Top News: Sales Tax and Your Race
It’s the hot topic everyone loves to discuss: Sales Tax. A 2018 Supreme Court case on sales tax and online sales will impact many races in the near future. As a result, we have been preparing a taxability study to determine what aspects of races are covered in various states, what our requirements are as an online marketplace, and how we can help you prepare for and navigate new sales tax laws. While we cannot provide tax, legal, or accounting advice, we do have some resources to help you understand what’s going on. To start with, check out a recording of our webinar on Sales Tax, dive in deeper with our Q&A from the webinar, and take a look at two areas that may be impacted by changes to sales tax: refunds and the SignUp App.
Best of the Blog – Race Director Resources
Symposium Presentation Video Archive
Race directors, timers, and nonprofits who missed our 2019 Symposium in July can catch up with a full archive of educational videos. Check out the Timer Day Keynote with Marc Roy, Building a Community of Supporters with Nic DeCaire, and much more! Sorry you missed out? Registration and Partnership options for our 2020 Winter Symposium in Orlando open next week…but we have a super-sneaky 10% off for newsletter readers who want to signup now. Just use the code “Newsletter” by 9/5!
Free Facebook Fundraiser Integration
Nonprofits can raise more and save time by integrating their fundraising efforts with Facebook Fundraising. In August we extended this capability to Charity Partners on RunSignup and GiveSignup, allowing fundraisers to auto-create a Facebook Fundraiser from your run/walk/ride. Want to learn more? We have a webinar to walk you through the setup, show you what your fundraisers will see, and discuss how implementing Facebook Fundraising can grow your donations while reducing processing fees.
Website Cover Pages: Data-Driven Components
Cover Pages are beautiful and branded, and they just got more powerful. The first data-driven components are here: Event Tiles, Top Fundraisers, and Social Sharing. What’s special about these components? They dynamically pull information from your race, meaning they update automatically – no waking up at midnight to change the price on your website!
Becoming a Race Director: Resources & Guides
We picked up a copy of a new book, Organizing a 5K by Crystal Waters McCulough, and it got us thinking about how many new (and old) race directors are looking for tips and tricks. To get you started, we compiled a list of some of our favorite race director resources, including guides from Race Directors HQ, Championship Racing, and the Road Runners Club of America.
More August Blog Updates
Recruiting and Managing Race Sponsors →
Nonprofit Ticket Events
GiveSignup Setup Examples
GiveSignup ticket events offer flexible ways to display ticket options to potential ticket buyers without the complexity and layers required for a race setup. We held a webinar on Ticket Event Setup, and created a basic 101 on ticket events. For more detailed setup examples, check out scenarios for:
RunSignup users who work with nonprofits can setup their ticket events today!
More August Updates for Nonprofits
Customize “Charity” Wording →
Prevent Donations to Team Fundraisers →
Donor Covered Fees →
RaceJoy Tracking Updates
GPS Tracking and Poor Cell Conditions
RaceJoy is designed to work with varying levels of cell conditions, but it should only be used at sites where the Start, Finish, and at least 70% of the course have good cell conditions. While audio progress updates still work when a runner is out of service, tracking by spectators will stop when cell service is out.
RaceJoy on the Tour de Mont Blanc
Technology is all about creative use! James and Shelly Harris, the creators of RaceJoy, thought outside the box for their anniversary trip to hike the 100+ mile Tour de Mont Blanc – taking RaceJoy with them so that the whole team here could track the adventure. The trip is complete, but check out the terrain the app traversed!
Industry News
Who Should Receive Proceeds for a Race?
RunSignup makes it easy for either a race’s sponsoring entity or an authorized representative (timer, etc.) to collect the funds – but that doesn’t mean there aren’t important implications to accepting payment. We have some input to help you decide who should be the owner of the payment account for a race.
Are Races Good Business?
The media has spent years discussing the so-called “Bubble Pop” in the endurance industry, and recently we have seen a number of OCR companies struggle or go out of business. What remains are the questions: are races good business, and does it matter to the organizations and volunteers that put them on?
10 Years – The Origin Story
RunSignup has been around for 10 years…which got Bob thinking about how it all began. When he stumbled into race directing back in 2004, no one could have predicted the growing company that would result.
Help Wanted: Sales Representative
If you have a passion for the endurance and nonprofit communities and a desire to bring them cutting-edge technology, we are looking for you! We’re hiring a Sales Representative for our high volume, fast-paced environment.
