Budgeting your community's race

An Update from Ian

I started my career as a 23 year old investment bank analyst in San Francisco.

It probably sounds more glamorous than it was. In reality, I became a scrappy workaholic who sent calendar invites, formatted PowerPoint slides and navigated excel files while listening to conference calls.

During that time, I learned to process large volumes of data and quickly build excel models. I built excel models in my early 20s almost as much as I practiced shooting free throws in my early teens.

I figured those skills would be helpful, but I never thought it’d be relevant to building communities. Turns out, I was wrong. Two of the most frequent questions we get asked by new races are:

1. How much does it cost to organize a community race?

2. How many dollars can a 5K run/charity walk raise?

The answer is that it depends. There are unknown things about a race (especially when the event is new). But you shouldn’t have to guess about everything.

So I’m sharing 3 steps to understand the fundraising opportunity of a community race and providing an excel model so that you can stay smart about your race economics (you’ll also impress your race committee).

1. Estimate costs through internet research and vendor calls.

2. Set pricing and estimate participants and sponsors.

3. Enter numbers into model and share with your race committee.

Note: there is an opportunity to raise even more money by collecting donations and enabling team fundraisers (which you can do through Run The Day’s platform).

Simply respond to this email with the word ‘Money’ and I’ll send the excel model to your inbox so that you can impress your race committee.

A Word from Run The Day Customer Michele

Michele directs the Chris Kelley 5K race, which raised over $39,000 in 2023 to support first responders and military families in need. Good shit Michele!

“I really like the platform. I like how you can add pictures to it and it just makes it a little bit more personal for people who haven't done our race. Honestly, I allotted several hours to set it up and I didn't need that.”

- Michele Kelley

Tech Updates

• Feature: Photo and video upload.

• How to Use:

  1. Download Run The Day app from app store or google play.

  2. Navigate to your race.

  3. Upload photos and videos from your phone like you would to social media.

• Feature Release: Apple Pay.

• How to Use: When registering on a phone, participants receive the option to pay with Apple Pay.

• Statistic: 23.5% of payments on Run The Day’s platform use Apple Pay.

  

  Register with Apple Pay

Resource

• 5K budget template: Create a professional looking budget for your community’s race with a done for you excel model.

Would you like a budget model for your community’s race?