How Pancreatic Cancer UK raised £44,000 at the 2022 Great North Run through Enthuse

The story

About Pancreatic Cancer UK

Pancreatic Cancer UK was founded in 2006 with the aim to transform the future for everyone affected by pancreatic cancer. It provides specialist support and expert information to ensure that no one faces pancreatic cancer alone. The money raised by their incredible supporters goes towards the running of its services, including the Pancreatic Cancer UK Support Line, its campaigning work focused on bringing about change, and research into the early detection of pancreatic cancer and to find better treatments.

The challenge

Raising more with branded fundraising

The AJ Bell Great North Run is the world’s biggest and best half marathon, with 60,000 determined participants crossing the finish line on the day, cheered on by the thousands more in attendance and the millions watching on the BBC.

From the brilliant sites of the North East to the truly inclusive atmosphere and brilliant on-route entertainment, it’s no wonder so many hone in on The AJ Bell Great North Run when they think about good ways to raise money for a cause.

Not only is it a fantastic event for fundraisers to take part in, it’s also a brilliant opportunity to build awareness by getting the charity’s logo and colours in front of as many people as possible.

With that in mind, the challenge that Pancreatic Cancer UK set itself was not just a short term one but one with a focus on long term relationship building. The charity was keen to raise as much as possible through Great North Run fundraising while also putting the charity’s brand first.

That’s why the charity elected to work with Enthuse to make the most of its branded fundraising technology.

The more approach by Enthuse

Providing the best fundraiser experience

As the official online fundraising partner for the AJ Bell Great North Run, Enthuse fundraising pages are co-branded in a way that other fundraising providers are not.

For the 2022 Great North Run, every Enthuse fundraising page that was created on behalf of Pancreatic Cancer UK had the charity’s logo and colours at the forefront. Meaning that it truly looked like a page built with Pancreatic Cancer UK in mind. The Great North Run branding was also weaved into the design to add that legitimacy to the pages and re-assure fundraisers and donors they were giving to the right pages.

The branded fundraising pages were important to Pancreatic Cancer UK because it meant their cause would be more memorable to donors. This helps to avoid the ‘give and forget’ phenomenon of donating to a friend who’s taking part in a charity event and failing to remember the cause they’re running for. This is an important part of building that brand recognition and those longer term supporter relationships.

What’s more, by going with the official fundraising platform for the event, Pancreatic Cancer UK was able to benefit from the automatic fundraising page creation that came with their participants signing up. This gives the charity and its participants one less step to worry about and encourages its fundraisers to customise their page and start collecting donations from the moment they are registered.

Charities like Pancreatic Cancer UK can also make use of the Strava integration to keep their friends and family updated with training progress. The option to thank donors is another way for fundraisers to interact with people and to potentially raise more. In fact, thanking donors has been shown to help participants raise 39% more on average*. Using an official fundraising page also has its benefits come event day. That’s because, on the day, supporters can only donate to an Enthuse fundraising page via the Great North Run app. An opportunity that charities will want to make the most of.

In tandem with digital fundraising, a strong stewardship programme is also key for charities when trying to maximise donations for the AJ Bell Great North Run. In 2022, every Pancreatic Cancer UK Great North Run participant got an email stewardship journey filled with training advice, training materials, fundraising advice and impact messaging. This was great for providing the relevant support but also showing fundraisers the difference their efforts were making.

Pancreatic Cancer UK is also a big advocate for calling fundraisers at different stages throughout their journey to provide a personal touch. It ensures every runner feels appreciated and helps the charity to know how engaged they are in the process so they can tailor their outreach accordingly. Segmenting the stewardship programme is another great way to do this, whether it’s by amount raised or if a fundraising page has been used yet.

By making the most of the branded fundraising pages and partnering it with a thoughtful stewardship programme, Pancreatic Cancer UK was able to make the 2022 Great North Run very successful.

* based on Enthuse data

We like the official feel that comes from using Enthuse for the Great North Run. It also means that people can donate to our cause on the day through the AJ Bell Great North Run app, which is a definite bonus.Lauren Hunt – Supporter Acquisition and Engagement Manager, Pancreatic Cancer UK

Results

A brilliant £44,000 raised from fundraising

The charity raised a very impressive £44,000 through Enthuse when fundraising for the 2022 Great North Run. A brilliant achievement that will go towards the specialist diagnosis, support and research the charity does to help those with pancreatic cancer.

The charity’s success was summed up by the excellent fundraising averages it managed to achieve. The charity had set an initial fundraising target of £350 per person for the event, although there was room for flexibility. On average, the overall fundraising total ended up being 131% higher than that initial fundraising target, hitting a fantastic £809!

The top fundraising duo managed an incredible £1,330 (531% of their initial fundraising target), which goes to show what’s possible with mass event fundraising when participants have the right tools and make the most of their networks.

All in all, Pancreatic Cancer UK was able to raise a great fundraising total while putting its cause front and centre, to help build awareness and long term supporter relationships.

We were really pleased to hit our fundraising goal for the 2022 Great North Run, as we know how valuable those donations will be to those we help. We saw some brilliant fundraising totals from those who took part and we hope to build those relationships further.Lauren Hunt – Supporter Acquisition and Engagement Manager, Pancreatic Cancer UK