DIY Charity Walk

The first two things I can remember doing for causes as a kid was to sell Scout-A-Rama tickets and walk in the March of Dimes’ WalkAmerica, now called March for Babies. (Back then, I kid you not, the walk was 20 miles!) Plenty of causes have borrowed liberally from the March of Dimes walk events. March of Dimes, in turn, owes a debt of gratitude to the German Volksmarsch. Now a group called KindWalk enables you to create a DIY… ‘do it yourself’… walk for the cause of your choice.

Here’s how KindWalk works. You sign up for an individual membership at the website for $18 a year. You get a pedometer plus a raft of other benefits. They also have a second membership level for $51 that includes a pedometer with a USB port so you can download walk data directly to your account. Membership benefits include:

• Interactive Fitness and Nutrition Planner
• Weekly Recipes and Grocery Lists
• Monthly Wellness Newsletters
• Interactive Weight Tracker
• Smoking Cessation Resources
• Health Risk Assessments
• Wellness Calculators
• Vitals Tracking
• Health Coaching
• Rewards Program

There’s also corporate and group membership options that include a branded website. No word on what corporate or group membership options cost per capita.

The website has a pledge section and an internal social media network, among other things.

Once you’re a member you can join a team or create a team. That is, you could create your own ‘walk’ to benefit the cause of your choice.

Kindwalk has a lot of features, but if you visit the site I think you’ll agree that the marketing and branding is still as we say on the Continent, naissant. I also wonder why they don’t engage in some kind of cause marketing to drive membership. As in, “sign up now and we’ll be the first donor to your walk!” Also, Kindwalk doesn’t seem to offer any help on route planning, city permit issues or sponsorship.

Still, this is a very interesting option for charities or even sponsors that want something close to a turnkey solution for a cause walk.

(The photo at the left comes from a German Volksmarsch association).