Setting up takes about ten minutes. Open HAF’s form in a new tab and work down the fields below.
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1
Your details
Use an email you check: your page link and donation alerts go there.
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2
Name of fundraiser
[Your name]’s 60km for the High Atlas
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3
Start and end date
Start today. End on 31 October 2026, so gifts that come in after your finish photos still count.
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4
Fundraiser amount
$3,000 (about €2,600). HAF’s form is in dollars.
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5
Cover photo
A photo of you running or training, not a logo, so people recognise you.
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6
Call to action message
Paste this, add a line on why you’re doing it, then make it sound like you:
This October I’m running 60km through Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains with Rise Ultra.
The day before, the High Atlas Foundation takes us to one of the villages hit by the 2023 earthquake. Three years on, many homes are rebuilt, but some families are still waiting for help, and villages are rebuilding their water supplies and livelihoods.
Every donation goes directly to the High Atlas Foundation, which has worked with rural communities in Morocco for more than 20 years. My goal is $3,000. If you can give, thank you. If you can’t, sharing this page really helps.
Your page stops taking donations when it reaches its goal. Raise the goal before you get there, using the Edit button top right of your page.
Once it’s live
- Save your link. HAF emails it to you.
- Give first with the Donate button on your own page, and send everyone there. HAF’s top-menu Donate button is a general gift and may not count towards your total.
- Check your gift shows under Recent Supporters, then share your link.
Add everyone you could ask: family, friends, colleagues, your running club, old school and uni friends, neighbours, and anyone whose fundraiser you’ve given to. Most runners get to 120 in an evening with their contacts open.
Aim for 120 names.
Tick people off as you go. Saved on this device only, and never sent anywhere.
Pick one, copy it and make it sound like you. A rough message sent beats a perfect one never sent.
How the two work together
Posting and messaging do different jobs. A post tells 200 people this is happening; a message is what gets a donation. Post first so your ask isn’t cold, then message the people who liked or replied to it — they’ve already told you they’re interested. Runners who only post tend to raise very little.
Send one to one — where the donations come from
Post publicly — how people find out and how new givers come in
To friends and family
Your first ask to anyone on your list, one at a time, never in a group. Send it to your five most likely givers before you post, and to everyone else after. Keep the $50 in: a named amount is easier to say yes to than “anything helps”.
Hi [name], this October I’m running 60km through the High Atlas in Morocco to raise money for the High Atlas Foundation. They work with villages still recovering from the 2023 earthquake, on clean water, farming and support for families. The day before the run, we visit one of those villages. I’m aiming for $3,000. Would you give $50 to help me get there? (link) Thank you!
Follow-up (second ask)
About a week after your first message, to anyone who hasn’t replied.
This is not pestering. Most donations come after a second message — people mean to give and it slips.
Hi [name], just floating this back up in case it got buried — no pressure at all. I’m running 60km through the High Atlas this October for the High Atlas Foundation, and I’m at [$X] of my $3,000 so far. If you’d like to help, even $20 makes a difference: (link) Thank you either way!
For anyone on the fence, the documentary is the strongest thing to send.
Event week
The week you fly, or from Morocco itself. If you’ve raised your goal, update the figure. If someone is matching gifts until you run, say so.
Hi [name], this is the week — I fly to Morocco [tomorrow]. The day before the run, the High Atlas Foundation takes us to one of the villages still rebuilding after the 2023 earthquake, then I run 60km through the mountains for them. I’m at [$X] of my $3,000. If you’ve been meaning to give, now’s the moment: (link) I’ll share photos from the week. Thank you!
To business contacts
Two or three people who know your work. Ask for a gift or a match: a match gives people a reason to give now.
Subject: 60km for the High Atlas: would you back me?
Hi [name],
This October I’m running 60km through Morocco’s High Atlas with Rise Ultra, raising money for the High Atlas Foundation. It’s a US and Moroccan nonprofit that has worked with rural communities for more than 20 years, and it’s helping villages still recovering from the 2023 earthquake with water, farming and livelihoods.
I’m aiming for $3,000 and asking a few people I know to help carry it. Would you consider a gift of $250 or more? Or you could match my other supporters’ donations until I run, up to an amount you choose, and give that total through my page afterwards. Everything goes straight to the foundation through my page: (link)
One thing to know: the foundation is a US nonprofit, so gifts may not qualify for tax relief where you are.
Thanks for considering it. I’ll send you photos from the mountains afterwards.
[Your name]
To your employer, about matched giving
Send it to HR or your manager. Many employers match staff donations.
Subject: Matched giving for my charity 60km
Hi [name],
This October I’m running 60km through Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains with Rise Ultra, raising money for the High Atlas Foundation, a US and Moroccan nonprofit helping villages still recovering from the 2023 earthquake.
Does [company] have a matched-giving scheme I could use? My page is here: (link). I’m happy to share photos and a short write-up for the team afterwards.
Thanks,
[Your name]
Launch post
For social, after your first five messages. Put your link in the post, or in your bio on Instagram.
In October I’m running 60km through Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains. Around 2,429m of climbing, and I’m not entirely sure I can do it.
I’m raising money for the High Atlas Foundation, who work with mountain villages still rebuilding three years after the 2023 earthquake. Before the run, we spend a day in those communities.
I’m aiming for $3,000. Link in bio if you’d like to sponsor me.
Training update
For social, while you train. Post the hard runs, not just the asks, and pair one with a mountain shot from the photo folder: “this is where I’ll be in October”.
Longest run so far. [X]km, [X]m of climbing, and my legs are finished.
[Three] weeks until Morocco. Still [$X] short of my target for the High Atlas Foundation — link’s in my bio if you can help.
On the village day
Friday 9 October, the day before you run. Ask before photographing anyone, children especially.
Today the High Atlas Foundation took us to one of the villages hit by the 2023 earthquake. [One line on who you met or what you saw.] Tomorrow I run 60km for them. If you’ve been meaning to give, now’s a good moment: (link)
After the run
Within three days of getting home, while people are still following.
Finished: 60km through the High Atlas. The day before, the High Atlas Foundation took us to one of the villages hit by the earthquake. [One line on what stayed with you.] Thank you to everyone who has given. I’m at [$X], and my page stays open until 31 October. If you meant to give and didn’t get round to it, now’s the moment. (link)
Swap in your page link where it says (link). Add a line on why you’re doing it, and say if it’s your first ultra. Keep it plain: “run”, not “race”, and no big claims like “change lives”.
Stuck?
The most common reason people don’t fundraise is not knowing what to say. Message Alex and we’ll work it out together.
Put most of your effort into three moments: your first week of asks, the week of the event, and your report-back.
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Your first week
Message your five most likely givers before you post anything. Then put up your launch post, message the people who react to it, and work through the rest of your list and your business asks.
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One week after your first asks
Send the follow-up to anyone who hasn’t replied.
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While you train
A training update every two weeks, with your page link. Two weeks before you fly, make it a clear ask: where you are against your goal.
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The week of the event
Your biggest week: about half of all donations arrive now. If you’re close to your goal, raise it first. Then send the event-week message and reply to everyone who gives.
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Village day Fri 9 Oct
Post the village-day update, with one photo taken with permission.
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Ultra Day Sat 10 Oct
One line from the finish.
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Within three days of getting home
The report-back. Send the after-the-run message, thank people by name (with their permission), share photos and make a last push.
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Your page closes Sat 31 Oct
Gifts count until then.
The photo and video folder and the documentary are linked from the live guide: join.riseultra.com/fundraising
We’ll also
- Share your page on @rise.ultra once it’s live, if you’d like.
- Thank our fundraisers by name at the celebration on Day 4.
- Send you photos from this year’s week for your report-back.
Tax. HAF is a US nonprofit, so gifts are tax-deductible for US taxpayers. Its form offers no UK Gift Aid, and in countries like Belgium gifts to organisations outside the European Economic Area don’t qualify. Don’t promise tax relief outside the US. HAF · De Gids voor Giften
Background for your messages. A fact or two is plenty.
- The magnitude 6.8 earthquake of 8 September 2023 killed nearly 3,000 people across the High Atlas. Amizmiz, the nearest town to our base, is in Al Haouz, the hardest-hit province.
- In March the government’s High Atlas Development Agency reported more than 54,000 homes built or repaired, with over 3,000 still under construction. But a victims’ group says more than 3,000 families have complained of getting no state help, and DW met a father of four near Amizmiz still living in a tent. DW
- Workshops, cooperatives and guesthouses were damaged too, and help for them has moved more slowly than for housing. La Tribune de Marrakech
- The High Atlas Foundation is a US and Moroccan nonprofit that has worked with rural communities for more than 20 years. It got supplies to 69 villages within ten days of the earthquake and has since helped more than 15,000 families. Water is the biggest need it names. HAF
- Its work includes wells, irrigation canals and bathrooms; fruit trees and rebuilt farm terraces; women’s cooperatives paid to make warm clothing for mountain schoolchildren; and trauma-recovery workshops, built with psychologists, for the women of a village.
Under €1
buys an olive sapling for a farmer. HAF
About €2,200
runs a four-day recovery workshop for the women of one village ($2,500 on HAF’s page). HAF
HAF decides how donations are spent, so tell people what their money supports rather than promising a specific item.
Sources (11)
- 3 years on, Morocco earthquake victims still wait for help, DW via Times of Oman, 8 September 2026
- Al Haouz, trois ans après le séisme, La Tribune de Marrakech, 7 September 2026
- High Atlas Foundation, home page
- HAF: Earthquake Recovery
- HAF: Rise Ultra fundraising
- HAF: Support a Community Project
- HAF: Plant Olive Trees in Morocco
- HAF: Psychosocial Empowerment
- HAF: Winter clothing for schools
- HAF: Donate
- De Gids voor Giften: tax rules for gifts
Euro figures converted at $1.1483 to the euro, the rate on 18 September 2026 (Trading Economics).