Maryland Exceeds $5M in Donations, Setting the Bar for 30 Fellow Special Olympics Locations on Classy

Mission

To provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for persons eight years of age and older with intellectual disabilities

Challenge

Inspire fundraisers, athletes, and other locations with a strong ticketed fundraising event strategy

Solution

Classy’s registration with fundraising model led to huge success post-pandemic

Classy is incredible. It’s a user-friendly platform that still allows for customization. Compared to our fundraising on TeamRaiser, our donations and volume have skyrocketed. Over the last two and a half years, we’ve racked up $5,483,193.

– Alexa Carney Vice President of Marketing & Communications

The Result

$5,483,193

raised since switching to Classy in 2019

$1M

in donations raised solely through virtual events in the wake of COVID-19

$150

increase in amount raised per fundraiser through registration with fundraising

Special Olympics Maryland is one of 30 locations in North America that leverage the Classy platform to host engaging events with a trusted registration with fundraising model.

Maryland’s robust program hosts 27 sports and numerous local competitions. Large-scale online events that unlock the power of peer-to-peer fundraising allow them to expand and take action to support their core focus: “Through sport, creating a world where opportunity is not limited by disability.”

Each year, Maryland hosts the popular Polar Bear Plunge which attracts roughly 10,000 attendees who fundraise on the organization’s behalf. Between 2020 and 2021, virtual events with attendee fundraising helped them raise $1M, despite the pandemic.

Events are simple for donors, thanks to key success factors like campaign templates, design ideas, and fundraiser toolkits, all of which are shared with other Special Olympics locations to inspire similar success on Classy.

The organization’s VP of Marketing and Communications shared, “Less is more. You want people to know the details of your event and why they’re raising money, but too much turns them off. Keep it simple with a donor-centric experience.”

Classy features that make it happen:

Campaign page customization
Automated milestone emails
Donation matching with Classy’s Amply integration
Social sharing with Classy for Facebook
Real-time progress wheel
Monthly donation option
Impact blocks