Whether you are a large corporate team or a smaller group of friends and family, being on a team has several benefits! Team members can turn to each other for support, training rides and fundraising ideas. Trek teams are also given extra incentive opportunities.

It's a proven fact that event participants who are on a team, on average, will raise more money for the cause than those without a team to support them. Participants who are on a team are also much more likely to stick to their commitment and participate in the event.

Be a Team Captain!

All the information you need to be a team captain is right here!

Forming a team is fun and easy. Only four riders are needed to start your team. Recruit more riders to share the fun and increase fundraising! So recruit friends, family and co-workers for this year's Trek Tri Island!

Register as a team! Or if you have questions, contact alaw@alaw.org or call 206-441-5100.

Team Captains

Being a team captain is easy and rewarding! As team captain, your responsibilities include: recruiting team members, maintaining communication with your team members, and making sure your team is up to date on Trek information. Team Captains will also have an American Lung Association® of Washington Team Captain Coordinator available to handle any and all team questions.

The Team Captain position is an important one, but a lot of fun too! In fact, your role can help lead to the success of your team and to the success of the Trek Tri Island!

Team Captain Responsibilities include:

• Recruit team riders, making sure they get the materials and information they need.
• Organize a coaching meeting with your team members and the American Lung Association® of Washington Team Coordinator
• Publicize the Trek Tri Island at your organization. There are lots of "team-tested" ways to spread the word within your company and generate enthusiasm (please see the "Recruiting Team Members" section for more specific recruiting and publicity tips).
• Motivate and encourage team members.
• Establish team goals and timetables: total dollars raised, number of riders, etc.
• Determine (and ask for) company support. Ask your company to match donations or buy team t-shirts
• Coordinate team training session (click on training link above for ideas)
• Keep in touch with team members. Check in with them periodically to see how they're doing; keep them up to date on what's happening with the team.
• Coordinate creation of team t-shirt
• Explain American Lung Association® of Washington goals and techniques, and encourage riders to fundraise as much as possible
• Send registration forms and donations to American Lung Association® of Washington in a timely manner.

The role as team captain is to assemble the team! Talk to your friends and family and get them excited about Trek! If you are putting together a team from your work, here are some specific tools to help you achieve your recruitment goal:

• First, get the company involved if you can. Talk with your boss, and depending on the size of the organization, perhaps someone from the "front office". See if you can enlist their support. Their support can be as much as matching donations made by employees. They can provide a team T-shirt or jersey with the company logo on it. Or they may only give you moral support. But whatever they can do will help.
• Put an article or announcement in the company newsletter.
• Use email to spread the word about your Trek team. Invite co-workers to join the fun!
• Display Trek posters and brochures in your personal office space or ask if you can post materials in common areas, such as the cafeteria or copy room.

If you haven't heard about it, the Recruit Three, Ride Free program can be a tremendous benefit to your team. It works this way: if you recruit three new Trekkers (people who've never done Trek before) you will receive a $500 fundraising credit as soon as the three riders you've recruited have achieved their minimum fundraising ($500). There are a number of ways you can use this credit. First, you could use it to cover your own personal fundraising minimum. Or you can go ahead and raise your $500 and the $500 Recruit Three credit will put you over the $750 Winners' Circle level. Or you can give the $500 to one or more of your team members to help them with their fundraising. It's easiest if your new team members list you as having recruited them when they register. Then when they have reached their minimum, we'll be in touch to see how you want to handle the $500 credit. There is no limit to how many "threes" you can recruit. Each group of three will generate $500 in fundraising credits.

Each year Trek Tri-Island participants raise over $200,000 to help everyone in Washington State breathe easier. Team members raise, on average, more than non-team members because of the support they give to and get from each other. Further, teams have the advantage of pooling their energies and ideas to create group fundraising strategies that are not available to individuals.

Here are a few tips on fundraising.

Ask everyone you know to sponsor you - and we mean EVERYONE - not just your dearest friends or your mother, but everyone. Your dentist, the person who cuts your hair, your long lost college roommate, anyone you come into contact with in the course of the day is a potential sponsor! Brainstorm and come up with a list of prospects - you'll be surprised at how long the list grows. Then ASK! Most people you ask for a pledge will give you one and every dollar counts!

Go for it! We know fundraising makes some people nervous - we also know that worrying about fundraising is much harder than actually doing it - so just get started! Before you know it, you'll have reached your pledge minimum and probably even go beyond it. Prepare to be pleasantly surprised at just how easy this fundraising stuff can be.

Many companies match gifts to the American Lung Association® of Washington. Find out if your company is one of them. This is an excellent way to increase your pledges. NOTE: Matching gifts count toward your fundraising total ONLY if the necessary forms are completed and sent along with the donation being matched.

Have a sponsor sheet at your desk or post one outside your office or near the lunchroom. Then ask people who stop by to sponsor you and some people may sponsor you without being asked. Also, carry a sponsor sheet with you at all times - you never know when you'll encounter someone who wants to give you a donation.

Bake Sales, Auctions, Car Washes, Garage Sales are all great ways for team members to pool their time, energy and talents and maximize their returns. (We would appreciate it if you didn't send the cash you collect through the mail.)

Call us for support! Whether you need additional sponsor forms, tax receipts for donations, a few more "trekker-tested" fundraising tips, or just a little moral support, we're here to help. Trek Tri-Island is a fun event for a worthy cause!

Remember: You are asking people to support the important work of the American Lung Association® of Washington. Learning all you can about American Lung Association® of Washington programs will help you feel even better about asking.