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5 Ways to Talk a Friend into Doing a Charity Walk with You

Did you know you can already register for the 2018 3-Days? There is no time like the present to sign up to be a part of our 3-Day family, and get moving towards your own goals for next year’s events.

You never walk alone on the 3-Day, but those 60 miles are all the more fun with your bestie beside you! Start talking up your friends to see who will walk with you next year!

Get started now to give all your team members as much time for fundraising and training as possible. If you are planning to grow your team this year, it is also the perfect time to start asking new recruits to join you. There are plenty of ways to talk someone through the great impact of the 3-Day and encourage them to join the cause.

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Tell them they’ll make a difference: This one should be a great opener, especially for anyone who has been personally affected or knows someone who has been affected by breast cancer. Susan G. Komen® has plenty of infographics and information explaining how all of your fundraising money is put to good work, but you can also see it first hand at any of the 3-Days. When you walk, you meet survivors, their families and many others who are or have felt the direct impact of the money raised by every 3-Day walker.

Tell them they can raise the money: Fundraising is one of the topics our coaches and team captains get asked about the most.  Not everyone is comfortable asking for monetary support, even for a cause as important as ours. However, there are plenty of different ways to effectively fundraise, including letter or email writing campaigns, bake sales, charity events, selling homemade goods and more! New walkers receive lots of support from their teams, their coach, and our online community as well. We will help you find a fundraising plan that works for you, and do all that we can to help every walker reach their fundraising goal.

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Tell them they can go the distance: Another obstacle some people have to overcome is the prospect of walking all those steps. Very few people walk 60 miles in a weekend when they’re not on the 3-Day, so it can seem like a daunting task. Luckily for anyone with reservations, we have your back. With a fully supported route, including Sweep Vans that can pick up walkers and take them to the next rest stop, you only have to walk as far as you can!

Tell them there will be laughter: Is the 3-Day a lot of work? You bet your pink tutu it is! But it is also a whole lot of fun. From sharing stories on the walk, to themed rest stops and lunch tents, to dance parties and glamping, there is no shortage of smiles and laughter on every one of the 60 miles. This is an especially good approach for those who are afraid of potential monotony of walking for 3 days in a row, or who don’t know as many people on your team. No matter who you know, you will always have a friend on the 3-Day.

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Tell them they will gain a family: One of the best parts about the 3-Day is that you become part of a family. Beyond your team, or those who share tents near you at our camp site, you will leave your 3 days with us as part of something larger than yourself. For anyone who has participated in charity events in the past, reminding them of that feeling of family you get when you’re all trying to accomplish something together will be one of the easiest ways to encourage them to participate. It will also probably help you feel reinvigorated for your own training and fundraising goals.

How have you convinced people to join your team?

Easy Team Building Activities

On the 3-Day, we are all part of one big family. We walk, eat, cheer, glamp, share and succeed together. However, many of our 3-Dayers walk as members of teams within that larger family (teams ranging from 1 member to 119!), and we love seeing you all bond and thrive over the course of 60 miles.

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To make your team as strong as possible, we recommend doing a few team building activities leading up to the 3-Day to get bring your teammates as close as possible. This is especially important for teams where not everyone knows each other. We have some simple and fun ideas to get your next team meeting off on a fun note!

Human Knot

Tried and true, this is never a bad idea, and could be a fun way to start each of your team meetings. Starting in a circle, participants connect hands with two others people in the group (but not anyone next to them) to form a human knot. As a team, they must then try to unravel the “knot” by untangling themselves without breaking the chain of hands. Time yourself each meeting and see if you get better the longer you work and train together.

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Photo Finish

The aim of the challenge is to set up a “finish line” or your training walk, and get the whole group to step across it at exactly the same time. Strike a pose, or take a leap! If one person is out of sync, then you must start over again. This activity involves planning, communication and timing. Create your own finish line, and make it as exciting or intricate as you like! Then, set a timer on your camera and capture the action. This is great practice for crossing the finish line at the end of your 60 miles.

Human Shapes

Working together as a team, the group must use their bodies to form letters and words. You can lay on the ground to form them, transform your body while standing, or even use your fingers to make words together! Spell out your team name, the name of the person you’re walking for, or phrases like “The 3 Day” and “More Than Pink.” Take photos and tag us on social media! We might just re-post!

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Shoe Tower

Just completed a long training walk or a team shoe fitting for the 3-Day? Make use of your sneakers! Using the shoes available to your team, split into two sides and try to construct the tallest tower of shoes. The team with the tallest tower wins the challenge!

Geocache Adventure

A lot like a scavenger hunt, a geocache adventures rely on clues, but has the added level of using GPS coordinates to find an item. There are several apps available to use on smartphones that you can use for geocache-ing. The team captain can hide clues or 3-Day treats in locations around a park or your local town. Then, split into pairs and go off hunting! The pair that hits all the spots first, and gets to the “finish line”…wins! This helps team members work together to achieve a specific goal, just like you will on the 3-Day.

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Group Timeline

Using poster board, a bulletin board, or a large piece of paper, create a timeline. Have it start on the birth year of your team’s oldest member, and go up to this year. Mark each year on the timeline. Then, also mark important years for Susan G. Komen and the 3-Day, like the first year there was an event in your city.

After that, give your team members four slips of paper, and ask them to mark down four important moments in their life. Let them pin them to the timeline. This will help your team members learn more about each other, and about the history of the 3-Day.

What are your favorite team building exercises? Tell us in the comments!

Meet Northern Nippys, Twin Cities 3-Day Team

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Twin Cities 3-Dayers take their walking and training seriously all year long, even in the dead of winter temperatures. Minnesota’s freezing temperatures bring teams together early in their 3-Day journey, whether that team is two people or 32 strong. One team, The Northern Nippys, has been both a duo and an army of more than 30 people, and through the years they have become a Twin Cities 3-Day staple thanks to creative fundraising and boundless recruitment energy.

This year, the Nippys, led by Team Captain Laura Lamson, are aiming to raise $100,000 as a team of at least 40 people, and already have 39 team members behind that goal.

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“I’d always dreamed of a big team! And then a friend of mine signed up and she said, “If we have ten, then we should go for 15!” And I said, “Why don’t we go for 20?” Lamson explained.

“It turned into such a positive peer pressure situation from there and escalated up, and that was the year we had 32 people. It was just amazing! A lot more work, but a lot more fun came with it. After that the numbers changed, but this year is my 10th year walking and my friend’s 10th year as a survivor, so we have vowed to raise $100,000.”

Such a bold goal means recruiting new team members, hosting many group meetings for support, and a whole lot of fundraising.

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Recruiting was the easy part for Lamson, who welcomes anyone and everyone onto the Nippys. A few team members signed up immediately after the 2016 3-Day finished, and more soon followed thanks to word-of-mouth through various friend groups, and social media promotion.

A good support system is key for any team, especially one with lots of new members, and the Nippys have it in spades.

“We have team meet and greets to make it fun! I make a video from all of last year’s photos to give them a feel for the 3-Day and make them comfortable right from the start,” Lamson says. “Then, we talk about why you’re walking and who we’re walking for, and just keep it positive! We do ongoing team meetings and brain storming, and see what we can do for fundraising and support. We also have our team Facebook page for people to ask questions, and share ideas or tips from past walks.”

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For veteran walkers like Lamson and a few of the other team members, that means sharing everything from their packing list to their fundraising letters.

Even with a large team, fundraising can be a daunting task, especially for new walkers with a big goal.

“So many of my walkers are intimidated by [fundraising] but I tell them that on average you need about 50 people to donate.”

Getting those donations just depends on what each walker is comfortable with. Lamson has developed a list of more than 500 people she mails letters to each year, and continually reminds new teammates that “it doesn’t hurt to ask.”

The team also runs one fundraiser with a local restaurant and another with a local bowling alley, distributing the proceeds throughout team members who need an extra boost towards their goal. In the past, the team has also done garage sales, dog washes and more.

“Every little thing we do brings fun and brings us together. The more we do, the more it makes us unified as a family.”

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This feeling of family culminates every year on the 3-Day itself.

“You are just in this happy little mode no matter what happens,” Lamson recounts. “It’s how we all wish the world would be. It’s just the kindness and generosity that comes out in everyone, and you feel like a family. The more years I walked, the more I knew how important this was. One in eight women are affected and I’ve got to walk for them! You get on the 3-Day high and it’s too fun to walk away from the little 3-Day bubble.”

So every year, the Northern Nippys come back for more of that family love from their team, and their whole Twin Cities community. This year they have a big goal to achieve, but luckily, they also have each other to help them on their journey.

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