Mario Marathon Raises Money for Children’s Hospital [LIVE VIDEO]

Mario Marathon Raises Money for Children’s Hospital [LIVE VIDEO].

Good idea. 

In my quest to find new and effective fundraising ideas for you, I stumbled across Child's Play Charity (www.childsplaycharity.org).  They run an event called Mario Marathon.  You can get the specifics on the event here http://mashable.com/2010/06/25/mario-marathon-2/#.

 

The skinny is, the event is an "a-thon" type event similar to a walk or bike ride except the participants are playing video games.  The gamers collect donations from their personal networks.  

 

Here's what i like about this idea.

1. It's an a-thon
2. The event could have very little operational costs - no venue, licenses, security, etc...  
3. The donations are made through paypal which means very low fees.     

If you are considering doing something like this, you should consider,

1. replacing the text-to-give option with  an app. you can offer convenience to the giver without paying half of your donations in fees to your wireless carrier and software vendor.  Unless, of course you think that Verizon or ATT really need your donations?
2. keeping gamer fundraising pages on the same system.  It makes it easier for the donor to find their buddy and your organization avoids the administrative and accounting nightmare of trying to figure out where all the money came from.
3. making it easy for someone to sign up and participate.  

We're all looking for ideas for new campaigns.  This is a good one and its becoming more and more prevalent.  I know that there are charity Madden Tournaments around the country already but I believe those take place at a venue at a specific time or place.  

The Mario Marathon looks virtual and that gives it many advantages.

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