Fundraising powerhouse St. Jude Children’s Research Hospitals is betting big on peer-to-peer fundraising with the launch of a new 5K run/walk series.
The St. Jude Walk/Run to End Childhood Cancer will launch in 58 cities this September, with an initial goal of raising $10-million, according to a report by the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
The $10-million goal is ambitious for a first-time program. But St. Jude’s has the size and name recognition to become a big player in the P2P fundraising space. The organization raised more than $851-million in 2013, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, a figure that ranked it as the 17th-largest fundraising charity in the U.S.
The charity has also lined up a number of major corporate sponsors for the campaign, including Target and American Airlines.
If it reaches its initial goal, the St. Jude campaign won’t yet qualify as one of the nation’s 30 largest P2P campaigns — though it would come close.
The 30th-largest campaign in the Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum’s most recent Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Thirty survey was the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention‘s Out of Darkness Community Walks, which raised $12.5-million last year.