Walk for Autism Case Study

Bootle
United Kingdom
Founded in 1972
Charitable Organizations and Foundations
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TextMagic enabled us to communicate directly with our WALK FOR AUTISM fundraisers at the start of the COVID 19 Pandemic in March 2020. It is an amazing service!

Jon Gordon Head of Enterprise

About Walk for Autism

WALK FOR AUTISM is a charitable walking challenge organized and promoted by the Autism Initiatives Group. The challenge was to walk 10,000 steps a day for eight days: 26 March to 2 April (2 April is World Autism Awareness Day). This was an online event; promoted through social media and Google Ads. People with autism as a cause close to their heart (usually parents and family of those with autism) sign up on our website www.walkforautism.co.uk and pledge to raise money and take on the eight-day walking challenge.

The business challenge

This was our 4th year of holding this fundraising challenge. At the start, we used TextMagic to send a welcome text to people as they signed up. As the years went by, we could use tags and personalize our messages and respond to queries from our fundraisers.

The event dates are the same each year, and I am sure you will understand that last year when our 2020 event was just about to start, the whole country went into lockdown because of COVID 19!

How TextMagic helped

TextMagic helped us keep in touch with our fundraisers at this very distressing time. We used email as well, but the instant and convenient way important information could be shared directly to their phone by text message and then back to us was invaluable.

The first few days of lockdown and our campaign were when we used to reassure and encourage so many people who had family members with autism through their telephone using TextMagic... it was amazing! However, we thought that all our hard work preparing for this fundraising event would be for nothing - but we were so pleasantly surprised to see how everyone adapted to the crisis.

They walked in their gardens, hallways, up and down the stairs, and during their daily exercise. Their families and friends supported them with so many donations, and we raised just under £84.000, which was amazing!

The results

We honestly thought we would only raise £50.000 because of the lockdown, but we raised nearly £84.000 ... £34.000 more than anticipated. TextMagic gave us the necessary medium to encourage and reassure our fundraisers during a pandemic!