Pushing Your Company's Charity Walk Past the Finish Line with Mobile Storage

Anyone who has participated in a 5K, fun run or other charity walk knows the events are teeming with people — thousands of runners, spectators, and others out to support a good cause. With such a large and engaged audience, corporate sponsorship of these events is a winning endeavor for businesses looking to raise customer awareness and still fundraise in support of a mission.

If you're still uncertain of the positive benefits of having your business support a charity walk or another active fundraising event, we will first review the reasons why companies and organizations should participate in those events. Furthermore, we will also cover the necessary equipment and services to guarantee your company's sponsorship is worthwhile.

Charity walks can grow business

One of the greatest benefits of corporate sponsorship for a charity is that it puts your brand out there to more audiences. Depending on the sponsorship amount, your company's name and logo will typically appear on the event's website, advertising, social media, and other promotional venues, as well as on thousands of runner and volunteer t-shirts.

Sponsorship provides brand recognition and boosts your company's reputation by associating your business with a worthy cause and philanthropic outlook. Your company can also boost employee morale by encouraging employees to join the corporate team and raise funds for the associated charity on race day.

Depending on the event, your company could even receive on-stage recognition as a corporate sponsor, or have the opportunity to present an over-sized check representing a generous donation. This can do wonders for raising awareness with potential customers while also giving back to those in need.

How to become a corporate sponsor

Once your company decides to get involved as a corporate sponsor, there are several tasks to take care of before the day itself. One of the most important is choosing the right event for corporate sponsorship.

If your company is looking for local recognition, sponsoring a 5K or other fundraising fitness event for a local charitable foundation or children's hospital may be a good choice. Your company can gain broader recognition by associating your brand with national initiative such as fundraising to research Alzheimer's disease, cancer, or another health interest.

For example, the American Diabetes Association lists select corporate sponsors of its Fairway to Wellness Charity Golf Tournament and Tour de Cure cycling fundraising event on its website. At PODS, we regularly participate in the American Heart Association’s Tampa Bay Heart Walk because it is an easy way to engage with the local community near our corporate headquarters in Clearwater, Florida, while supporting an important health cause.

Designate a team or department within your company to submit the sponsorship application to event organizers, facilitate employee involvement, coordinate volunteer schedules, and procure the necessary supplies.

Mobile storage rises to event challenges

If your business hosts a booth at a 5K, fun run, or charity walk, try to anticipate and find ways to avoid event day challenges. Your event booth will need plenty of supplies for setting up, distributing freebies and snacks, and introducing your brand to participants and spectators. The bigger the charity run, the more supplies you'll need.

Without on-site storage, company volunteers may have to maneuver heavy boxes through crowds and around barriers. Events that attract thousands of people also bring logistics challenges like parking, potentially forcing volunteers to walk long distances with boxes of supplies. All of that extra work can result in tired, cranky people manning your corporate booth — which can undermine the reason you're there in the first place.

If you plan to hand out bottled water at a large-scale event, it's easier to load up hundreds of cases to store in advance than it is to lug them to your booth on the morning of the event. If the venue permits, participating businesses can use mobile storage containers to keep bottled water, cups, tents or canopies, product literature, signage, demonstration materials, and other supplies on-site.

Using mobile storage to store supplies at a 5K or charity walk means your company won't miss customer awareness opportunities because booth set-up was delayed by parking or transport issues. Also, the less time your company has to spend organizing on event day, the more energy your volunteers can put into enhancing your business reputation behind the booth.

Partnerships save time and money

When you partner with a mobile storage and logistics company like PODS to handle event supplies, your employees spend more time working and less time packing their cars and driving back and forth to the event site.

Load everything in at your business location or at a secure PODS storage facility, and a driver will deliver your container so that it's ready on-site with all supplies on the event day itself or whenever you're ready to set up. Your team will work with one direct point of contact at PODS to coordinate delivery and pickup times that work best for you and your staff. After the event, it's time to reap the rewards of your company's success because your brand will be fresh in the minds of thousands of people.

Learn how a partnership with PODS for your next charity walk will ensure that your next event goes as smoothly as this one.

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