Reviewed by the Help Dementia Editorial Team — our editors review every article for accuracy against guidance from the National Institute on Aging, the Alzheimer’s Association, and peer-reviewed sources.
Relay events sits at the center of this dementia and brain health question.
Relay events unite athletes and supporters in Alzheimer’s fundraising by creating a shared purpose that transforms individual effort into collective impact. When thousands of people come together at a single event—whether walking, cycling, running, or participating in a sport they love—they pool their fundraising power, social networks, and emotional commitment to a cause that touches nearly everyone’s life. The Walk to End Alzheimer’s exemplifies this power: held annually in more than 600 communities nationwide, it has become the world’s largest event dedicated to raising awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s care, support, and research. In 2024 alone, more than 350,000 participants raised $100 million through this single event, demonstrating how relay and team-based fundraising creates momentum that individual donors rarely achieve on their own.
What makes relay events particularly effective is the sense of community they create alongside the fundraising results. When someone joins a team, trains alongside teammates, walks or runs alongside hundreds of other participants, and celebrates together at the finish line, they’re not just raising money—they’re becoming part of a movement. The bonds formed at these events, the shared understanding of why the cause matters, and the visible proof that thousands of others care about ending Alzheimer’s create a psychological and emotional multiplier effect. This isn’t just about numbers; it’s about transforming isolated personal fundraising efforts into a coordinated force.
Table of Contents
- How Team-Based Events Drive Alzheimer’s Fundraising Success
- The Expanding Landscape of Alzheimer’s Fundraising Events
- The Role of Digital and Hybrid Fundraising in Event Success
- Building and Motivating a Successful Fundraising Team
- Addressing Fundraising Fatigue and Burnout in Event Communities
- Momentum Beyond the Event Day
- The Evolution of Alzheimer’s Fundraising Events
- Conclusion
How Team-Based Events Drive Alzheimer’s Fundraising Success
team-based relay and event structures work because they address one of the biggest barriers to charitable giving: the difficulty of asking strangers for money. When someone is raising funds as an individual, they may feel uncomfortable approaching their network. But when that person is raising funds as part of a team—a family walking for a parent with Alzheimer’s, coworkers representing their company, classmates supporting a teacher—the ask becomes embedded in a relationship and a shared story. Each team member becomes an ambassador, and their personal networks overlap, creating exponential reach. The Alzheimer’s Association has developed multiple event formats to meet different interests and abilities: Walk to End Alzheimer’s remains the flagship, but the organization also offers Ride to End ALZ for cycling enthusiasts, Do What You Love to End ALZ for flexible fundraisers who want to create their own event, and RivALZ to End ALZ for flag football players. The fundraising results speak clearly to the effectiveness of this approach. In 2024, over 350,000 people participated in Walk to End Alzheimer’s and raised $100 million.
That’s an average of $286 per participant—a significantly higher average than most individual fundraising campaigns achieve. Teams motivate participation in ways that solitary fundraising cannot. A team member who might have been reluctant to ask for donations becomes willing to do so because they’re representing something larger than themselves. Peer pressure, in the positive sense, encourages team members to participate and contribute. The competition between teams (which raises more money, which gets more participants, which has the best team spirit) is friendly but motivating. One limitation to be aware of is that this model can sometimes create unequal participation within teams—some members may shoulder the bulk of the fundraising burden while others participate primarily for the social or athletic aspect. Successful team organizers address this by having frank conversations about expectations and offering multiple ways to contribute, not just asking for donations.
The Expanding Landscape of Alzheimer’s Fundraising Events
The Alzheimer’s Association has moved beyond a single annual walk to create a year-round portfolio of fundraising events designed to reach people with different interests and physical abilities. This diversification is important because it acknowledges that not everyone will be motivated by or capable of participating in the same type of activity. A person in their sixties who is an avid cyclist might feel more connected to the cause through Ride to End ALZ than through a walk. A community that loves flag football can come together around RivALZ. Someone who is homebound or doesn’t want to participate in a structured event can create their own fundraising activity under the Do What You Love to End ALZ framework.
The scale of the Walk to End Alzheimer’s alone demonstrates the power of these events in a single vertical. With 600+ communities participating across the United States, the event has achieved true national reach. However, one important limitation is that physical events require significant logistical and financial investment to organize, which creates barriers in rural areas or communities with fewer resources. Some communities have multiple walks while others have none, creating unequal access to structured fundraising opportunities. Additionally, not all $100 million raised by Walk participants remains in the Alzheimer’s cause—event operating costs, staff time, marketing, and logistics are substantial. The Alzheimer’s Association must balance the goal of raising net funds with the goal of building community and awareness, and these two goals don’t always align perfectly.
The Role of Digital and Hybrid Fundraising in Event Success
What’s becoming increasingly important is the integration of digital fundraising into relay and event ecosystems. While the in-person aspect of these events creates community and motivation, digital tools dramatically expand their reach. More than $2.6 million was raised on Facebook and Instagram alone through birthday fundraisers and evergreen fundraising campaigns tied to Alzheimer’s causes. This means that for every person at a Walk to End Alzheimer’s event, there may be supporters who never attended in person but contributed online, watched video updates from the walk, or participated in a complementary digital fundraising campaign. The hybrid model—combining in-person events with digital extensions—creates multiple entry points for participation.
Someone who is physically unable to attend a walk can start a Facebook fundraiser. Someone who can’t afford travel to a major event in another city can participate in a local online fundraising challenge. Young people who might not be interested in a structured walk are increasingly engaged through digital campaigns that feel more authentic and flexible. The challenge for event organizers is coordinating these digital and in-person efforts so they reinforce rather than dilute each other. A poorly integrated digital campaign can actually reduce in-person attendance by offering an easier alternative. Successful events make the digital experience complement the in-person experience rather than compete with it.
Building and Motivating a Successful Fundraising Team
Starting or joining a team for an Alzheimer’s fundraising event requires clarity about structure, goals, and communication. The most successful teams start with a core group of people who have a personal connection to the cause—whether that’s a family with a member living with Alzheimer’s, a group of friends who want to honor someone they’ve lost, or colleagues at a workplace. From there, they set a clear fundraising goal (which should be ambitious but achievable), divide fundraising responsibilities in a way that plays to people’s strengths, and establish regular communication touchpoints to keep momentum and motivation high throughout the planning period. One effective approach is creating a “fundraising menu” that offers multiple ways to contribute.
Some people are comfortable making a direct personal ask; others prefer to host a fundraising event like a bake sale, fitness class, or dinner party; still others want to contribute their skills, like building a website for the team, creating promotional materials, or managing the team’s social media. By offering this menu, team organizers tap into a broader range of talents and comfort levels. A practical tradeoff to consider is between large team size (which gives you more hands and potentially more reach) and small, tight-knit teams (which can maintain higher engagement and clearer communication). A team of five people who are each motivated and actively fundraising may outperform a team of twenty where half the members are passive. Experience with successful fundraising teams suggests that frequent, positive communication—celebrating milestones, thanking contributors, updating supporters on progress—yields higher engagement than a single big ask at the beginning.
Addressing Fundraising Fatigue and Burnout in Event Communities
One challenge that rarely gets discussed is fundraising fatigue within communities. In areas with multiple Alzheimer’s events throughout the year, along with events for other diseases, causes, and organizations, people develop “cause fatigue.” They’ve already been asked to donate to the cancer walk, the mental health 5K, the school fundraiser, and the local food bank. When the Alzheimer’s Association ask arrives, some supporters feel overwhelmed rather than inspired. This is not a reason to stop organizing events—the cause is critically important—but it’s a reality that successful fundraisers should acknowledge.
Another limitation worth considering is that event participation itself often skews toward people with resources—the ability to take time off work to attend, the ability to travel to the event, the comfort with asking their network for donations. This means relay events, while powerful, may not effectively engage lower-income communities or those without established social networks. Strategic direct marketing efforts have been more successful at reaching beyond the traditional event participant base: the Alzheimer’s Association raised $76.1 million through strategic direct marketing using print and digital campaigns, engaging more than 536,000 donors. This suggests that a comprehensive fundraising strategy should combine event-based fundraising with other approaches to reach supporters who won’t show up for a walk but will respond to a well-crafted direct mail piece or digital ad.
Momentum Beyond the Event Day
One of the underutilized aspects of relay events is the momentum they can generate in the months after the event itself. When 350,000 people participate in Walk to End Alzheimer’s and raise $100 million, the human impact doesn’t end at the finish line. Many participants, energized by their experience and newly connected to the Alzheimer’s community, become ongoing supporters. They continue donating, volunteer for other Alzheimer’s programs, attend educational events, or become advocates within their own networks.
The event serves as a gateway to deeper involvement. The Alzheimer’s Association capitalizes on this with flexible fundraising programs like Do What You Love to End ALZ, which allows people to create their own events and fundraising activities year-round. This could be a fitness challenge, a creative event, a workplace fundraiser, or anything else the person can imagine. These ongoing opportunities mean that the momentum from major events isn’t lost; instead, it’s channeled into sustained support throughout the year.
The Evolution of Alzheimer’s Fundraising Events
As the Alzheimer’s crisis becomes more visible and more personal for American families, the landscape of fundraising events will likely continue to evolve. The Alzheimer’s Association is already moving toward a more inclusive, flexible model that doesn’t require everyone to participate in the same way. Events like RivALZ and Ride to End ALZ prove that different communities will engage with the cause more readily when the activity aligns with their interests. We can expect to see more niche events, more digital-first options, and more integration with existing community activities.
The future will also likely bring more emphasis on corporate and institutional participation. Workplace fundraising and team events, community organization involvement, and partnership with large employers represent a growing portion of event-based fundraising. When a major corporation commits to fundraising, it brings resources, marketing reach, and the involvement of hundreds of employees—a significant multiplier effect. The challenge will be maintaining authenticity and genuine purpose as events scale.
Conclusion
Relay events and team-based fundraising activities unite athletes and supporters in Alzheimer’s fundraising by creating shared purpose, community connection, and meaningful action. The data is clear: more than 350,000 participants raised $100 million through Walk to End Alzheimer’s in 2024, demonstrating the power of this approach. But beyond the numbers, these events create something harder to quantify—a visible, tangible expression of collective commitment to ending Alzheimer’s disease and supporting those affected by it.
They transform individual compassion into organized action. If you’re considering participating in or organizing an Alzheimer’s fundraising event, start by identifying the activity that will genuinely engage your community and motivate ongoing participation. Whether it’s a walk, a cycle ride, a flag football tournament, or a completely custom activity, the most successful events combine clear purpose, strong leadership, diverse participation pathways, and ongoing communication. Set a specific fundraising goal, build a team of committed people, and remember that the real goal is not just raising money but building a community of supporters for the Alzheimer’s cause.
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For more, see National Institute on Aging.
