What is the best way to enforce a minimum TeamRaiser donation amount?

Functionality-wise this can't be done. And I would shiver at the thought of trying to charge the card used for registration to essentially "bill" the rest of the amount to the participant without them actually taking the action. I imagine that could cause a mess of legal issues and bad press.

The best approach here is to communicate, communicate, communicate the importance/necessity of reaching that minimum amount. There are reports you can run to see exactly who these participants are and how much they need to raise to reach the minimum and use S-tags to include these dynamic elements into an email. Participants need to know that if that amount isn't reached then they simply won't be allowed to participate. So someone may have to be the "bad guy" at the event but if you clearly communicate this requirement then the turned away participant won't have any grounds for complaint. Perhaps take a look at why people are not reaching the minimum amount in the first place. Do they even remember? Chances are they registered months ago and just got busy and maybe forgot all about there being a minimum amount to participate. Or they think their "team minimum" being met means their personal minimum amount doesn't matter. So many participants just tag along behind a team captain and just plan to attend. You must communicate to these participants that them reaching their minimum is a requirement.

Basically there should be a proactive strategy to communicate and get everyone to reach the minimum amount with an increased urgency the closer it gets to the event date with actual consequences if a participant doesn't. 

I know you're looking for something "automatic" but this is a fragile element of hosting an event and one that really needs the feel of positive coaching and not of violation consequences.

Hope this helps!

Kent

Brian Mucha:

We use DSP.

 

One of our guys (Hey Phil!) built a recurring email to user's reminding them to complete the process.

 

It's a series of three emails, so they get repeated reminders. He used the group of donors from the DSP form as a don't-send group for the email, so people that complied are not hassled.

 

Then we use reporting to monitor who didn't comply after the warnings and boot 'em... or not, at the discretion of the event coordinator. Its up to them to make the call, and then again later when we get ready to bill them. Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances, and we mostly cut them slack.

 

I understand Kent's comments, but certain events really need this sort of function. For instance, we have a TR for the Bank of America Marathon, which is a huge and expensive event that routinely sells out. Our fundraisers get tickets, even past the sellout date, so there is a big drive to use us to get admission and not actually fundraise.

 

 

It is a serious hassle that it's a separate process, as I'm sure you noticed. This really should be part of the registration so they don't have to take out their card again.

Brenda Miele:

I agree with Brian. When I worked with Komen 3-Day, I would say this was the biggest obstacle - getting people to pony up for their missed fundraising minimum. It's beyond having to articulate the importance of the fundraising. Anyone signing up for an endurance event knows this and knows this is their biggest obstacle to getting to the event. The 3-Day team does a fabulous job with the communication of DSP, but if we could somehow capture the credit card information when participant's have their card out to pay for registration anyway, imagine the time and frustration saved for a lot of the participants...and staff too!

 

I would imagine there are more than a handful of orgs that would think this would be FABULOUS solution. Then, orgs could actually work on other priorities rather than chasing down those who didn't meet those fundraising requirements!

 

Brenda

We've implemented DSP for several clients, and I would be the first to agree that if the collection of credit card information for the DSP could be part of the registration transaction (where you specify the minimum fundraising amount anyway), that would be wonderful and simplify life immensely.

However, in it's current state, we find that DSP is quite workable provided you have a business process that supports it.  As was mentioned in a previous comment, you need to give people a compelling reason to complete their DSP information by a certain date.  Certainly you can mention the DSP in any communications going out, conditionalizing to omit that section for anyone who has already done their DSP.  That's a good start, and something everyone should probably do.  The mechanism by which you enforce that a DSP be completed will vary depending on the type of event.  Here are some ideas:

• Avoid standing in line to check in - complete your fundraising or do a DSP by xx/xx/xx and we will send you your race bib in the mail a week before the event.
• Complete your fundraising or do a DSP by xx/xx/xx or we will give your spot in the event to someone on our waiting list who is willing to meet the fundraising requirement.
• When you go to pick up your bib the morning of the event, there will be a 'fast track' line for people who have completed their fundraising or DSP'd.  You don't want to wait behind all of those other people writing checks, do you?

As long as you make very clear in your communications, from first touch of the website on, that a) there IS a fundraising minimum, b) WHY there is a fundraising minimum, and c) that your DSP will NOT be charged if you meet the minimum by xx/xx/xx, we find that most people embrace the DSP.  It is a 'safety net' that guarantees they will be able to participate.

I'm happy to discuss any specific implementation.  Feel free to give me a call.

David Jordan

Event 360

773-247-5360 x107