Liver Life Walk

For more info including how to form a team, visit the American Liver Foundation - Illinois Chapter!

1. Start early! Typically speaking, potential donors have to be reminded multiple times before they will actually make their contribution. Plan to make the ask two to three times especially if done by e-mail. This is a great way to update your supporters and potential supporters on your progress!
2. Personalize your web site with your story and pictures; tell your story and why liver disease funding is important to you. It's easier to connect with your donors and convey your message when you include your personal reasons for walking. When you're done creating your webpage send it via email to everyone you know! A recent study suggested that participants who raise money online raise nearly six times as much as participants raising money offline.
3. Break up your personal fundraising goal into smaller targets and follow the step-by-step fundraising plan you will receive from the American Liver Foundation once your register. This will immediately make the task feel easier!
4. Define your fundraising community. Start with family and friends, but don't stop there. The larger your list of prospective donors, the better. You can ask for donations from neighbors, old friends from high school, teachers from your child's school, local businesses in your area, the contacts in your e-mail address book, and many more. Consider any person you meet to be a potential sponsor. You never know who had been touched by liver disease!
5. Ask your donors for a specific amount. Ask for a specific amount from each person in your fundraising community based upon what you think they might be able to give. By being specific about the amount you are asking for you help give potential donors an idea of how much you hope to raise and give them a guideline for their giving.

• There are over 100 liver diseases affecting children and adults.
• Liver disease knows no boundaries and does not discriminate against race, gender, age or lifestyle
• Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) can cause cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure, and is responsible for 8,000 to 10,000 deaths a year
• Biliary Atresia is a serious liver disease that occurs in young infants. The disease affects approximately 1 infant in every 15,000 live births.
• Primary Biliary Cirrhosis (PBC) is usually first diagnosed in people 30 to 60 years old. Women are affected 10 times more frequently than men.
• Each year, more than 50,000 people die of liver diseases. There are few effective treatments for most life-threatening liver diseases, except for liver transplants.
• By signing the back of your driver's license and sharing your wishes with your family, you can donate organs and save lives. Be an organ donor.