Join BCAN’s Bladder Cancer Cure Team

To increase awareness of bladder cancer and raise funds to advance bladder cancer research, Bladder Cancer Cure Teams participated in the 2010 and 2011  Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon (PHLYTRI)’s Sprint Triathlon, organized individual runs, and brought family and friends together to run in a community race.

You can join the Bladder Cancer Cure Team!  Just pick a race or event that you want to participate in, create your own fundraising page, and share your page with friends and family as you prepare for the event.  We would love for you to help BCAN by participating in an event and setting up your own personal fundraising page!  You can also help BCAN by doing an event for Walk for Bladder Cancer on May 5, 2012.

How do I create my own fundraising page? Create a StayClassy page!

The easiest way to ask friends and family to support you by donating to BCAN is to set up a free online donation page using StayClassy.  By creating your own personal, free StayClassy.org donation page, your supporters can donate with just a click.

Setting up your StayClassy.org page is easy! Just follow the simple steps below

1. Visit http://www.stayclassy.org/charity/bladder-cancer-advocacy-network/c5602 and click “Start Fundraising” on the right, just below the green donation button
2. Select the type of fundraiser you want to do.  You can join one of BCAN’s fundraisers, or set up your own fundraiser for a sporting event, celebration, or in honor or in memory of someone.
3. Enter your name, email address, and a few other details and click the green “Sign up” button on the bottom of the form to complete your registration. You will automatically be taken to your donation page.
4. Personalize your page!  On the gray bar, click the icon marked “Edit my page” Here you can edit your page name, your fundraising goal, and add a photo.
5. Scroll down to do even more to “Personalize your Page.”   Please add personal stories, goals or jokes to the letter – anything to encourage your loved ones to help! Tell people why this is important to you!
6. Personalize the thank you letter that will be sent via email to anyone who donates on your fundraising page. Add your name and any additional message you would like all your donors to receive. Save your information by clicking the green button at the bottom of the page “Update my page.”
7. After you have created your page, you can easily go back and make changes.  Go to stayclassy.org and click “LogIn” at the top of the page.  Enter your email address and the password you created.  You’ll see a list of “My Fundraisers,” and you can click “Manage” to make changes to your page.
8. Now you’re ready to begin fundraising! On the gray bar, you will have several options to share your page- including email, Facebook, and Twitter. Select as many methods as you’d like, and get the word out.  If you click “Email” a sample email you can use will pop up.  You can also copy the link to the page and include it in personal emails and letters to friends and family.
9. If you have any questions, contact Grace at gschroer@bcan.org!

For examples, check out Andrea and Jamie’s and Simon’s fundraising pages for BCAN, and see the sample text below.

Sample text for your fundraising page:

Thank you for visiting my personal fundraising page! On [date of event], I will be participating in the [name of event]. I will be joining with the Bladder Cancer Cure Team on behalf of the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) to raise funds in an effort to increase awareness about bladder cancer, provide educational and support services for the bladder cancer community, and advance bladder cancer research.

As you may know [insert why you are passionate about racing against bladder cancer/how you have been affected by bladder cancer personally], so racing for this cause is very important to me.

You may not know that:

• Bladder cancer is the 5th most commonly diagnosed cancer in the U.S.  It is 4th most common among men (after prostate, lung and colon) and 11th among women.
• In 2010, it is estimated that almost 71,000 new cases of bladder cancer will be diagnosed and more than 14,000 people will die from the disease.
• There are more than 500,000 bladder cancer survivors in the U.S.

Donating through my StayClassy.org site is simple and completely secure. It is also the most efficient way to support my fundraising efforts. Thank you in advance for your support – and don’t forget to forward this to anyone who may also want to get involved!

Do I have to participate in an event to help?

No – you can still help BCAN by donating to another Bladder Cancer Cure Team!  Just click the Contribute button to visit BCAN’s StayClassy.org page to make your donation.