a cause and offering an event that satisfies the physical activity interests of participants, and that events appropriately act as fundraising and publicity tools. Implications for adopting a social marketing orientation so that nonprofit organisations can hasten the diffusion process by tailoring events to meet the needs of par- ticipants, and for further research are dis- cussed. INTRODUCTION Most nonprofit organisations, particularly those in the social change or social service sectors, rely heavily on donated resources to cover both capital needs and operating expenditure, particularly in response to changes in public and private funding and public policies. 1 One popular form of raising funds is through a special event. 2 Event marketing provides organisations with a way to focus on distinct target markets that other mass marketing alterna- tives fail to reach. 3 In 2000, 78 per cent of Canadians aged 15 and older donated almost Can$5bn to charitable and nonprofit organisations, 15 per cent of whom sponsored someone in a special fundraising event. 4 An increasingly com- mon variation of the special event in- volves some type of physical activity. While it is estimated that special events procure relatively small proportions of total revenues, they are thought also to Joan Wharf Higgins is an associate profes- sor in the School of Physical Education at the University of Victoria, BC, Canada, where she teaches social marketing, conducts social marketing workshops for government and non- profit organisations, and was responsible for the social marketing version of the American Lung Association’s programme planning manual. Lara Lauzon is an assistant professor in the School of Physical Education at the University of Victoria, BC, Canada. Lara’s teaching and re- search expertise lie in the areas of community recreation and teacher wellness. ABSTRACT An increasingly popular form of raising funds in the nonprofit sector is the special event that involves some form of physical activity. This paper describes a study that tracked 50 events over nine months in order to explore the phenomenon of physical activity events, their function as a solicitation strategy and as a public awareness/relations tool, and to gauge how these events met the needs of participants who donated their money and energy to a cause. Data were collected by means of par- ticipant observation at 12 events and interviews with 12 participants and 12 hosting organisa- tions. Using a social marketing framework and diffusion of innovations theory as an approach to making sense of the data, the results suggest that events serve two main purposes: celebrating Finding the funds in fun runs: Exploring physical activity events as fundraising tools in the nonprofit sector Joan Wharf Higgins and Lara Lauzon School of Physical Education, University of Victoria, PO Box 3015, Victoria, BC, Canada V8W 3P1; Tel: +1 250 721 8377; Fax: +1 250 721 6601; e-mail: jwharfhi@uvic.ca Received (in revised form): 22nd October, 2002 International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing Volume 8 Number 4 Page 363 International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, Vol. 8 No. 4, 2003, pp. 363–377. Henry Stewart Publications, 1479–103X