Here are some very short descriptions of the most common Relay For Life Committee positions. For more information or for a complete description and/or guidebook, please click here. Or go to the Committee Chair Resources page.
Event Chair | Co-Chair | Team Development | Sponsorship | Logistics
Activities | Mission Delivery | Advocacy | Survivorship | Luminaria
Ceremonies/Entertainment | Accounting/Registration | Publicity
Online Chair
The Event Chair is responsible for recruiting, orienting and training a team of volunteers to plan and implement all aspects of Relay For Life. He/She works in partnership with the volunteer team and staff to develop fund-raising goals and action plan and serves as a mentor and coach to the Relay For Life committee.
As Events mature, Co-Chairs may be assigned to work with Growth Committees and Production Committees. Click here for more info.
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The chair “in training” who will chair next year’s event. Responsible for assisting the event chairman, His/her primary responsibility is to lead areas of Relay that fall under “the production” of Relay such as: opening/closing ceremonies, activities, advocacy, logistics, etc. (refer to committee structure chart in guidebook).
As Events mature, Co-Chairs may be assigned to work with Growth Committees and Production Committees. Click here for more info.
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The team development chair is responsible for recruiting new teams to participate in the event and retain veteran teams. The team development committee works with team captains to ensure that they know what their team is supposed to do before, during and after the event. Organizes team information and ensures that teams are informed of meetings, deadlines, etc.
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The sponsorship chair is responsible for acquiring sponsors for the event. He/she is responsible for presenting sponsorship opportunities, while adhering to sponsorship guidelines. Also works to obtain underwriting opportunities which consist of donations that are used to defray expenses incurred during the event. (Example: a printing company donates the printing of the event program.)
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The logistics chair is responsible for making all arrangements with the facility and ensuring that necessary items are provided at the event location. This person is responsible for overseeing the set-up of the site before the event, as well as breakdown after the event.
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The activities and entertainment chair is responsible for scheduling entertainment, games and family fun activities for the event.
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The mission delivery chair is responsible for ensuring that Health Initiatives are present before during and after the event. Interactive activities as well as information on cancer prevention and detection should be available throughout the Relay Season.
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The advocacy chair is responsible for recruiting grassroots volunteers and initiating efforts to promote advocacy initiatives before, during and after the event.
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The survivorship development chair is responsible for ensuring that all cancer survivors in the community are invited to participate in the Survivor Celebration at Relay and are offered opportunity to participate in other ACS initiatives throughout the year.
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The luminaria chair is responsible for the promotion of Luminaria along with the logistical assembling of the bags and setup during the Luminaria Ceremony. This person should work closely with the Ceremonies chair to prepare for the Luminaria Ceremony.
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The ceremonies chair is responsible for all ceremonies (opening, closing and luminaria) during the Relay. This includes acquiring entertainment, speakers, etc., for the ceremony.
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This position serves two major roles. The first is accounting – in other words, this chair is responsible for overseeing the tabulation of all monies and meeting all reporting deadlines. The second is registration – this means being responsible for overseeing the registration of participants including the payment of team commitment fees. This chair also collects incentive prize orders and delivers the prizes upon arrival.
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The publicity chair is responsible for orchestrating all local publicity before, during and after the event. He/she distributes all news releases and ads, and works with the sponsorship chair to obtain in-kind media sponsorships. Chairs in metro areas should coordinate these efforts with the ACS communications staff. No contact should be made with TV stations in particular without the knowledge of the ACS communications and marketing specialist.
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Working closely with ACS Staff partners and Relay Committee members, the Online Chair will be responsible for promoting online registration and fundraising to team captains and participants. Responsible for managing email campaigns, site customization, and reporting functions, and interacting with other committee members as needed to integrate online component into event fundraising structure.
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Note: These are only a synopsis of the committee job descriptions.
