occurred to them to mobilize their entire community to contribute to the Arrels Foundation the money they would have allocated to buy a rose. Thanks to this initiative, Un Sant Jordi in solidarity, they contributed € 2,193 to the great work that the Arrels Foundation does for the homeless.