Best Practices for Hosting a Virtual Heart Health Week
February is Heart Health Month. For Alpha Phi sisters, it is also a popular time for chapters to host a Heart Health Week. These are multi-day philanthropy events that often focus on heart health awareness and education. Whether you host one large event or several smaller events throughout the week, make Heart Health Week your own!
Let’s begin planning your virtual or in-person Heart Health Week with the following tips, tricks, and resources!
#1 Set up your GiveSmart event today
Whether you are planning virtual or in-person philanthropy, we recommend you create a GiveSmart event.
Your GiveSmart event provides a quick, safe, and easy way for you and your chapter sisters to sell tickets and merchandise as well as collect Alpha Phi Foundation donations. This online platform will also serve as your system of record for participants, transactions, and more.
Start setting up your GiveSmart event by completing the Philanthropy Event Submission Form OR log-in to your chapter’s GiveSmart account and create a new campaign yourself.
#2 Create a schedule of events
Depending on your calendar, budget, and womanpower, select several interactive philanthropy activities to make up your Heart Health Week.
Check out the virtual event idea bank in the Virtual Events Toolkit for ideas.
#3 Share your heart-health tips
Collaborate with your chapter’s VP of Marketing and Director of Social Media to plan engaging, heart-healthy content for your Heart Health Week. This content could range from women’s heart health statistics, lifestyle tips, healthy recipes, and more. Use social media to help raise awareness of your event and your cause.
Read our Heart-Healthy Habits During Quarantine Instagram Guide for inspiration and content to share.
#4 Provide education about our Women’s Heart Health Program
One of our largest grants is the annual Heart to Heart Grant. This grant provides funding to medical professionals seeking to better understand heart disease in women—specifically its symptoms, treatment, and prevention. Since its inception in 1993, the Heart to Heart Grant has provided over $1.3M in funding to support more than 30 cutting-edge projects focused on improving women’s cardiovascular care.
For your Heart Health Week, learn about and share the impact of past and present Heart to Heart Grant projects. We look forward to announcing the 2021 Heart to Heart Grant recipient at the end of February and hope you will share this great news with your event attendees and followers when we do!
#5 Practice what you preach
Get moving! Host an exercise class or yoga class as a philanthropy event or a sisterhood event. Partner with a local fitness studio to host a class, challenge others with a step competition, or have a fit Phi teach a virtual class!
For inspiration, check out Iota Mu (Georgia Tech)’s Move Your Phi’t Step Competition + Alpha (Syracuse)’s #AlphaPhiHasHeart!
#6 Be a champion and support peer-to-peer fundraising
Use the Champions feature of your GiveSmart campaign and see which sister raises the most with her page! Champions are individuals committed to the goal of raising funds on behalf of your organization through their own personal fundraising page, which can be shared with others.
Epsilon Xi (Southern Illinois) used Champions to fundraise during their virtual Move Your Phi’t!
#7 Create heart health-inspired merch!
Your Heart Health Week may call for new and fun merchandise! Use these opportunities to market for your event and showcase your love and dedication to Alpha Phi Foundation. Your chapter members and target audience will love it!
Check out a recent newsletter for featured chapter philanthropy-inspired merch!
#8 Emphasize your heart-healthy theme with Valentine’s Day
Select the week of Valentine’s Day to host events that tie into the heart health theme! Spread the love by selling or delivering candy grams or chocolates, volunteer at your local hospital, host a Valentine’s Day card drive or collect teddy bears to donate to heart surgery patients at your hospital.
#9 Invite a speaker
Host a virtual speaker to talk about women’s heart health or the impact of Alpha Phi Foundation. Do it yourself, or you can reach out to Alpha Phi Foundation staff to help coordinate a speaker. Remember to reach out with plenty of time before your event. Assign a reliable, professional, and personable sister to serve as an ambassador or point-of-contact to your speaker. Be sure to write and send a thank you note or virtual card after!
If you need help locating an alumna speaker, you can reach out to Alpha Phi Foundation by completing the Philanthropy Event Submission Form.
#10 Donate blood, save lives
Encourage your audience to donate blood. Coordinate your own blood drive or direct others to donate at their local hospital or Red Cross. One person has the potential to save three lives with their blood donation!
We realize that Heart Health Week philanthropy events look different for each chapter. Do what makes sense for your chapter and audience, and happy event planning!
For additional assistance or philanthropy event questions, please reach out to chaptergiving@alphaphifoundation.org. The Foundation staff would be pleased to support you in your philanthropic efforts.