We know that fundraising is hard and asking for money can be uncomfortable. Thank you for putting in the effort on behalf of the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and the people who utilize our services.

Here are some tips and guidelines for fundraising for your ride!

Do:

• Be direct – the best way to get someone to donate is to ask them to donate!

• Always be respectful when talking about people who utilize the Food Bank and other services in the food assistance network.

• Make your message personal – regardles of where or how you’re talking about your fundraising, include why you’re riding and why addressing food insecurity in Western Massachusetts is important to you.

• Get informed about food insecurity and hunger in the region, and the ways the Food Bank works to address it. People love to know how their donation has a direct impact on their community!

• Make it easy – in electronic communications, include a link directly to your personal or team fundraising page. When talking to people in-person, send people to willbike4food.org. If possible, follow up those conversations with an email or Facebook message sending them directly to your fundraising page.

• Keep track of cash and check donations, and inform events@foodbankwma.org when you receive them so their totals can be added to your fundraising page. Please also instruct your supporters to make checks payable to "Food Bank of Western Massachusetts"

• Keep track of all donations on your Pledge Sheet. 

Please don't:

• Alter the name of our organization. Please always refer to us as the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.

• Use terms such as "the needy" or "the hungry". It is very important to us at the Food Bank to be intentional with the language we use to talk about to the experiences of individuals and families utilizing Food Bank services. Instead, we ask that our riders use terms that support our efforts to reduce stigma and highlight people's agency, such as "guests" (of pantries), "participants" (of programs), or simply "people utilizing the Food Assistance Network". 

• Alter our logo or artwork (i.e. stretching, resizing, changing the color, cropping)

• Use screen shots or copies of our artwork (including logo, slogans, photographs, etc.) from our website or social media pages. If you need something that is not included in this toolkit, please email cheyenneb@foodbankwma.org.

• Set up a Facebook fundraiser (where people donate directly through Facebook instead of your official participant page). We are unable to attribute funds collected through Facebook to your Will Bike 4 Food efforts.