Team Captains How To
How to build and manage a fun, successful team
Begin Recruiting Participants!
Get moving early! Contact anyone you know that you think may be interested in joining you family, friends, co-workers, social organizations, athletic teams, etc., and send them to LifeListsChallenge.ca to join your team!
Living your dream is going to be awesome, but it’s going to be a lot more fun with your friends alongside you. Plus, a bigger group makes things like hosting a fundraising event way easier.
Life Lists Challenge: Stay Connected!
The best way to stay connected is to manage your team online at LifeListsChallenge.ca. Some suggestions include weekly e-mails, Facebook messages, postcards or letters, weekly communication by phone or (if schedules permit) a team meeting every week or two. Communication will help you tell your team about all the exciting efforts everyone is making for Life Lists Challenge and living their dream.
Set a Team Fundraising Goal!
Most people work harder when they have a specific goal to meet. Remember, your team goal will help you qualify for Life Lists Challenge. For example, if you chose Skydiving as your Life List dream and you have a team of three, $3,000 raised as a team gets you there whether that is three campaigns that raise $1,000 each or one member doing the heavy fundraising lifting. Whatever your goal, be sure to reinforce it with your team and share progress updates regularly.
Talk Life Lists Challenge
People cannot donate to you and your team if they don’t know that you are participating in Life Lists Challenge. Send your family, friends, colleagues, and everyone you know to your personal fundraising page.
Role of the Captain
Team Captains are our true leaders, motivating teams of two or more people to raise funds.
A good Life Lists Challenge Team Captain is:
- Enthusiastic about raising funds to support Canadian’s living with Parkinson’s. Many team captains organize a “campaign kickoff” at the start of the campaign
- Motivated to share fundraising tips, team progress and information about Parkinson’s and Life Lists Challenge with their team members. Plan to send one update every week or two during the campaign
- Supportive to team members who need help fundraising. This includes help with setting a fundraising goal, organizing an activity, collecting cash or cheque donations and using the Life Lists Challenge website to fundraise
As a Team Captain, your job is to:
- Ask at least ten friends, family and co-workers to join your team
- Set your team’s fundraising goal, and encourage the team to reach it
- Get the team out on the day of your challenge to live your dream together to have fun and celebrate your success
- Celebrate with your team at the end of the walk and thank them for all of their hard work
Tips for Motivating and Working with Your Team
- Send regular updates to all team members. Sending a brief email once every week or two with a short update and a quick reminder to keep fundraising is a great way to keep your team members motivated and informed.
Here are a few tips for what to include in each email:- Congratulate your top fundraiser for the week, then challenge your teammates and encourage someone to get the top spot next week! Come up with a fun and inexpensive way to say thanks (e.g., a free coffee or a small trophy/token they get to keep for the week.)
- Share an update on reaching your team fundraising goal. How close are you to reaching your team goal? How much money do you need to raise to get 10% closer? Set a goal for the coming week and challenge your team members to reach it.
- Encourage every team member to ask at least five new friends/family for support each week, or to follow up with people who haven’t yet responded.
- Send a welcome email to your whole team every time a new member joins. It’s nice to hear when someone new has joined. It’s also a great opportunity to remind your team to keep asking others for support, and to share any helpful updates.
- Get your team to invite their cheering section to come out on Lists Challenge weekend. Participating is a great way to celebrate the efforts and success of your team, to have fun, and to learn more about how the money you raise is helping us in the fight against Parkinson’s. Plus, it’s pretty awesome to have them there cheering you on as you experience the thrill of a lifetime.
- If you have more time and energy, here are a few additional ideas for having some fun and raising more money with your team:
- Help each of your team members with their fundraising. Offer to help them identify friends and family who they can ask for support, import their address book and send emails asking for donations, and follow-up by email or in person.
- Host a fundraising activity in your workplace or school. A number of our teams have had success organizing bake sales, auctions, “dress down days” or other fun activities at their office to raise additional funds from colleagues and friends.
- Host a team gathering before your event. Get your team together for a fun team building activity like lunch, dinner, or bowling. It’s a great opportunity to ensure team members all meet one another, and to motivate everyone to work together to reach your fundraising goal.
- After the event, it’s a great idea to get your team together one last time. Celebrate what you accomplished as a team, share your favourite moments with each other, thank everyone for their contribution, take note of successful fundraisers, and make plans for the next dream you live together.
