Ride Don't Hide Anywhere toolkit

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Access to your own team fundraising page through www.ridedonthide.com. This will allow .... are at it, use your social n
www.ridedonthide.com RIDE DON’T HIDE ANYWHERE

We are thrilled

that you are interested in

hosting a Ride Don’t Hide

anywhere event This Toolkit has been designed to give you the tools you need to easily and successfully build your own signature Ride Don’t Hide Anywhere team. The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) will provide the following in support of your own community Ride Don’t Hide Anywhere event: • The 12 steps to creating a successful ride • Promotional material templates (posters, postcards, logos, t-shirt design and ability to purchase) • Access to your own team fundraising page through www.ridedonthide.com. This will allow you to send invites and donor requests to family, friends and colleagues. • Key messages you can use

Step 1: create your dream team

Step 2: make a plan

First things first, you need to create your Ride Don’t Hide Anywhere team: 1. visit www.ridedonthide.com 2. click on “Ride Don’t Hide Anywhere” 3. choose “Register for this Ride” 4. choose “Virtual Rider” 5. Click “Create at Team.” Remember to have fun with your team name, and make sure that you indicate which town you will be riding in as part of your name (i.e. “Mind Matters Kelowna”)

Start early and make a plan: • Brainstorm Ideas for the ride and set goals and objectives • Option 1: Will you gather a few friends together to ride on the national ride date (this won’t take a significant amount of planning, just an invite out to your friends to ride and to become fundraisers)? If so, go to Step 7. • Option 2: Will you plan a full event that requires detailed planning and multiple people helping out? If yes, the remaining steps may be helpful. • What will the event day look like? • Music, food, speeches, prizes, volunteers

The registration site creates an individualized URL link just for your team and a URL for yourself as one of the riders on the team. While on your personal fundraising page, send out invitations right away to your contacts or use the social media links. Have your team members register by clicking on “JOIN THE TEAM,” “Join an Existing Team” and searching for your team name.

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Suggested meeting schedule: • 2–3 meetings at the beginning of the planning stage and keep your committee engaged by providing email updates • A meeting one month before the ride to ramp up donations and numbers of riders • A final meeting during the week before the ride to review event details, speeches, and the last minute to-do list • Create a timeline of the event day

Step 3: Build your planning committee This is a great way to engage community members early and get them excited about the ride. Get started right away with your planning. Build your planning committee: • Gather a keen group who are committed and ready to make a difference: community members, bike shops, riding clubs, fitness groups, business groups, companies and student representatives from local schools. • Find a solid group of individuals who are ready to volunteer (great for volunteer hours, employee engagement) for all the promotional handouts and event day activities.

Step 4: take action Design the ride: • When? • Where? (set ride routes that everyone can enjoy) • What time? • How many riders? • How long will the ride be? Will you have a short ride and a long ride? • Think about safety! Route markers and route marshals to press the traffic light buttons and help riders cross the roads • Double check with the city about road permits Have some fun: create a map of the route at www.mapmyride.com Tip: don’t forget to test the route!

Step 5: build champions Champions are Ride Don’t Hide team captains or whoever is assigned to promote Ride Don’t Hide to their friends and families. Champions are the driving force for this fundraising event, so recruit them as early as possible. How to build champions: • Engage community and business leaders, celebrities and elected officials in your community to be involved. • Engage the local riding community to be involved. • Engage the senior students in local public schools and post-secondary schools to inspire and encourage youth and young adult participation. • Share your personal story which can encourage others to do so as well.

Assign champions to a specific work station. They need to be well informed about their duties so they can train and lead other volunteers. • Staging area »» Setup / signs / welcome / cheers »» Registration and prizes »» Rider support—help answer questions about the ride »» Food station »» Cleanup—usually shared among all staff and all volunteers • Route »» Volunteers to be route marshals »» Rider packages and goodie bags • Distribution of volunteer t-shirts, safety vests and supplies

Step 7: get the word out Get the community excited by telling everyone about the ride! • Put up posters • Get the local radio station and newspaper involved • Create incentives for participants to fill up their pledge forms if they are doing off-line donations. • Invite people to join your team by sending out emails from your fundraising page. • Spread the word through social media »» Create a Facebook and Twitter account »» Remind friends and family to tweet and post photos to share their experiences. »» If you or someone on your team is able to speak about their own personal experience, the reason for the ride will be more compelling and will garner you additional support and local media requests for interviews.

Step 8: fundraise Get creative with the community: • Organize a bake sale, car wash or other fun event. • Ask a local sponsor to assist with additional expenses for the day—printing banners, posters, water, music, hot dog lunch. All registered riders will receive a fundraising website to send out emails to friends, family and co–workers to support you and the event!

Step 6: recruit volunteers

Fundraise with Facebook: If you’re not a member of Facebook yet, join—it’s an amazing tool for fundraising and team recruitment! Meet other riders in your area and check out upcoming Ride Don’t Hide events by following Ride Don’t Hide on Facebook

Recruit volunteers early! You need as many volunteers as possible. Get teams and groups involved (sports teams, leadership). Identify how many volunteers are needed.

Fundraise with Twitter: Stay in the know with Twitter by following @ridedonthide and using #ridedonthide. While you are at it, use your social network to tweet your personal page links and fundraising messaging. Ride Don’t Hide

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thank you! from all of us at the canadian

mental health

association

Step 9: construct your event Site logistics for event day • Create to-do checklists weeks in advance (assign a deadline to complete each task and check box) »» Items to bring on site list—prizes, food items, signage and road markers »» People to call list—make sure it has the contact information of all your suppliers »» Banners list—have all the banners, make sure you have identified locations to display them, and bring zap straps to hang them • Create a timeline or event schedule for the day’s proceedings • Create big posters to be displayed at the event: »» Display the event schedule »» Route map • Volunteer station • Plan post-ride activities and cleanup

Step 10: turn up the music Entertainment and activities will keep participants engaged • Music • Face painting • Theme the ride ( i.e., superheroes) • Prizes (i.e., top fundraiser to present cheque) • Yoga • Relay bike race can keep participants engaged and useful if there is a lack of available bikes

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Tip: If you have a short route, you can do laps of the route. (i.e. most laps in an hour wins a prize).

Step 11: feed the troops Everyone loves food! • Food for participants is not expected, but encouraged • Try to secure sponsors to donate or pay for food • Pick up supplies »» Prior—where to store them »» Event date »» Delivery • Food safety—handling and storage • Water and juice at staging area and water stations • Set up the food stations, making sure stations are • Under cover (tented) and establish a traffic pattern • Volunteers—serving / cooking / cleanup • Recycling and garbage—bring garbage bags / bins and recycling bins Step 12: Tell us your story! Your local CMHA branch and CMHA BC wants to hear your story! • Tell us your story • Send us photos: [email protected] • Ask participants to share their experience on social media: @RideDontHide and #ridedonthide • Let us know what worked and what didn’t • Start planning early for next year TIP: Have a volunteer taking photos