The Kidney Foundation of Canada is a collaborative, inventive and focused leader in the development of programs, services, research opportunities and awareness campaigns that have had a positive impact on the millions of Canadians living with, or at risk of developing kidney disease.
The Foundation was in need of a new online presence that would raise awareness, communicate their passion for the cause and ultimately help them connect with donors in support of their mission.
The Kidney Foundation chose raisin to develop a new website that would support their mission to have a positive impact on the millions of Canadians living with, or at risk of developing kidney disease.
We designed The Kidney Foundation of Canada a website that is a centralized online presence with regional representation that celebrates their new brand, drives engagement and highlights the important work of the Kidney Foundation.
Sub-zero temperatures don’t normally scream a “casual day at the beach”, but since 2017, thousands of half-naked souls have stared down cold winter waters to help break the ice on youth mental health.
The annual event is known as Brainfreeze: Polar Bear Dip for Youth Mental Health.
Brainfreeze began as the idea of two transformative organizations, jack.org and Surf the Greats, to bring attention to the rising problem of suicide among young people in Canada. The thinking was simple: Come together for a courageous, collective act that raises awareness and alleviate stigma.
The first event kicked off in 2017 with eighty passionate polar bears and raised $18,000.00 – an impressive feat by any calculation.
In the years since, the Brainfreeze community has swelled into an enthusiastic national demonstration, spanning across six Canadian cities (Halifax, Montreal, Collingwood, Toronto, Victoria and Vancouver) and upwards of $525,000 raised for jack.org.
Photos by: Viktor Radics, Dexter Chew Photography, Oliver Karmel-Shann and Sam Moffatt Photography; Yalin Kaya, Sue Holland, Sanjeev Kugan, Alex Bruce, Marcel Rocheleau & Tania Kolesnik.
Hockey fans are known for their passion, so can you imagine thousands of hockey players coming together to take on cancer? Well, that’s what happens when The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation hosts the Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer, a dusk to dawn street hockey fundraising event, every fall. The results are literally record-breaking.
Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer rallied 1,900 participants on 167 teams, together raising an astounding $3.19 million for vital cancer research at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. The totals set the Guinness World Record for the largest road hockey fundraiser in the world — breaking a mark already held by the event — and a Top 30 P2P Fundraising event.
Some friendly competition
On the way to event’s historic achievement, Road Hockey players and teams collected funds with individual player and team fundraising pages built on raisin’s Peer-to-Peer module, which has powered the event’s fundraising for more than 10 years.
Fundraising is a source of competition amongst Road Hockey players and teams — perhaps not surprising given the passion of hockey fans. In this spirit, teams are placed into divisions by industry with winners crowned on event day. Team and player fundraising results are broadcast in real-time on their pages, along with a custom leaderboard that’s sortable by division.
Leading up to draft day it’s not uncommon for teams to “scoreboard watch” to see who will lead the tournament in fundraising and have an opportunity to draft one of the NHL alumni and celebrities in attendance to play on their team.
White glove treatment
The Road Hockey Team at The PMCF is the most supportive in the game. The PMCF understands that fundraising isn’t always easy and works directly with their players, hosting workplace orientations, sharing toolkits and just generally being available for assistance. Even small things like knowing players on a first name basis make a difference.
By getting to know players and accommodating their preferences, Road Hockey not only creates a world-class game day experience, but develops long-lasting connections with players – over 80% of whom return year-to-year.