American Cancer Society Case Study

American Cancer Society

Event Community

Background

American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life is the world’s largest fundraising event series. More than 4 million people in over 20 countries come together and honor cancer survivors, remember loved ones lost, and fight the disease by raising funds that will go to cutting-edge research. Relays are 24-hour overnight events in which teams walk or run continuously in recognition of the fact that cancer never sleeps. To date, Relay for Life has raised over $3 billion.

Challenge

Despite the success of its flagship Relay For Life fundraising event, American Cancer Society recognized that a sizable performance gap existed between its top performing events, team captains, and participants and their lagging counterparts. By shrinking this performance gap, American Cancer Society could raise more money to further its mission. American Cancer Society had previously attempted to create a community for Relay For Life on Drupal, an open sourced system. However, their efforts were met with mixed results and technology challenges.

Solution

American Cancer Society selected Small World Labs to create the next generation Relay For Life community, Relay Nation. ACS's community is integrated with its existing registration and login system for a seamless user experience and data synchronizes with ACS's fundraising database and CRM. In Relay Nation, participants are able to share fundraising ideas, compare notes, and discuss the challenges that each person faces in meeting their goals. Engagement options and knowledge resources are targeted to each member type, whether they be a first time participant, veteran team captain, or event committee member, maximizing the value of each interaction.

Results

Within three months of its launch on Small World Labs, Relay Nation is generating more than 30,000 member to member actions, with participants sharing fundraising strategies, ideas, pitfalls, and successes. This high engagement level bodes well for future fundraising success and participant retention.