Fundraising and Team Member Resources

Quickly and easily create your own personal fundraising webpage through Grassrootz to make it convenient for friends and family to donate to your Team Eye and Ear run online. Remember to personalize your page with photos and your story!

A letter writing campaign has been proven to be one of the most effective ways marathon members have raised funds. It is informative, yet unobtrusive, to your donors.

Tips for an Effective Letter

• Personalize Your Letter
  How well do you know the recipient? You may want to have a few versions of your letter – one for those who know you well, another for acquaintances, and a third for business contacts. Tailor your message to your recipients. For email, don’t underestimate the power of writing to people individually. It will yield much better results than sending the same message to everyone
• Keep it Short
  Keep the letter to a page or less to keep reader interest to the end. Appeal to the Heart and the Head: Use quotes, anecdotes and descriptions that appeal to the emotions, then reinforce those emotions with Mass Eye and Ear facts and statistics.
• Include a Personal Story
  Personalize your letter to include your connection to Mass Eye and Ear, if applicable.
• Personalize your Envelope
  Address your envelope by hand instead of using labels. This will tell donors, at first glance, that this is a personal correspondence.
• Make it Easy for Supporters to Donate!
  Clearly state in your letter how to get the donation to you. Include a return envelope to include with your letter for those who may wish to write a check along with your personalized Grassrootz website address where online donating can be made easily and securely.
• Follow Up
  If you haven’t heard from people you thought would donate, call them and ask if they’ve received your letter, or mention your request when you see them. They may have misplaced your letter or simply not gotten around to sending your check. Email is a great way to follow up with people who haven’t donated and to keep your supporters informed of your training and fundraising progress. Include a link to your Grassrootz fundraising webpage with your follow up email to make it easy for your supporters to donate.
• Show your Gratitude
  Everyone likes to know that his or her efforts are appreciated. A formal thank you is a must, whether you acknowledge people as the gift is received or after the marathon. Ask your donors to extend the ask to their networks. Also, be sure to ask if their company matches donations. If so, provide them with any information necessary.

Some points to consider including in your letter or email:

• What are you doing and why are you doing this?
• Why is the cause important to you?
• What is Team Eye and Ear / Mass Eye and Ear?
• What is your fundraising goal?
• What is the status of your fundraising?
• How will Mass Eye and Ear use the funds it receives (did you specify using the funds for a particular use)?
• How is your training going?
• Why is it important to sponsor you?
• How can a person sponsor you?
• Has the person sponsored you in the past?
• Say how much you appreciate the donor’s support!
• Have you reached any goals or experienced any setbacks?

Remind your sponsors to check with their Human Resources Department where they work to see if they have a matching gift program. A great way to do this is in your fundraising letter and/or email when you ask for a contribution and also in your thank you message after you have received a gift.

About Matching Gifts

Matching gifts are a great way to double your fundraising efforts and increase the impact of your donors' gifts. By taking advantage of a company's matching gift benefit, you may be able to double or even triple the amount of a contribution. If an employee of a company that participates in matching gifts program makes a gift to your fundraising efforts, their company will also "match" their employees' gift to Mass Eye and Ear (thus doubling your fundraising).

Guidelines

Each company has its own guidelines for employees, spouses, retirees, and widows/widowers.

The company may have certain qualifications for making contributions. Be sure that the company matches gifts to health care institutions and specifically Mass Eye and Ear. If those qualifications are met, the company will mail a matching gift in directly.

Procedures

Most corporate procedures are simple:

• After a donation has been made, request a Matching Form from your company's Human Resources Department.
• Complete and submit the form to Mass Eye and Ear.
• Mass Eye and Ear will verify the completed form and return it to the company. Once the contribution and form has been verified by Mass Eye and Ear, the matching gift amount will be added towards your fundraising total. You do not have to wait for Mass Eye and Ear to receive the company's check.
• You will be emailed by a member of the Mass Eye and Ear team once your matching gift amount has been counted towards your fundraising total and uploaded to your Grassrootz page.
• The company issues a matching gift contribution to Mass Eye and Ear. Many times, checks are cut only quarterly.

All gifts are tax-deductible to the extent provided by the law. The 501(c)(3) number for the Foundation of Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Inc. is 04-2785453

Grassrootz

All the donations received on your personal Grassrootz website will be automatically sent to Mass Eye and Ear. No need to worry about these. Your sponsors will receive an email confirmation receipt from Grassrootz which will serve as their tax receipt.

Credit Cards

There are three easy ways people can donate using their credit cards:

1. Ask your donor go to your personalized Grassrootz fundraising webpage.
2. Ask your donor to call Vancia Logan at 617-573-4312 with their credit card information.
3. Ask your donor to visit the Mass Eye and Ear secure website at Giving.MassEyeAndEar.org. Fill in the credit card information, then in the box, "in honor of", have them put your name to be sure that you get fundraising credit for their donation.

Cash

When possible, please collect donations via cash or credit card. If you do collect cash, please make one check payable to "Foundation of Mass Eye and Ear, Inc." Please write the donor's name in the 'memo' section on the check. We will upload the donor's name to your Grassrootz page. However, for legal purposes, a tax acknowledgement letter can only be sent to the person or organization where the check is written from. Please see the check section below for details on how to submit checks.

Checks

Please ask your donors to make checks payable to "Foundation of Mass Eye and Ear, Inc." Please make sure your name is written in the 'memo' section of each check that you collect. Each donor will receive a tax receipt from the Development Office. *note* please send all checks as you receive them, not all at once, so that we may recognize your fundraising progress.

Please collect all checks yourself (so that you may record them) and then send checks to the address below. Please make sure to include your name is included with the checks to ensure your fundraising is credited.

Team Eye and Ear 
Development Office 
Mass Eye and Ear 
243 Charles Street 
Boston, MA 02114

Runners will be emailed within three (3) business days of the Development Office receiving checks to confirm their fundraising progress. For legal purposes, a tax acknowledgement letter will be sent person or organization where the check is written from.

Personalized one-on-one fundraising coaching are available by phone or email.