February 2006 acsrelay.org newsletter!

[Relay ForLife]

Hope all is going well! Welcome to the February 2006 installment of the http://www.acsrelay.org newsletter (a day late :)    )!
 
This month's http://www.acsrelay.org update focuses on the following areas:

1.  Best Websites!
2.  100,000 Visitors and Counting Contest!
3.  Fundraising ideas!
4.  Great Idea of the Month - Donations From 50 States!
5.  "Sister" Relay For Life Event Program - Build a Sister Relay Relationship!!!
6.   Other Reminders



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1.  Best Websites!
Volunteers are building websites for their events, more and more events have on-line donation sites at http://www.acsevents.org - visit:

http://www.acsrelay.org/bestwebsites.php

For examples of great websites!  If you know of one that you particularly like, e-mail rflvol...@gmail.com .



2.  100,000 Visitors and Counting Contest!
http://acsrelay.org has crossed the 100,000 visitor count in just over 4 years on-line, and we're very excited!  Thanks to your support, we are now averaging over 500 visitors a day who come to acsrelay.org for ideas and information.  Thanks for visiting, your e-mails asking for help as well as voicing support for the site, and for all that your do to find a cure!  In honor of this milestone, we are having a contest for our great volunteers out there...  If you are interested, go to:

http://www.relayamerica.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=160

Relayamerica.com is a great site for on-line discussions!  Please support it by entering the contest and visiting it every chance you can to offer your wisdom on Relay - many people post questions there every day on how to make their events more successful!  Relayamerica.com recently had their own amazing milestone - they just crossed their 2nd anniversary!  Way to go!

3. Fundraising Ideas
Now is the time of year to make sure your teams are empowered with all the best fundraising tools you can give them...  Here are some great ideas that you can use to find new fundraising ideas and get the ball rolling!

http://www.acsrelay.org/Darn_Good_Ideas/10-Fundraising_From_A_To_Z.doc
- A huge list of fundraising ideas!!!

http://www.acsrelay.org/Darn_Good_Ideas/10-Fundraising_for_Kids_&_Youth_From_A_To_Z.doc
- Fundraising ideas particularly for kids/youth

http://www.acsrelay.org/Darn_Good_Ideas/10-Fundraising_Letters_Examples_DGIs.doc
- Letters you can send to request donations...  Sending a good letter to a broad group of family and friends can be a very easy way to raise $100's or even $1000's of $$!

http://www.acsrelay.org/Darn_Good_Ideas/10-Fundraising_On_Site_DGIs.doc
- Ways to raise $$ on-site at Relay - it is a good time to get your planning for such ideas going!

Do you have team members who are struggling on how to get their fundraising going?  Here are three simple guides on how to raise $30, $100, or $500 ...  Share with your teams to help them reach their goals!

http://www.acsrelay.org/Darn_Good_Ideas/10-Fundraising_Made_Simple-Raise_Thirty_Dollars_From_Thirty_Friends.doc
- A simple way to raise $30 in 30 days!  A great "starter" for people who are having trouble getting it going!

http://www.acsrelay.org/Darn_Good_Ideas/10-Fundraising_Made_Simple-Raise_One_Hundred_Dollars_In_A_Week.doc
- A great guide to raising $100 in just a week!

http://www.acsrelay.org/Darn_Good_Ideas/10-Fundraising_Made_Simple-Raise_Five_Hundred_Dollars_In_Ten_Days.doc
- For your more experienced fundraisers, here are some ideas for them to raise $500 in just 10 days!

REMEMBER - these are just ideas - remember that Relay is about our survivors and cancer education and so much more than fundraising...  Please share these ideas in the spirit that the hard work of your team captains and their team members can help us raise $ to find a cure.



4.  Great Idea of the Month - Collect A Donation From Every State!

The Oklahoma State Relay For Life organization has challenged their volunteers to get a donation from every state!!!!  What a fantastic idea! A great challenge for your event - challenge your participants to get a donation from every state, and give prizes to the 3 people (or teams, however you would prefer) who get donations from the most states!!!!! You could also have a prize for the most countries, too!!!!!  This great fundraising idea is posted at the cancer.org discussion board - check out:

http://www.cancer.org/asp/messageBoards/msg_global.asp?navToScreen=msg_1_1&navFromScreen=msg_1&txtTopicPath=cat-4EB2BF92E88949398FB376ED054C4465/mb-98F45F826E994CB5A86B516AE1AB9A02/topic-790341F7BCC847A8A32F61AD565D7C40&sortOrder=130&page=1&txtDiscussionId=discussion-443B4027EC734D18907BF3A77A1F8ECA

5.  "Sister" Relay For Life Event Program

Thanks for all those who have been interested in having a Sister Relay - As Relay For Life expands, there is a great opportunity to build relationship with other events around the nation or even the World!  Already, several events have developed "sister" event relationships (just like there are cities around the world that are "sister" cities)...  For example, Pittsboro, PA and Glascow, Scotland are sister events!  And we hear about more every day.  If you would like to be a sister event, e-mail rflvol...@gmail.com and we can match you up... Please specify if there is a particular location you'd prefer (if you are willing to be "sisters" with another U.S. event, or would prefer international events)... There are more and more international events every year, so we'll do our best.  Many events already e-mail and express interest!  See the following document for ideas on things you could do with a "sister" event:

http://www.acsrelay.org/Darn_Good_Ideas/08-Sister_Relay_Partnerships.doc

6 .  Other Reminders

• If you have any feedback on this monthly update, please let us know. Please send comments and suggestions to rflvol...@gmail.com.
• Remember to always check with your event committee and staff before applying an idea to make sure that there are not local/state considerations that you must take into account (sales tax rules in your state, particular things about your event or community that would make the idea inappropriate, etc.).
• Feel free to forward this on to others and have them e-mail rflvol...@gmail.com to be added to the distribution!
• Remember that if you are ever searching for an idea or information,
  please go to the search engine at http://www.acsrelay.org/ in
  order to find what you need:
  

  http://www.acsrelay.org/search.php
  

  Or, you can email rflvol...@gmail.com and we'll look into it!

And finally - THANK YOU! - Without you, the volunteers, there is no Relay!!!!!

There Is No Finish Line Until We Find A Cure!

Ramesh Moorthy
webmaster, http://www.acsrelay.org
Blogging About Relay at http://acsrelay.blogspot.com
Talking About Relay at http://www.relayamerica.com
American Cancer Society and Relay For Life Volunteer, Baltimore, MD
"There Is No Finish Line Until We Find A Cure"