Hill Country Ride for AIDS

The Hill Country Ride for AIDS is an annual cycling event in Central Texas that raises money to support people throughout the state living with AIDS. In its ten year history, the Ride has raised more than $3.5 million to provide life saving care for thousands of individuals.

Project Goals

• Find creative ways to help the organization meet its ambitious fundraising goal
• Tap into the power of social networking
• Provide participants with effective online tools to enhance their individual fundraising efforts

Services Provided

• Boundless Fundraising™
• TeamRaiser Implementation
• iPhone Application

Project Details

Charity Dynamics worked with Hill Country Ride for AIDS staff members to develop e-communications strategies and tactics for promoting the event, including messaging, timelines and specific calls-to action. Additional e-communications concepts were designed and implemented to encourage participant engagement. Creative ideas, such as regular mini-contests (e.g., “Who can send out the most emails this week?” or “Who can get donations from the most states?”) were launched to spur friendly competition that boosted overall fundraising results.

The Hill Country Ride for AIDS also used Boundless Fundraising™, an innovative social networking application developed by Charity Dynamics that empowers organizations to mobilize social networking communities in support of their missions. The goal was to help drive participation by ensuring riders had online tools to support and simplify their fundraising efforts. Event participants placed this customizable Facebook application on their Facebook pages to extend visibility of the Hill Country Ride for AIDS while driving broader interest and support. The branded application directed an individual’s Facebook friends to their personal fundraising pages on behalf of Hill Country Ride for AIDS. There, they could easily make donations and even sign up for the ride themselves.

Event organizers tapped into Charity Dynamics’ expertise for branding and design of their customized Boundless Fundraising application. The group wanted a creative design that reflected the Hill Country Ride for AIDS logo and the 10th anniversary theme, along with the fundraising meter that keeps track of a participant’s fundraising success.
 

Results

• Exceeded its fundraising goal and raised a record amount of more than $690,000, the most in the event’s 10-year history despite the extremely difficult economic climate
• Increased number of riders by nearly 30 percent, with a record 615 cyclists participating in the event
• The 48 percent of riders who used the Boundless Fundraising application raised an average of 30 percent more than their peers, and garnered 57 percent more donors than individuals not using the application
• 69 percent of the Ride’s team captains used Boundless Fundraising, setting an example for other participants and showing them one of the most effective ways to fundraise online
• Established strong momentum to build upon for future events, and extended the event’s visibility significantly through social networking