It’s not every day that a major cruise line gifts your nonprofit 500 cabins to their adult-only, Caribbean-bound ship. United Way Miami graciously accepted cabins aboard Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Ladyship and, in turn, launched their Cruise for a Cause fundraiser. The initiative set out to “improve access to education, financial stability, and health services in [Miami] county,” explains Carolina Gonzalez, Senior Manager of Business Solutions at United Way Miami.
Carolina shares that her team was determined to find a way to “sell these cabins,” collect information from the purchaser, and efficiently distribute the reservation key codes within a streamlined manner. They quickly realized that managing the inventory of all cabins could be achieved using Andar/360’s i-Attend.
With i-Attend’s ticketing registration process, each cabin was assigned one ticket in the system. After the initial set-up, the United Way Miami team hit send on their email invite.
United Way Miami Cruise for a Cause Virgin Voyages RSVP Email
When recipients of this beautifully designed email expressed interest in RSVPing, they were directed to, as Carolina describes, “a very engaging and easy to use [i-Attend] page.”
United Way Miami Cruise for a Cause i-Attend Registration Page
On the registration page, the soon-to-be voyagers entered their email address. If the email address were found in United Way of Miami’s Andar/360 database, the system would bypass asking for personal information, and they jumped ahead to purchasing their cabin with a credit card. When an email address entered did not match an account in their database, the form automatically expanded to showcase the required personal information fields needed to create an account.
“And let me tell you, this email brought in over 250 individuals who have never donated to us before or that haven’t donated in years,”
Carolina joyfully boasts.
Tracking cabin sales and identifying who required a confirmation follow-up was simplified using an Executive Plus Dashboard. United Way Miami’s Development Department could view up-to-date cabin sales and easily identify who they needed to contact with their personal key code. The travelers shared their key code with the Virgin Voyages team to confirm their payment and select their sailing dates.
In a short amount of time, all 300 cabins on the Scarlet Ladyship were sold out, proving the partnership, impactful cause, and registration process to be successful. Virgin Voyages noted the high success rate and generously donated an additional 200 cabins aboard their Valiant Lady cruise ship.
“Thanks to our partnership with Virgin Cruise Lines, the joint efforts of our marketing and communications departments, and our development team, we sold over 500 cabins and raised over half a million dollars, all through i-Attend,”
exclaims Carolina.
The fundraiser proceeds directly supported United Way Miami’s mission and contributed to supporting over 100 local programs and services.
