A volunteer passion project. This site is designed and maintained solely by volunteers. It is not an official publication of the American Cancer Society. Questions about the site? Please contact the volunteer team.
Some people give money, some give their time, and some bring one more person to the track. Here is how each one works, and where it goes.
Join a team at a Relay near you, or start one with people you already know. A team keeps one person on the track at all times through the night, so no single person has to walk for hours. Teams also plan a campsite, decorate it, and often run a small fundraiser of their own during the event.
Relays also need people who are not on a team at all: to set up, to run the registration table, to direct traffic, to hand out water. Contact your local Relay and tell them how much time you have. Any amount is useful.
Most people who Relay came because a friend asked them. Send the Global Relay Track to one person who has never heard of Relay. If you have your own story about cancer, the storytelling guide can help you tell it in a way that brings people to the track.
Each Relay For Life raises money for the cancer organisation in its own country. That organisation funds research, patient support, and prevention programmes where you live. Money given at a Relay in Portugal supports Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro. Money given in Kenya supports the Kenya Network of Cancer Organisations. There is no single global fund.
This means the right place to give is your own country's Relay. The events directory lists each partner organisation and links to their official site, where donations are handled securely by them.
This site does not take donations and never will. Give through your national cancer organisation.
Companies sponsor Relays, field teams, and match what their employees raise. The company letter builder writes the first email for you.
In many countries, schools are part of Relay, and each one does it in its own way. Things schools have done: fielded a student team with a teacher as captain, sold luminaria in the classroom so families come to the track, held a short Relay of their own on the school field with the survivor lap and the luminaria kept in, and invited a survivor to speak at an assembly. If you are a student or a teacher, the letter to a school writes the first email for you, and the fundraising ideas include the ones that came from schools.
