About Healthy Kids Running Series
Healthy Kids Running Series (HKRS) was founded by Jeff Long, President and Founder of Pattison Sports Group. The nonprofit aims to combat childhood obesity by introducing children to the world of running. Open to kids aged 2-14, HKRS provides their runners with a platform to build their self-esteem in a fun and inclusive environment. With five age groups, HKRS brings a five-week running series to your community and encourages kids to kickstart their healthy lifestyle. Currently operating in 250+ communities, the HKRS race-in-a-box program is constantly accepting new community coordinators to implement the program nationwide.
Discovering RunSignup
Healthy Kids Running Series is a race-in-a-box program that allows anybody from across the country to set up a community running series. In searching for a new platform, HKRS was looking for a service that would fulfill their need of managing 40+ independently organized children’s running series.
HKRS selected RunSignup as their race management platform in 2015 after testing a few platforms. They were looking for a platform that would allow them to modify things as they arose. RunSignup’s self-serve interface provided them with the solution
they needed to make these changes and update them across all races instantaneously. Compared to the other platforms they tested, RunSignup was, “by far the easiest for [HKRS] to use and manage.” Since the switch in 2015, Healthy Kids Running Series has seen their number of race series grow tremendously, from 40 annual race series to over 250 nationwide.
“The switch was … an incredible difference visually, so much more user friendly. Our numbers just started to climb. The customer service that RunSignup was able to provide walked us through everything and just make the user registration portal so much more friendly for the families.”
– Katie Sullivan, RunSignup Database Manager for HKRS
Dashboard Accessibility
RunSignup’s platform allows race organizers to set limited dashboard access for race coordinators and other race administrators. The feature is a major benefit to Healthy Kids Running Series, allowing them to maintain control of 250+ races while keeping important info accessible to coordinators. Healthy Kids Running Series uses dashboard accessibility options to give coordinators access to the information specific to their race, such as volunteer setup, specific race financials, and email marketing. Limited access allows the HKRS national office to ensure that their brand remains consistent across all of their series.
The ease of changing dashboard accessibility allows them to evaluate the usage of each available feature and make adjustments for next season. One feature that race coordinators have access to under HKRS is email communications. With this access, coordinators can send weekly updates to participating families and receive emails directly to their account. They have the capability to send registration push to past participants as well. RunSignup’s built-in email marketing platform paired with limited dashboard access allows HKRS to divide email communications at a community level.
RunSignup at the Partner Level
With 232 races ending in the Spring of 2019, and an additional 49 races signed for next fall, HKRS needs a comprehensive platform that allows them to monitor the performance of each individual race. Partners have access to high-level registration reports. HKRS uses these reports to compare registrations, transactions, and donations while monitoring inconsistencies across years. Comprehensive reporting features allow HKRS to identify where to make changes and can be refined to identify which races need a push. Since starting with RunSignup in 2015, HKRS has seen tremendous growth through reports. From 2018-2019 alone, registrations have grown 24% and transactions have grown 26%.
At RunSignup, we take pride in our customer service, and we want to provide our users with opportunity to provide a similar level of service. RunSignup’s reporting features allow HKRS to quickly answer participant questions. “On the partner level I love the searchability. There’s a lot of parents that will call and say, “I’m really confused about which series I signed up for, or did I even sign my child up for the program?” Partner search capabilities allow HKRS to quickly look up signup information by name, from location to registration date. RunSignup has allowed Healthy Kids Running Series with the platform they need to provide their customer’s great customer service and boost repeat registrations.
Keeping the Focus on the Kids
“Safety is critical for healthy kids. We want to be safe, we want to be inclusive, and RunSignup allows us to do that.”
Every RunSignup event has a customizable event waiver for participants. HKRS pairs waivers with custom event questions for emergency contacts, phone, etc. In addition to this, HKRS disables participant lookup to protect their children’s privacy. You can do so by going to Race Dashboard>>Race>>Race Page>>Enable “Find a Participant” Page.
The RunSignup platform is designed with the Children’s Online Privacty Protection Act in mind. Parents must register children and their names are only visibl to the public via first initial and last name, including in our API.
Key Takeaways
- The RunSignup Partner dashboard give HKRS HQ a snapshot of the national program and ensures they can provide excellent customer service to their families.
- The RunSignup Partner dashboard gives HKRS the chance to limit controls available to their coordinators while still giving them access to important data, registrations, and email marketing.
- RunSignup’s COPPA compliance protects children’s privacy through waivers, custom questions, and data privacy policies.