YMCA Events

The Y is one of the nation's leading nonprofits strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility. GiveSignup helps more than 100 YMCAs across the country host events to engage members and their broader communities.

We are Fundraising Event Experts

Our mission is to make it free and easy for nonprofits to raise more money, grow their events, and engage their supporters. Events are key to driving revenue, new supporters, and awareness for our nonprofit customers. We create free and easy to use fundraising event software that you can fully control.

We've helped our customers raise more than $1.4 Billion. More than 10,000 nonprofits and 26,000 events use GiveSignup today to make events easier, raise more money, and create awareness for their missions. 

Learn more at https://www.givesignup.org/ 

GiveSignup's free Email Marketing platform is purpose-built for events and helps the YMCA save money and build better emails for all of your fundraising events - and beyond! Here are 5 reasons why GiveSignup's free Email Marketing platform is great for nonprofits.

1. GiveSignup Email Marketing is Free Forever (Really!)

Stop wasting time keeping your Mailchimp list under 2,000 contacts to get free email or spending money after your free 60 day Constant Contact trial ends. GiveSignup's free Email Marketing lets you upload unlimited contacts and send unlimited emails for all of your events all year long.

2. Send Personalized Emails

While other ticketing platforms like Eventbrite give you a simple email editor, you can take your communications to the next level with GiveSignup's data-driven replacement tags (merge tags). Personalize your marketing emails with custom information for each recipient - even for your custom contact uploads! If you’re just getting started with email marketing, you can use the merge tag %First_Name% to customize each message with people’s first names. Once you get more comfortable using GiveSignup, you can do lots of amazing customization with merge tags.

Make your Event Day emails simple with QR Codes and Ticket Summaries to quickly check-in ticket holders. Schedule a Thank You email to automatically send after your event to all attendees.

 
 
3. Build Beautiful Emails

GiveSignup's templates enable your nonprofit to quickly create and send beautiful emails that always feature your nonprofit. We make it simple to build by using your event's theme colors. Choose from one of our default templates, build your own, or bring your own HTML! 

 
Easily customize your email with our content blocks. Simple drag and drop content blocks let you design emails that are professional with no HTML or coding needed. Add images, text, and buttons to feature your content.  When you send your email, it's automatically optimized for mobile, tablet, and desktop devices!

4. Segment Recipient Lists

It's easy to upload your custom contact lists to GiveSignup with custom data fields. We also make it easy for you to select recipients from lists automatically created by your ticket event. Send an email to all ticket purchasers, all ticket holders, or just a specific segment of your ticket purchasers (i.e. send a personalized email to VIP vs. General ticket holders).

5. Dig Into Email Analytics

GiveSignup's email analytics provide key data points for the emails you are sending out to your supporters. With important information like delivery, open, and click rates, you have the ability to evaluate the efficacy of your emails and modify your future communications to maximize their impact on your revenue. The data will also help you avoid sending emails going forward to those with bad emails, those that have marked your emails as spam, and those who have unsubscribed. You will dramatically improve the quality of your email lists.

Learn More
 

Email Builder for Tickets: https://givesignup.blog/2022/01/14/email-builder-now-available-for-givesignups-free-ticket-event-email-marketing
Email Builder for Registration: https://givesignup.blog/2022/01/25/next-generation-email-marketing-for-registration/ 
Stats for Email Marketing: https://givesignup.blog/2021/11/02/statistics-for-email-marketing/ 
Data Replacement Tags: https://givesignup.blog/2022/01/18/data-replacement-tags-now-live-for-email-builder/ (and we continue to release more!) 

We continue to add more features to our Email Marketing platform. Learn more about our Email Marketing Product Roadmap. 

You can also check out our additional resources like webinars and product update blogs. 

Centralize your event information, promote your branding, and create a website that you can market! With GiveSignup you get a real website that’s mobile and SEO-optimized, not just a page like Classy or Blackbaud or GoFundMe (or that might have ads for other events on it like Eventbrite). Design beautiful cover pages with our easy click-and-point builder. Add pages to your website with our simple and intuitive Website Builder. Bring your own domain (mynonprofit.org or a subdomain (tickets.mynonprofit.org) for free. And yes, the SSL certificate is free and you have full control to add content. 

Learn More

Website Builder for Ticket Events: https://givesignup.blog/2021/07/21/introducing-the-givesignup-website-builder/
Pages & Menus for Ticket Events: https://givesignup.blog/2021/11/15/pages-and-menus-live-on-givesignup-website-builder-for-ticket-events/ 
Cover Pages for Ticket Events: https://givesignup.blog/2019/11/14/ticket-event-cover-pages/ 
Bring your own domain for free: https://help.givesignup.org/support/solutions/articles/17000091153-add-a-domain-to-an-event-website
Bring your own subdomain for free: https://help.givesignup.org/support/solutions/articles/17000091155-add-a-subdomain-to-an-event-website 
Feature your branding: https://help.givesignup.org/support/solutions/articles/17000091150-change-event-site-s-theme-logo-and-banner 
Ticket Event banner images: https://givesignup.blog/2020/02/12/ticket-event-banners/ 

What We do: Free technology for events.

• Free Ticketing
• Free Email
• Free Websites
• Free Reporting
• And More!
  
  

What We Don't Do: No subscriptions. No commitments. No invoices. Just free and purpose-built technology.

• $0 Subscriptions per year
• $0 Upgrades per year
• $0 Support per year
• $0 Unlimited Email Contacts & Emails per year
• $0 Websites per year
  
  

What We Charge: We only make money when you make money, which keeps us aligned with our customers.

To keep our platform free, we charge a processing fee (that includes all credit card fees) to purchasers on each transaction.

Ticket and Registration Processing Fees

• Processing fees are inclusive of both credit card (including AMEX) and platform fees
• Donations have a low and flat processing fee of 4% (yes, that still includes both platform and credit card fees!)
• Volume Discount pricing is available
• Free events are always free!
  
  

What support do I get if I have questions setting up my event?

GiveSignup and TicketSignup create technology that you can control and easily customize & update. Every event that is set up on our platform is reviewed by our support team, and we will proactively reach out with tips for the best set up for your fundraising event. In addition, we provide written and video tutorials to help you create and customize your events to match your own branding and messaging.

Some YMCA events need more tools than ticketing offers. GiveSignup's free registration platform has the same capabilities as Tickets like free Email Marketing, free Websites, donations, and flexible sign up options with some additional functionality including:

• Fundraising: Integrated individual and team fundraising 
• Complex teams, including competitive teams, team categories, corporate teams, and more
• Purpose-built tools for endurance events like Results, Bib assignment, Corrals
• Tools for virtual endurance events and virtual challenges

Learn more about Peer to Peer Fundraising Events here!

What type of Events use Registration?

You can use Registration for a wide variety of events but some of the most popular ones include:

• Corporate Challenges
• Runs and Races
• Walks
• Rides
• Triathlons
• Peer to Peer Fundraising Events
• Virtual Races
• Virtual Endurance Challenges - sure, walking but also reading!

You don't have to stick to "normal" Registration events, though. We have also seen golf tournaments, fishing tournaments, polar plunges, and much, much more!

Why GiveSignup?

We are fundraising event technology experts. GiveSignup is FREE and purpose-built to help the YMCA raise money and leverage events to grow awareness, create networking opportunities, and gain new supporters. GiveSignup has fundraising event tools to help your YMCA host endurance events, walks, and peer-to-peer fundraising events.

Grow Your Event & Awareness

Our free technology helps your YMCA gain new members and ensures that your organization & mission is front and center in every interaction. We have free marketing tools to help you promote and grow your events:

• Free Email Marketing: Upload unlimited contacts and send unlimited beautifully designed, personalized, and branded Emails.
• Free Websites: Use our easy Website Builder to create free websites that feature your brand for every event. We make it easy!
• Referral Rewards: Incentivize your supporters to bring their friends and family to your event with Referral Rewards.
• Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel Tracking and Conversion API, TikTok tracking, and dozens more conversion tracking options
• Social Sharing: Customize your images and messaging, and promote on the confirmation page as well as throughout your website and Email.

Sell Registrations

• Flexible pricing options: Age-based pricing, Membership discounts, Multi-event discounts, Family pricing, Caps, Reserved Entries, Automated pricing increases
• Teams: Easy team creation, Team Captain Access, Team size and gender restrictions, Team categories, Special team pricing, Optional team passwords, Corporate Team options, Guaranteed entries, and more
• Information Collection: Passwords required, Fast registration options, Custom questions
• Custom waiver options: waiver signature tracking, multiple waivers
• Corrals
• Bib assignments
• Results, virtual results, challenge activity tracking
• Photos
• Store, including shipping management

Raise More

GiveSignup's registration platform has integrated individual fundraising, team fundraising, and donations. You control which options you want to use to raise more money!

• Individual Fundraising
• Team Fundraising
• Make fundraising required or optional
• Fundraising minimums, with options to save credit cards to autocharge for unmet minimums 
• Customizable pages for both individual and teams, including a slideshow, messaging, reports, and more
• Milestones and badges to award fundraisers for hitting key achievements like Amount Raised, Number of Donations, and more
• Free Facebook Fundraising integration: Double your donors by enabling this feature and help your fundraisers raise more.
• Integrated and standalone donations

Succeed on EventDay

We helped you sell all those registrations. Now it is EventDay and we have the free tools to make it a success!

• Results: Live leaderboards, custom finisher certificates, virtual results, text & email results notifications, RaceDay Scoring
• Timer Access: Make it easy for your timer on EventDay with access to the data they need to time your event!
• RaceDay CheckIn App: Make packet pickup faster, more accurate, and less chaotic - even with a weak internet connection.
• Photos: Draw traffic to your website with free, unlimited photos - complete with race or sponsor logo watermarks.
• RaceJoy: Real-time GPS tracking of participants that allows spectators to track people on an interactive course map. Also works great for tracking your Operations team!

Flexible, Secure Infrastructure

GiveSignup has invested in the latest technology and cloud architecture to meet our customers’ needs. Our cloud architecture benefits you with speed and scalability at a low cost, providing the ability to handle large events with 50,000+ attendees attempting to register simultaneously. Information sharing is secure; we use multiple levels of firewalls and all pages are secured with TLS/SSL and HTTPS. Runners can access us from any device including computers, iPads, and both Apple and Android smartphones. You can count on our secure infrastructure to be highly available. This secure infrastructure allows you to be comfortable that your data is being handled properly and payments to you are accurate and on time.

PCI Level 1

GiveSignup has achieved the highest level of PCI compliance as evidenced by our Attestation of Compliance. Our volume of transaction processing required us to go through a rigorous certification process, which included onsite reviews and scanning and vulnerability testing with an independent third party Qualified Security Assessor. As part of the certification process we implemented the following advanced security measures:

• Secure password storage with protections like bcrypt
• Secure user input fields with SQL prepared statements to prevent XSS attacks and SQL injection as well as CSRF attack
• Advanced encryption key management procedures
• Secure network configurations with multiple levels of firewalls
• Employee, customer, participant segmentation and access control and login management
• 100% code review and change logs
• System hardening including implementation of Center for Internet Security recommendations
• OSSEC log analysis
• AntiVirus scanning including ClamAV
• Constant vulnerability scanning including implementing Nessus
• Monthly process to install security patches
  
  

Payment Facilitator

GiveSignup has taken steps as a company to meet stringent security, banking, VISA and MasterCard processing rules to become an authorized intermediary (Payment Facilitator) between credit card holders (registrants) and race owners. This means that with our Advanced Payment Accounts we never handle your race proceeds. After the credit card transactions are settled for your race, the race proceeds are held in escrow for your benefit with our back end credit card processing company. Funds transfers to you happen accurately and on time by either ACH or check based on the frequency of payment you have requested.

Data Privacy

Data privacy is important to you and to your participants. Whenever we collect or transmit sensitive data, that data is encrypted and transmitted in a secure way. We don’t sell or share participant data with anyone other than the owner or Event Director of the event for which a participant has signed up. GiveSignup will not market or sell anything directly to participants who use our site. We only collect credit card information when a participant requests us to and if requested it is stored securely with a third party PCI Level 1 compliant vendor who specializes in credit card storage. .

GiveSignup's free Ticket Event platform makes your YMCA events easy. It's ticketing built FOR the Y so you can:

• Grow your event and promote your Y with FREE Email Marketing and FREE Websites
• Sell tickets for simple or complex, multi-day events
• Raise more money with integrated one-time and recurring donations
• Succeed on EventDay with an easy to use mobile CheckIn App

Learn more about Ticket Events here! 

What Types of Events Use Ticket Events?

You can use ticketing for a wide range of events but popular ones include:

• Golf Tournaments
• Health and Fitness Fairs
• Galas
• Festivals
• Luncheons
• Receptions
• Wine Tastings
• Spiritual Retreats

You don’t have to stick to “normal” YMCA events, though. We have also seen Pet Voting, Clambakes, Sporting Clays, Scavenger Hunts, Cooking Classes, and much, much more!

Why GiveSignup?

We are fundraising event technology experts. GiveSignup is FREE and purpose-built to help YMCA's raise money and leverage events to grow awareness, strengthen community, and gain new supporters. Our platform and support team make it easy to switch to from generic ticket platforms like Eventbrite that don't help you raise money or CRM/DMS ticketing that doesn't have the features that your event needs to be successful.

Grow Your Event & Awareness

Our free technology helps your Y gain new members and program participants while ensuring that your organization & mission to put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all is front and center in every interaction. We have free marketing tools to help you promote and grow your events:

• Free Email Marketing: Upload unlimited contacts and send unlimited beautifully designed, personalized, and branded Emails.
• Free Websites: Use our easy Website Builder to create free websites that feature your brand for every event. We make it easy!
• Referral Rewards: Incentivize your supporters to bring their friends and family to your event with Referral Rewards.
• Revenue Source Tracking: Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel Tracking and Conversion API, TikTok tracking
• Social Sharing: Customize your images and messaging, and promote on the confirmation page as well as throughout your website and Email.

Sell Tickets

We make it easy to sell and manage tickets for simple and complex ticket events. Get your ticket event up and running in 10 minutes! 

• Flexible pricing options: Tax deductible tickets, ticket tier pricing, bulk discounts, time and quantity-limited coupons, donation discounts, caps and purchase limits, combo tickets (Buy one adult ticket, get 2 kid tickets free!), extra fees, automated price increases, automated sales tax (coming soon!)
• Quick buy purchase options from your website
• Ticket Management that enables you to provide best-in-class support to your attendees (or let them manage, transfer, and edit their own tickets!)
• Reports that make it easy to view, manage, and export your data when and how you need it. 
• Multi-day and Time Slots: Powerful ticket, pricing, & display options for events across multiple days and/or with time slots
• Information Collection: Collect ticket purchaser information, option to collection info per ticket holder, Custom Questions, Make any field or question required or optional
• Store: Sell additional items in ticket purchase. Standalone store and warehouse management across all of your ticket events coming soon!
• Import offline tickets for FREE!
  
  

Raise More

GiveSignup's purpose-built ticketing platform helps your YMCA raise money. This is perfect for all events supporting the Y, including free events that can collect attendee information AND ask for donations.

• Integrated Donations: Collect one-time and recurring donations during ticket purchase. Feature a sticky Donate button to encourage donations from those who can't attend.
• Tax deductible Tickets: Choose the amount that is tax deductible for each ticket and automate tax receipts for ticket purchasers.
• Donation Discounts: Automate discounts for attendees who make a donation at a certain threshold.
• Checkout Page Donations: For those who didn't already donate, ask them to add a small donation to their cart on the checkout page.
  
  

Succeed on EventDay

We helped you sell all those tickets. Now it is EventDay and we have the free tools to make it a success!

• CheckIn App: Our free CheckIn App has been used successfully at small and very large (60,000+ tickets) events. With customizable volunteer modes, custom question & store purchase displays, and full & partial CheckIns, our app will keep your event running smoothly.
• QR Code & Text Service: Allow attendees to scan QR codes to quickly purchase tickets at your event - Eliminate/reduce cash and lines! Text service allows attendees to request a link (i.e. Text T23 to 12335 to purchase tickets or Text D23 to 12335 to donate)
• Photos: Drive website traffic with our free photo platform by featuring albums of photos from your event!

YMCA of Metro North: 5K Race Series

The YMCA of Metro North hosts 4 5K events throughout the year. Participants in the four unique 5k races run or walk to support the YMCA of Metro North Annual Fund and raise money to provide access to YMCA child care, camp, and health and wellness programs for everyone. In 2021, the YMCA of Metro North provided more than one million dollars in financial aid providing all children, adults and families with opportunities to develop a healthy spirit, mind and body regardless of income.

Each event has its own website with options to sign up for one 5k or all 4 5Ks. When signing up for all 4 events, a discount is automatically applied.

The bundle makes it simple to automatically register participants for all 4 events. Participant information is automatically populated for each event.

Participants are also able to select swag and answer questions for all events. For example, series participants are able to get a shirt for each event. Again, the t-shirt data will show in each event’s reporting so that fulfillment and EventDay go smoothly!

Treasure Valley Family YMCA: YMCA Famous Potato Marathon & Fun Runs

The Treasure Valley Family YMCA hosts the uniquely themed Famous Idaho Potato Marathon & Fun Runs. There are participation options for everyone in terms of distance as well as location with both in-person and virtual options available for each option. The Virtual Marathon is a challenge, giving participants 20 days to complete the 26.22 miles.

Teams make events more fun. GiveSignup’s registration platform makes it easy for participants to create and join teams. Each team has its own page, as seen in the image below for Team Idahomies, with additional information available for Team Captains. For example, your event can choose to show team captains shirt size for each member so that they can easily coordinate team shirts for the event. Teams can allow anyone to join or limit who can join with a password.

Integrated donations make it easy for participants to donate when they sign up. Although the run isn’t until May, the Treasure Family YMCA has already surpassed their $1,000 donation goal because it is so simple for supporters to donate! GiveSignup makes it easy to update donation goals so that our customers can continue to raise even more.

YMCA of Greater Michigan: Greatest Chefs of Michiana 2022 Voting

The YMCA of Greater Michiana will host a combined gala and voting fundraiser on GiveSignup this year. Their voting competition uses GiveSignup’s new Voting Contest features and engages both in-person gala attendees as well as people who can’t make the event but still want to vote! Supporters can cast their vote for greatest chef. Each vote costs $50.

Each “ticket” is fully customizable. You can show the total count of votes on the website, as well as add an image and custom description for how each option displays on the website and in the ticket purchase path.

The number of votes shows on each option’s tile. There is also a dynamic leaderboard that can be added to the website to show total vote count.

YMCA of MEWSA: Virtual Wine Tasting

The YMCA of Metuchen, Woodbridge & South Amboy is hosting a virtual wine tasting with a wine connoisseur and uses GiveSignup's free Ticket Event platform to sell flexible wine package and sponsorship offerings. Wine tasting packages include bottles of wine and a surprise gift.

Rather than shipping wine packages, which can be complex due to laws and regulations, the YMCA of MEWSA will have attendees pick up their packages of one of their three YMCA locations. They use questions to ask attendees which location they plan to pick up so they can ensure the correct number of packages are at each location:

GiveSignup helps organizations like the YMCA of MEWSA that host wine tastings, beer festivals, and other events that are only open to attendees over 21. You can specify that tickets are only available for 21+ attendees. When age is required for each ticket purchased, the system will only allow attendees to proceed with their purchase if they are 21 or older.

 Of course, if your nonprofit is hosting an event with alcohol, you are ultimately responsible for checking ID’s at the event.