For Stair Climbs

The stair-climb fundraiser, dramatic by design

Stair climbs are vivid team events with an easy-to-understand vertical goal. Whether you're running an in-house challenge or partnering with a high-rise venue, ScanRaise keeps reviewed floor totals and per-floor pledges together.

Start a Stair Climb

Why stair climbs make great fundraisers

The metric is vivid. "We climbed the equivalent of the Empire State Building twice" lands harder than "we walked 10 miles". Visceral, photogenic, easy to communicate.

Use a familiar counting method. Venue staff, a lap counter, or a participant's device can help review the result outside ScanRaise. Where the campaign unit is compatible, Fitbit lets a participant select a day, review that day's daily summary of steps, distance, and active minutes, and choose whether to import it. Fitbit does not supply stair flights or floor totals. Per-floor pledges feel small but compound fast (think: a 60-story climb at $5 per floor is $300).

Pairs naturally with a venue partner. Local tall building, university stadium, parking garage. The venue gets the marketing exposure, the team gets a unique team-building memory, the charity gets a real check.

Heart and lung charities love these. AHA Fight For Air Climb, American Lung Association, Mountain Medicine Foundation. Cause alignment is built in.

How it runs

Set up a campaign with the unit "stair flight" or "floor". Pick the charity. Set the date and the venue.

Participants sign up via a single link. The organizer records each reviewed floor total in Athon Manager. Fitbit does not supply stair flights or floor totals to ScanRaise.

Sponsors pledge per flight or give a flat amount. Per-flight sponsors securely save a card with Stripe without a charge at pledge time. After the organizer finalizes eligible verified totals, ScanRaise attempts each charge up to the authorized maximum. Failed or authentication-required charges remain visible for follow-up.

Athon Manager identifies each recorded result and its review status so the organizer can resolve exceptions before finalizing eligible totals.

Live display projects the running total at the venue. Climbers can see their team's progress as they finish each flight.

Stair-climb scenarios

Single-Building Event

The downtown tower climb

A regional bank partners with a local 40-story tower for a Saturday morning climb. Staff review each finisher's floors and record the results. Sponsors pledge per floor, and the bank can match the eligible total after the organizer finalizes it.

Distributed Format

Climb anywhere, all month

For distributed companies, employees climb stairs at their own buildings, gyms, or homes. Each participant reports a result for organizer review. This format requires an agreed counting and review policy because a Fitbit daily summary for a selected day contains steps, distance, and active minutes, not stair flights or floor totals.

Department vs Department

The "stairwell wars"

An office tower-based company runs a quarterly stairwell challenge. Each department's collective flights climbed are tracked. Losing departments buy lunch for the winners. Side bet, the company donates per flight to a heart-health charity. Engineering wins the most flights, marketing wins the most flights per capita, both win bragging rights.

Stair-climb event ideas

Memorial 110-flight climb

Annual September 11 remembrance climb. 110 flights to honor the firefighters and first responders. Per-flight pledges fund a fire department, EMS, or 9/11 memorial fund.

Lung health awareness

March is American Lung Association Fight For Air month. Pair with the AHA, run a company stair-climb challenge, donate per flight.

Heart Month challenge

February heart-health awareness. Per-flight pledges to the AHA or local cardiac foundation. Pairs naturally with an existing wellness program.

Stadium stair climb

Local university or sports stadium offers their stadium stairs for a Saturday morning climb. Athletic department gets exposure, charity gets pledged dollars.

Distributed team climb

Distributed company. Each employee climbs stairs in their own building, home, or gym and submits a result for organizer review. No single venue is required.

Charity weekend warrior

Pair with a hiking event or extreme charity climb (Manitou Incline, Stratton, Stowe). Each vertical foot climbs becomes a pledge unit.

Ready to climb for a cause?

Set up a stair-climb fundraiser with reviewed floor totals and per-floor pledges. 2.5% flat fee.

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