Tap Cancer Out Connects Passions With Fundraising to Raise $4.7M on Classy

Mission

To motivate and empower the Brazilian jiu-jitsu community to raise awareness and funds for cancer-fighting organizations

Challenge

Find like-minded jiu-jitsu enthusiasts to participate in competitions for a good cause

Solution

Leverage Classy’s registration with fundraising campaign type to connect people’s passions with fundraising

“We’ve been with Classy since day one of our day one. All I hoped for our first tournament was that we would raise a few thousand dollars. We ended up raising $17,000+. I’ll never use anything but Classy forever.”

– Jon Thomas, Founder and CEO

Results With Classy:

$4.7M

donated to beneficiaries

46%

of tournament registrants fundraise

$541

average amount raised per fundraiser

Tap Cancer Out combines people’s passions for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) with philanthropic endeavors that raise awareness and funds for cancer-fighting organizations.

Since its inception, which began with an idea at a Classy Awards ceremony in 2011, Tap Cancer Out has built its core fundraising model from the ground up with Classy, integrating the platform’s technology into every step of the donation journey.

A Tournament Model That Empowers Competitors to Fundraise for a Good Cause

Tap Cancer Out has always known that a registration with fundraising model is the right approach for its jiu-jitsu tournaments. Participants can register for a tournament as a Paid Competitor and are charged an entrance fee upfront (ranging from $70-$100), or they can register for free as a Fundraising Competitor. As long as they raise $250 or more, they owe nothing to compete. Anything raised above that amount can earn them Tap Cancer Out perks and swag.

The funds raised at each Tap Cancer Out event help fund the more than $1,000,000 in yearly gifts committed to TCO’s beneficiary organizations which include Alex’s Lemonade Stand, the American Brain Tumor Association, and First Descents.

Our registrants and fundraisers are familiar with how our registration page looks and quickly learned how to set up a Classy fundraising page, which they can connect to their social media accounts, to reach more donors in their network.
Jon Thomas
Founder and Executive Director

Tap Cancer Out Registration With Fundraising Page — Registration With Fundraising Tournament Page

Attracting Participants and Accurately Tracking Their Fundraising Data

Tap Cancer Out started working with Media Cause, a mission-driven marketing and creative agency that helps nonprofits grow and accelerate their impact, over seven years ago.

By utilizing paid media efforts, including Google Ad Grants, awareness and digital ads on social media, and paid search campaigns, Media Cause helped grow Tap Cancer Out’s brand awareness while attracting and increasing the number of registrants per tournament. Now, paid media is responsible for 37% of tournament registrations.

Media Cause also helped set up the Meta Conversions API for Tap Cancer Out, which connects Facebook fundraising with Classy’s backend to ensure peer-to-peer fundraising dollars match all donor data in Classy. This data hygiene practice allows Tap Cancer Out and Media Cause to optimize performance while keeping the cost per registrant low.

New Sports, New Opportunities to Fundraise

Tap Cancer Out is continuously innovating, optimizing, and iterating its process. If a tournament city isn’t meeting the fundraising goals or participant demands as expected, they’ll find another city that is. All of this information is visible in Classy’s reporting function and provides accurate data for the Tap Cancer Out team to predict and react to trends in their tournaments.

Tap Cancer Out is expanding its sports offerings through a bi-annual Golf Classic that follows a similar structure to the jiu-jitsu tournaments. By continuing to utilize Classy’s registration with fundraising tool, Tap Cancer Out can host high-quality and highly efficient events while raising money for life-saving cancer research.