Thank you for your interest in being an Over The Edge Ropes Volunteer!
You don’t need any previous experience in climbing or rappelling to volunteer – we’ll provide you with the resources and on-site training you’ll need for our events.
Here are some of the typical concerns we hear from Boards, and some information to help guide them:
“It sounds like a liability.”
Every event we run is covered by our own comprehensive insurance, and built as an industrial work site that meets all industry standards for safety. We’ve run over 900 events, and both our insurance company and the rope access regulatory bodies (SPRAT and IRATA) love us. We are happy to share our insurance loss run history with you to prove it.
“No one will want to do this.”
Our average event raises over $100k with an average of only 65 participants. The majority of participants are first-time rappellers: they’re regular people, young and old, and from all walks of life, who are pushing themselves out of their comfort zone for a cause they care deeply about.
“We should just stick with our traditional events.”
NPO’s across the country are having to deal with an emerging trend of declining event participant numbers. Participants are looking for a significant challenge to be a part of as it makes them look better when sharing on their social media feeds, and traditional events just don’t provide that any longer. Over The Edge events do!
“This is just for young people.”
One of our oldest rappellers is 91 years young, and if he can do it, so can you!
“Raising $100k is great, but will the event be profitable?”
Our clients’ average return on investment is over 300%. And we’re so confident that you’ll be profitable, we actually now guarantee it. (Seriously.)
Participants register online to fundraise for your organization. They then reach out to their friends, family, etc to obtain peer-to-peer sponsorship of at least $1000. The dollars raised by these individuals from Over The Edge’s Signature events go directly to your organization.
Should we deem the weather to be a safety concern or a significant event hindrance for the balance of the day, we will work with you to re-schedule your big day.
Yes. Over The Edge carries a comprehensive $10 million insurance policy that covers all aspects of the event should any injury or building damage occur. This policy indemnifies all key stakeholders including your non-profit or charity and the building where the event is being held.
Yes! You and your participants are going to have a blast! We have a satisfaction rating of over 95% by our customers, and a repeat rate of 80%.
Earn your 100% ROI Guarantee (to start!)
Build and follow an OTE-approved Strategic Plan. On average, our clients that use a Strategic Plan raise $44k more than those who don’t. Our team will provide you with a comprehensive Strategic Plan template that we know works—you fill it in based on your own specific goals and team, and then follow it!
Engage a passionate internal committee to tackle your goals together. On average, our clients that are supported by an engaged committee raise $26k more than those who aren’t. Event success is a team effort—your committee doesn’t need to be large, but it does need to be passionate!
Launch your event’s peer-to-peer fundraising website at least 160 days before your event. Fundraising takes time. Did you know, clients who start their fundraising 10-12 months out raise $55k more on average than those who give themselves only 2-3 months? We know that the best success comes when you give yourself at least 160 days to raise.
Use a multi-level marketing plan to get the word out about your event. Our events’ average number of participants is just 65—that’s all you need to drive major returns! But to recruit them, we know that you’ll need to use a variety of approaches: think word-of-mouth, social media outreach, personal invitations from your team and leadership, and grassroots initiatives such as flyers and posters.
Attend our five key webinars to help you keep your momentum growing. In addition to the 1:1 coaching our Client Experience Team provides, we offer many live and recorded webinars to take a deep dive into many aspects of your event. The five most important which you’ll need to attend are:
First Steps: Foundation for your Signature Over The Edge Event
Best Practices: Recruiting
Best Practices: Participant Communication & Engagement
Best Practices: Sponsorship
Event Logistics and Scheduling for Signature Events
Fulfill all of these requirements, and Over The Edge will guarantee that your event breaks even (100% return on investment).*
*We define break even as your event’s total combination of donations and sponsorship being equal to the fees you pay to Over The Edge according to your contract. If your total donations and sponsorship is less than your event fees, we will reduce your fees to match them.
Guarantee up to 200% ROI Guarantee by following these recommendations as well:
+20%: Use FundRazr as your event’s peer-to-peer fundraising platform. FundRazr’s simple, powerful fundraising software is perfectly suited for OTE events, and can help you leverage your participants’ social networks. We’ve seen many committees spend time and effort to determine the best fundraising platform; with FundRazr, we can promise you a platform that works well for our events, has a proven track record of success, and that is well-supported. Invest your time where it makes the most difference by choosing a trusted platform.
+20%: Use the Fotaflo advocate marketing system at your event (with either the Fotaflo Essentials or Fotaflo Plus package). Fotaflo ensures that every participant receives timely photos of their rappel — with your (and your sponsors’) messaging and branding on each one! As participants share their photos, your marketing reach grows and recruiting for next year becomes that much easier. Plus, sponsors love it! We know that the heroic elements of an OTE event present great photo ops, and by using this great tool you can leverage social media and the sharing and promotion of your participants to increase the success of your event.
+20%: Use OTE’s preferred choice of building to host your event. Our technical team are experts at vetting host buildings, and we have a wide network of building partners. By using an OTE-recommended building, we can spend less time finding a suitable venue, and more time on fundraising! We know what makes a great building, and how to identify and help secure the right building for your event (we’ll work together on this). Securing a building is a key step in launching your event, and getting this done efficiently allows you to focus on driving participation and donations.
+20%: Follow OTE’s preferred payment schedule. Provide post-dated checks for all event fees according to the fee schedule in your contract to earn an additional 20% ROI Guarantee. This saves us both time spent on administration and lets us focus on event success! This sounds simple, but you would be surprised how much time can be spent by both sides dealing with administrative “back-and-forth”. Once event planning starts we don’t want to slow down to deal with payment delays—let’s maximize the time we have, and focus on making your event a success.
+20%: Provide accommodation support for our technical team for the event. Setting our team up with accommodations donated by a local hotel means we can spend less time on logistics, and more time helping you reach your goal. Your CEM can help you approach local hotels to secure six complimentary hotel room nights (two rooms for three nights) for our technical team from a hotel within one mile of the event site. Using a combination of event sponsorship, and some helpful promotion normally makes this an easy process for our experienced team. Our experience with over 900 events means many national chains know us, and are happy to support great community events.
Fulfill all of these requirements, and Over The Edge will guarantee that your event brings in two times your event fees (200% return on investment)!*
*We define a 200% return on investment as your event’s total combination of donations and sponsorship being two times larger than the fees you pay to Over The Edge according to your contract. If your total donations and sponsorship is less than two times your event fees, we will pay you the difference.
Interested in some of these additional recommendations, but not all? You can pick and choose as you like; each one you adhere to will earn you an additional 20% towards your ROI Guarantee. Please note: You will need to meet all five of the basic requirements for the 100% ROI Guarantee for these additional offers to be credited to your contract.