Case Study: United Way for Greater Austin (UWATX) achieves nearly $100K in fundraising and 300+ participants engaged with OneCause

Fundraising Success of a First-Year Scavenger Hunt

United Way for Greater Austin wanted a fresh way to engage the local community and move beyond traditional run/walk events, so they created a first‑year peer‑to‑peer fundraiser called Ruthless Good. To deliver a mobile, GPS‑enabled scavenger hunt that combined fundraising, photo challenges and trivia, UWATX partnered with OneCause and used OneCause’s platform to power clues, geolocation check‑ins and social sharing.

OneCause built the online and mobile experience, integrated sponsor stops, photo uploads and recruitment/reward mechanics, and acted as a strategic thought partner for scaling the event. The scavenger hunt drew over 300 participants (67 teams), generated 900+ #RuthlessGood photos, had 79% of participants fundraising, and raised nearly $100,000 — with 100% of surveyed participants saying they would recommend the event. OneCause’s platform and guidance were credited with making the launch a clear success.

United Way for Greater Austin (UWATX)

Vanessa Hartman

Director of Systems and Knowledge Management