Virtual races aren’t really new – but with COVID-19 restrictions turning in-person events into virtual ones, experienced race directors are learning what it’s like to be a rookie director all over again. This episode of talkSIGNUP covers tips for a first-time virtual race director (or a second-round virtual director hoping to improve). Key Takeaways Utilize […]
We have released a feature that allows races to approve participant photo uploads before they show as public in participant photo albums. To turn this feature on, navigate to Photos>>Setup on your race dashboard Turn on Allow participants to upload photos Turn on Require Approval For Photo Uploads Click Save Photo Settings Registered participants will […]
One of the frequent questions we get is what is the difference between a registration and a ticket platform. This blog explains the difference and helps nonprofits decide which one to use. Participants Register Registration systems are built to handle not only the purchase, but also the collection of information needed for event day participation. […]
Our focus on the art of technology has helped us recover during the pandemic. We are now in a position to grow our development team with a combination of returning to profitability and with a significant round of investment. We are now beginning to look for 3 additional members of our development team. In particular, […]
This is our second full quarterly report during COVID-19. As we have discussed over the past several months, this has impacted our entire community, and certainly RunSignup/GiveSignup negatively. The good news is that we are all adapting and learning new ways of doing things. There is some return of in person events, but with new methods […]
We have added a pace confirmation message for Virtual Challenges if the user is about to enter a time and distance for an Activity that would be unrealistic for the selected Activity Type. This has been added to prevent some instances that we have seen where participants accidentally enter 400 miles for a bike ride […]
You can now show individuals’ real-time fundraising progress on their results pages with a Donate call to action. This is a great feature for nonprofits where the focus of the event is on fundraising, encouraging fundraisers to hit their goals, and creating competition around who can raise the most. The fundraising progress meter is available […]
Below is a recording of this week’s Timer Tip Tuesday, where RunSignup’s Crisp McDonald provided more advanced training on how to setup a virtual event with a focus on virtual results, RaceJoy, and Challenge events. We’ve introduced many improvements and features. Basic Setup Points Event Wizard Setup Set each event to Virtual/Challenge type (even when […]
RunSignup Raises $2.6 Million from Payroc for Strategic Initiatives We are pleased to announce that an investment affiliate of Payroc is making a minority investment in the RunSignup | GiveSignup business to help fund the continued rapid expansion of the RunSignup customer base and provide additional fundraising capabilities to the nonprofit market with GiveSignup. What […]
As part of our effort to support RaceJoy Certified Timers we’ve adjusted the backend map building tool proactively troubleshoot potential issues and simplify the process. Timers are now presented with a diagnosis when they load in a map in RaceJoy and can then immediately address potential issues with the map configuration. Map Diagnostic Tool We’ve […]
RunSignup, Inc. is pleased to announce that an investment affiliate of Payroc will become a minority investor and the Company will begin using Payroc as a preferred payment processing platform. Payroc is making a minority investment in the RunSignup|GiveSignup business to help fund the continued rapid expansion of the RunSignup customer base and provide additional […]
RunSignup, Inc. is pleased to announce that an investment affiliate of Payroc will become a minority investor and the Company will begin using Payroc as a preferred payment processing platform. Moorestown, NJ and DesPlaines, IL – Payroc is making a minority investment in the RunSignup|GiveSignup business to help fund the continued rapid expansion of the […]
The weather is cooling off and the days are getting shorter. For the running community, that can only mean one thing…Turkey Trot season is coming. Thanksgiving Day has evolved as the largest single running day in the United States, with well over a million participants in Turkey Trots across the country. In 2019, RunSignup alone […]
We often get asked about the reasons for our success achieving 25-30% market share in the endurance market. And as we enter the Nonprofit market with GiveSignup, people are wondering where we fit and whether we will have success there as well. This will be a long blog about the blueprint we have followed for […]
After 10+ years of development, the RunSignup platform has a lot of features that we are proud of. Of course, not everyone uses all the features, but each feature needs a place to live, so that our users can navigate to it, and use it if they choose to. The sheer amount of features we […]
This guest post includes a press release from our Marketplace Partner, Strategic Risk Transfers. For additional information, see below the release.Worcester, MA – Strategic Risk Transfers (SRT) today announced the debut of their virtual race liability insurance program. “As COVID physical distancing restrictions began to force races to convert to virtual format, race directors were […]
We usually do a Race Registration Market Analysis twice a year – March and September. This is an unusual year, but we did a special one in April, 2020 to try to capture what was happening in the endurance market. We usually include a bunch of stats from different sources to compare the various registration platforms and […]
We began monthly updates in July after doing weekly updates that ended in Week 18, and are shifting to monthly updates. The monthly update is meant to give stats that are useful to the endurance and nonprofit communities we serve, but also to bridge the gap between our Quarterly Business Updates, and our Monthly Newsletter. We also published […]
Preparing for the Fall Race Season 2020 may not look like an average year, but preparation for fall race season is creeping up nonetheless. Race organizers, timers, and nonprofits across the country are reviewing their options and learning more about virtual options, modifying in-person events, and creating hybrid versions that incorporate both in-person and virtual […]
More than 600 race directors, timers, and nonprofits registered to join us for a one-day prep for the unprecedented Fall Race Season. As the name suggested, it was a true cram – 11 sessions over 6.5 hours covering a wide breadth of information on virtual races, virtual challenges, fundraising, and modifying in-person events. Whether you’re […]
As we head into the Fall Race Season, race organizers are starting to re-think their events – and with that, we’ve seen a wave of race directors and nonprofits who are new to RunSignup | GiveSignup. Along with that, many long-term customers are pivoting their businesses to virtual – meaning they, too, are starting from […]
Guest blog from Paul McMullen – Creator of the COVID Self Report Pass The Iowa State Triathlon Championship on July 26, 2020 used a new software solution to screen volunteers and athletes for symptoms of COVID-19. It took an Olympic athlete, the owner of True Timing Systems and RunSignUp to execute an effective and efficient COVID-19 Action […]
Timers: if you missed this week’s Timer Tip Tuesday, you can watch the recording here. Crisp McDonald covers how to use RunSignup’s Bib management tool, including manual, automatic, and dynamic bib assignments – a key part of providing a virtual race experience and virtual results. Recorded Webinar Timer Tip Tuesday Slide Show RunSignup Webinars […]
There is more gamification to engage and celebrate your fundraisers when they hit fundraising milestones with the release of Fundraiser Milestone Confetti. You must have fundraiser milestones set up for the fundraiser confetti to show. Navigate to Fundraising >> Individual Fundraisers >> Fundraiser Rewards. Add one or multiple milestones for your fundraisers to achieve. You […]
We have always eagerly studied Eventbrite since they are a company with a business model very similar to ours – earning money based solely on processing fees for events (and for us nonprofit donations). During their Q1 report, we learned how COVID-19 was impacting their business. And we have been awaiting these numbers as we […]
With the impact of COVID-19 continuing to reverberate through the country and the endurance community, race directors, timers, and nonprofits are looking for ways to engage new communities online. One way to do that is through our Challenge Platform – with limitless options, challenges can appeal to broad audiences beyond the typical endurance participant. But […]
We had been doing weekly updates on the numbers we are seeing since the pandemic began. We ended that in Week 18, and are shifting to monthly updates. The monthly update is meant to give stats that are useful to the endurance and nonprofit communities we serve, but also to bridge the gap between our […]
Starting in August, Strava and RunSignUp will be sunsetting the current affiliate partnership where races could earn sponsor revenue from Strava on their race websites. We will focus on rebuilding the partnership in a way that brings more value to race directors and our athletes. For races opted-in the partnership, you will no longer see co-branding […]
Fun with Challenges Virtual Challenges got another round of updates this month, with more digital rewards in the form of milestones, badges, and milestone notifications. With all the rapid releases to Challenges over the previous months, we decided it was a good time take stock of some of the creative and innovative ways that customers […]
You can now add a dynamic donation goal to all event, ticket, and donation websites on GiveSignup | RunSignup! This lets you feature your donation goal progress prominently on your website with a clear Donate call to action. To add a Donation Goal to your website, navigate to the Cover Page set up on your […]
Challenges are long and, well, challenging. Milestones and badges offer intermediate goals for your participants, rewarding them and keeping them engaged throughout the Challenge. We now have new options to complement your Virtual Challenge Milestones & Badges with custom messages and email notifications via Additional Display Settings. Once you have saved a milestone you will […]
Join us for a one-day prep for the unprecedented Fall Race Season The RunSignup | GiveSignup Fall Cram Session is a one-day, online educational session for race directors, timers, and nonprofits. The goal is simple: reviewing as much information as possible to help you plan for a successful fall season amidst unconventional circumstances. Sessions will […]
GiveSignup | RunSignup is proud to debut a new corporate matching gifts integration with 360MatchPro by Double the Donation, the leading provider of matching gift and volunteer grant solutions to nonprofits and educational institutions. Nonprofits that use Double the Donation as their corporate matching gift platform can now enable the integration on any GiveSignup | […]
Wanda Sports Group announced the sale of Ironman to Advance, a New York based investment company known for owning media and entertainment companies like Condé Nast and Stage Entertainment. One of the interesting things about the sale was occurring during the middle of the pandemic. The original sale price of $730 Million was announced in […]
With the impact of COVID-19 continuing to reverberate through the country and the endurance community, race directors, timers, and nonprofits are looking for ways to engage new communities online. One way to do that is through our Challenge Platform – with limitless options, challenges can appeal to broad audiences beyond the typical endurance participant. But […]
Here are a number of videos that RunScore has produced to help guide RunScore timers in how to integrate with RunSignup:
With the impact of COVID-19 continuing to reverberate through the country and the endurance community, race directors, timers, and nonprofits are looking for ways to engage new communities online. One way to do that is through our Challenge Platform – with limitless options, challenges can appeal to broad audiences beyond the typical endurance participant. But […]
Milestones and badges are the latest way to keep your participants engaged in your challenge, offering them intermediate rewards on the journey to their goal. RaceDay Product Manager Matt Avery detailed types of milestones you can set, adding custom badges, and using milestones to keep your participants motivated. Milestones can be set for teams or […]
RunScore continues a series of nice videos on how to integrate between their scoring software and RunSignup:
Last week we released Milestones, intermediate Goals along your Challenge journey, and their accompanying badges. There are a few default badges built into the system, but you can also upload custom badges to match your event. Two tools we recommend for badges: Open Badge Designer: This tool has built in backgrounds that look like badges, […]
We kept getting the same question of whether RunSignup and GiveSignup can work together – so we decided to make it very visual with our new combo logo you may have noticed on both websites. Just like those old ven diagrams you learned in school, RunSignup and GiveSignup share the same foundation with a single […]
Like many this past holiday weekend we watched Hamilton (yes, it is worth much more than a month’s cost of Disney+). The third song is Hamilton singing “My Shot”, and the lyrics had a bit of a familiar ring for little RunSignup and what we are embarking on with GiveSignup. “I’m young, scrappy and hungry.” […]
Races offering a virtual race experience can deliver an interactive, socially safe race experience with RaceJoy. Below is a new RaceJoy quick overview video that covers the key features of RaceJoy for participants, spectators, and race organizers. From live participant track, cheer sending, automated user results, and so much more – Keep your race experience […]
We now support another fun way to engage your participants throughout the length of your Virtual Challenge – Milestones and Badges! This is just the start of a large project around Milestones which will eventually include things like automatically sending notifications to participants if they complete a Milestone, having a unique link for each Milestone […]
Guest blog from Scott Sutter of Strategic Risk Transfers. He is a race director and is in the insurance business. He has been working on getting this product together for the past couple of months and is excited to share the news about Virtual Race insurance and how they have leveraged the RaceJoy technology as […]
We got a number of questions about our Q2 report regarding our estimate that 2021 was going to be much like this year. Our expectation is that normal running of races will not happen again until 2022. There will be some real races this year and in 2021. And the number and size will probably […]
This is our first full quarterly report during COVID-19. As we have discussed over the past several months, this has impacted our entire community, and certainly RunSignup/GiveSignup negatively. You can review past results here: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, Q1-19, Q2-19, Q3-19, 2019, and Q1-20. Summary Numbers As expected, the numbers are all down […]
To make Challenges and Virtual Events successful, you need to create interactions with participants. With our All in One system, we make this easy with our free email marketing and replacement tags. We have created a number fo replacement tags that will automatically fill in each participant’s unique link for: Digital Bib Finisher Certificate Individual […]
The RunSignup/GiveSignup Facebook Pixel integration has been expanded to trigger when a standalone donation is made. This update helps nonprofits better track the effectiveness of ads in terms of registration vs. donation transactions. You do not need to do anything to update your current Facebook Pixel set up. You will now have reporting in your […]
We have added an option in user profiles (https://RunSignup.com/Profile) to select Non-binary in addition to Male and Female: This will show as a “null” from a database perspective, and be left as blank when looking at your profile: Making a change to each race’s registration is done at the option of each race director. This […]
