Campaign Wrap Up: How to Put a Bow on it

For some of you, the time has come to gather all of your Shinerama threads together into one beautiful tapestry.  You've focused on being involved and raising a ton of money for a cause you may not have known much about a year ago but to which you've since shown tremendous dedication.

Once Shine Day is done, it isn’t *quite* the end of the road just yet. Let’s review the steps you need to complete in order to leave a beautiful legacy for your school and the lucky students who become a part of organizing Shinerama next year.

The Money Honey

Once you’ve spent the evening of Shine Day counting everything you collected, you’ll likely have several events planned, such as an official announcement, a get-together to celebrate your success, and a thank you to those who’ve supported your efforts. Definitely hit up your social accounts and send an email to your Regional Director and the National office to help spread the good news!

Now that you’ve counted it, how should you handle the money you collected? Where are you going to store it before you send it to Cystic Fibrosis Canada? A drawer in the Students’ Union Office? A plastic bin left in the backseat of your car? In the freezer or washing machine? - Okay so it’s obvious none of these are good options. Keep the money in a safe, secure place and get it deposited into a bank and transferred to Cystic Fibrosis Canada as soon as you possibly can. Officially, you need to get your money in to CFC within two weeks of your Shine Day.

You may have collected information for tax receipts for some cash or cheque donors – use the provided spreadsheet and send in your list as soon as possible so that donors are respected and thanked, helping to ensure they are willing to give again next year.

Sharing Kudos

Although you will likely spend some time jumping around the room in joy at your success, remember the hard work and support of all of your generous partners, sponsors, committee members, patrons, workers, and shiners. Don’t let their contributions go un-thanked! Here are some ideas:

• Pick up a few cards or maybe even make your own letter and put a picture on it. Sending a personalized thank-you is very meaningful and can make the difference in the level of support received next year. It is important to maintain these relationships within your community - and hey, maybe even send them a holiday card to say hello during the year!
• Hold a get-together for all of your volunteers, and maybe a second smaller get-together to thank your committee.
• A public thank-you message in the local newspaper or on the local radio station for providing support all summer long will be greatly appreciated by your community. You can find excellent templates for announcing your total and saying thanks in the Shinerama Media Kit.
• You could put up a big banner in your University to thank the students and staff for volunteering.
• If you’re struggling for words, there are some samples of thank-you letters and certificates on the Extranet.

Supplies: Save ‘n Store

Take a post Shine Day inventory to catalogue what supplies are left over. All re-usable supplies must be counted, packaged and stored. This includes shoe shine kits, tattoos, stickers, and balloons. In addition to a copy of your original total supply order, please make a count list of what is remaining and put it in your Transition Binder intended for next year’s incoming Shinerama Director so that they know what supplies to order.

Reflect & Review

Take some time to reflect and evaluate what actually went on throughout your campaign. Get your committee together and host a post-campaign evaluation meeting to talk about the successes you had and some areas for improvement next year. After that write up a brief campaign evaluation report, fill out the post-campaign evaluation form and send it to Kiara at the Cystic Fibrosis Canada office. Definitely keep a copy as well for the Transition Binder you’ll be giving to the new Shinerama Director.

Transition Binder You Say?

This is the invaluable Shinerama Bible you’ll be leaving for your successor. At the beginning of my campaign I started a binder of all things Shinerama related and continued to add to it throughout the duration of the campaign. It included things such as posters, event information, schedules, shine sites, contact information, sponsor information, partnership packages, lists of donations from that summer, pictures, meeting minutes from every committee meeting, and a disc of all the files. And that is what I gave to the incoming Shinerama Director after I left the block.

There are so many times that we see a new Shinerama Director come into the role, arrive at national conference, and not know anything about their school’s campaign history. We know how much Shinerama has meant to you this year. Leaving a pattern of success that will help your replacement reach even higher by building on the foundation you’ve laid is truly the way to show how much you care.

Passing the Torch

Although the Shine Love will always stay strong and live on, people do move to new responsibilities and however reluctantly, the Shinerama torch at your school will go to a fresh, new piece of the human race. Try very hard to appoint the new Shinerama Coordinator for next year’s campaign no later than March 2013.

Who might this person be? Was there a committee member who really helped you a lot this summer and is excited to grow their responsibilities? Did a fellow shiner volunteer really stand out to you and you feel they have Shine Love to give? When you do know who the lucky person is, please send their contact information to Cystic Fibrosis Canada right away so we know how to get a hold of them before National Conference in May.

Help the new director as much as you can and hold a meeting with some potential volunteers or interested committee members to help organize next year’s campaign.

It’s Not the End

Even though Shine Day may be over, your thank-you’s all delivered, your Transition report completed and a new campaign coordinator chosen - it doesn’t have to be the end! You can still raise money for Shinerama by running secondary fundraisers in Autumn.

And there’s even more opportunity for you to continue with Shinerama! In November, selections of Campaign Advisors for 2013 will take place. If you appreciated the invaluable support of your CA this year, want to see the power of Shinerama from a national perspective, support Shinerama campaigns across Canada, gain invaluable fundraising and professional experience, have unforgettable fun… well, I could go on! You can apply to become a 2013 Campaign Advisor by completing the application on the Extranet and sending it in to Cystic Fibrosis Canada.  I strongly encourage you to consider this extremely rewarding position!

We hope to see you in one way or another with Shinerama next year. In the meantime, Shinerama is far from over for this year! Keep shining and making a difference in your life and the lives of those living with cystic fibrosis. Until we can finally fight off this disease - and we will - we need every bit of Shine Love that you continue to spread across the universe!

Much Love,

Steph Bagnell
Regional Director – SK & MB