The National Breast Cancer Research Institute is a national charity that funds a comprehensive research programme at the University of Galway. Breast cancer research has improved the diagnosis, treatment options, and outcomes for those who develop the disease. The National Breast Cancer Research Institute want to fund these research programmes to continue to impact the outcomes for those who develop the disease in the future. Their vision is to have a real and measurable impact on outcomes for breast cancer patients.
Ongoing donations are imperative for the charity to successfully carry out their mission. Therefore, iDonate were on hand to help them streamline processes, increase engagement, and drive donations. Find out how below.

The What

SWIM IN PINK 2023

“1 in 7 women Irish women will develop breast cancer before they reach 75 with over 3,500 cases diagnosed annually.” NBCRI

Based at the Lambe Institute, University of Galway the National Breast Cancer Research Institute funded researchers are currently working on major national and international projects to improve the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Therefore, for the third year running, the National Breast Cancer Research Institute, in association with Blackrock Swimwear, asked as many people as possible to ‘Swim in Pink’ in October 2023 to help raise funds and awareness for breast cancer research during breast cancer awareness month.
The event asked volunteers to “‘Dip’, ‘Swim’ or ‘Splash’ for Swim in Pink”. Turn up on the day in your best pink-wear and support. Volunteers were required to register online for €25, with all money going to National Breast Cancer Research Institute.
In 2023, the National Breast Cancer Research Institute turned to iDonate to explore a wide range of features that could make this event the most successful yet.

The Challenge

The National Breast Cancer Research Institute wanted to make sure the registration and set-up process was as straightforward as possible. With the big hope for an increased number of locations around the country getting involved, keeping things simple and organised was essential.

Furthermore, the charity wanted to ensure that the campaign felt like a community effort and not various pages fundraising separately. This resulted in the charity reaching out to iDonate to provide a feature that would include all locations taking part in one hub.

This would be the third year of the event for the charity, with the previous year raising over €44,000 nationwide. For that reason, the end goal for iDonate in this partnership was to raise even more money than previous years and to make that as easy as possible for everyone involved.

The How

Microsite: The iDonate team created a custom microsite for the National Breast Cancer Research Institute. www.swiminpink.ie

It was important to the charity that volunteers and donors were directed to a charity branded landing page and not a third-party donation site.

The microsite was fully interactive and heavily branded. This brought more focus to the event itself and created an authentic look.

Sign Up Forms: iDonate created user friendly and branded sign-up forms. The complete registration form was entirely custom made and stayed on site from start to finish. These registration forms helped iDonate gather important data for the charity.

Autogenerated Fundraising Pages: iDonate wanted to create a streamlined sign-up process, therefore, when the volunteer signed up, a fundraising page was automatically generated for them, meaning less work for the registrant!

Location Map: This was a key feature for the charity. We created an interactive map on the microsite that would allow participating groups the option to submit their location for their ‘Swim in Pink’ event. This allowed group organisers to recruit more fundraisers for their location.

Custom Communications: iDonate created custom made emails for sign up and registrants. When a volunteer signs up, they received a custom automatic email, branded by National Breast Cancer Research Institute.
In addition to this, iDonate created email marketing campaigns to update ‘Swim in Pink’ volunteers with pre and post event emails, customised with the charities branding.

For information on how you can use any of the above features, please contact us on [email protected]

The Results