Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training Partners with haku for Second Annual Resilience Challenge

As the COVID-19 pandemic continued to require social distancing throughout 2020, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team In Training, the leader for endurance sports training for charity, created a virtual event that would unite their community in support of the of LLS’s mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. To ensure the virtual event would exceed expectations, LLS selected haku as their technology partner to bring their unique virtual fundraising event to life and keep their community engaged and motivated, while welcoming new teammates with a new offering. 

During September 2020, LLS launched the Team In Training Resilience Challenge - a free event encouraging participants to complete 50 miles in whichever way they prefer (running, walking, cycling, hiking, etc.) and raise $500 towards fighting blood cancer, signifying the more than 50 FDA approved blood cancer treatment therapies LLS has funded since 2017. The challenge became a major success for Team In Training, with results surpassing their initial goals and nearly 5,000 participants completing the challenge, raising significant funds to help find a cure for blood cancer.

With haku’s modern peer-to-peer fundraising suite and robust all-in-one technology platform that can be customized to fit an organization’s specific needs, LLS felt confident that haku could help them deliver a powerful and innovative virtual fundraising event. To bring this unique event to life, LLS worked closely with their dedicated team of haku customer experience specialists to ensure that every need was addressed and that a truly one-of-a-kind experience was created.

"Collaborating closely with haku's customer experience team to ensure a successful event made the planning seamless and brought all the critical pieces together," said Yana Anderson, Vice President of Athletic Initiatives with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. 

To create strong engagement and bring their community together virtually, Team In Training provided their fundraisers with a place to build team camaraderie and share their connection to the LLS mission within the haku platform. With advanced social media integrations, Team In Training incorporated a social wall within the participant accounts that came to life through the event hashtag. As the social wall grew with inspiring content and stories, so did their fundraisers' overall engagement.

"One foundational element for Team In Training is always having a sense of community and being able to celebrate with one another," said Anderson. "Features like the social wall being pulled into the fundraising accounts drove the event engagement and expanded our sense of community in a virtual setting."

As maintaining that sense of community was a priority for LLS’s Team In Training Resilience Challenge, haku worked closely with LLS to deploy meaningful communications throughout the event to ensure that every fundraiser and donor had a positive experience. Both partners knew that sending engaging communications to keep every fundraiser motivated could be the difference between getting a new donation or not. To drive an impactful fundraising event, Team In Training relied on haku's powerful all-in-one platform to give fundraisers an elevated and more unified experience. With the entire event experience delivered in one place for Team In Training’s fundraisers, from monitoring motivational incentives to being able to log miles and connect wearable devices, haku’s single platform created a premium fundraising endurance event experience. Plus, with one-step registration and fundraising account creation, Team In Training was able to reduce attrition rates and capitalize on their fundraisers' initial excitement by enabling them to jumpstart their fundraising immediately. 

"Being able to provide our participants one platform as their single point of reference for the entire event was an integral element of the user experience in this virtual setting.  Participants were able to have their movement and fundraising accounts living together ensuring ease of access,” said Anderson. 

Through haku’s robust peer-to-peer fundraising solutions, fundraisers were enabled to raise more money by having access to their own customizable fundraising pages, unlimited email and SMS marketing campaigns, actionable insights, and much more. 

"Our team focuses on delivering personalized experiences for every participant from the technology that they’re engaging with to the customer service that they receive. This, in turn, helps drive success for our partners so that they can succeed beyond their goals," said haku Founder and CEO, Carlos Escobar. 

About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society:

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society® (LLS) is a global leader in the fight against cancer. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world, provides free information and support services, and is the voice for all blood cancer patients seeking access to quality, affordable, coordinated care. 

Founded in 1949 and headquartered in Rye Brook, NY, LLS has regions throughout the United States and Canada. To learn more, visit www.LLS.org. Patients should contact the Information Resource Center at (800) 955-4572, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET.

For additional information visit lls.org/lls-newsnetwork. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About haku:

haku is an unparalleled technology partner that forward-thinking event organizers work with to plan, manage, promote, and sell-out their events. Through state-of-the-art technology and an all-in-one platform, world-class organizations can better plan events, track progress, engage with participants, and move their events and businesses forward, all while utilizing an all-encompassing technology ecosystem. haku is trusted by organizations such as the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, Team In Training (LLS), Marine Corps Marathon Organization, J&A Racing, Houston Marathon, Atlanta Track Club, Philadelphia Eagles, Mercedes Benz Corporate Run, and many more.