Frequently Asked Questions

Anyone and everyone can become part of the fight against ALS by joining a local Walk to Defeat ALS. All Walk routes are wheelchair accessible and Walk Day activities include something for all ages!

There is NO FEE to participate in the Walk to Defeat ALS but fundraising is encouraged. Funds raised contribute to local care service programs, global ALS research, and nationwide advocacy. Walk participants can raise anywhere from $100 to $100,000 dollars - the sky is the limit!

Registering for your local Walk to Defeat ALS^TM is quick, easy and can be done from the comfort of your home in 4 easy steps!

1. First, visit defeatalsoregon.org and select the Walk location you would like to join.
2. Next, select Register and decide if you’re participating as a member of a Walk Team, Individual Walker or Virtual Walker.
3. Complete the appropriate Online Registration Form to become an official participant of your local Walk!!
4. Once you’ve registered, you’ll receive access to your online fundraising Participant Center, where you can update your personal page, connect your Walk fundraiser to Facebook, and send emails asking for support.

Anyone can create a team and invite their family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers to join the movement. Each person will have access to their own personal fundraising page and online fundraising center where they can reach out to their networks to help broaden their reach and impact. All the funds raised will be credited towards the team. Walk Teams and their fundraising efforts drive the success of a Walk. The more members you have on your team directly correlates with an increased opportunity for fundraising and awareness of ALS, so starting a team is a very impactful way to help our ALS community.

There are three primary types of Walk Teams:

1. Friends and Family Walk Teams: A Friends and Family Walk Team is typically created by family members and friends whose lives have been personally touched by ALS. These teams usually walk in honor or in memory of a loved one with ALS.
2. Corporate Walk Teams: A Corporate Walk Team is created when a company wants to support The ALS Association’s mission by participating in the Walk. These teams are generally made up of coworkers and their family and friends. Corporate Teams may or may not have a personal connection to ALS, but they are all dedicated to improving the lives of those touched by the disease.
3. Other Walk Teams: If you are not forming a Friends and Family or Corporate Walk Team, as described above, your Walk team might fall under the "Other" heading. "Other" Walk Teams include school teams, fraternity/sorority teams - any type of team that would like to join the fight against ALS.

A Team Captain is the lead organizer and motivator for a Walk to Defeat ALS Team. Team Captains are responsible for recruiting people to join their Walk Team, naming their team, setting a team fundraising goal and continually communicating with and encouraging team members prior to and during Walk Day. Team Captains are The ALS Association’s primary contact to the Walk Team; he/she will receive ongoing information and updates from our office during the months leading to Walk Day. Each Walk Team must have a Team Captain.

Team participants are individuals who participate in the Walk to Defeat ALS as part of a Walk Team. Team participants communicate regularly with their Team Captain and encourage friends and family to support the Walk and their team using their online fundraising participant center or other fundraising methods.

Fundraising Walkers choose to participate as a single member of their local Walk to Defeat ALS rather than joining a Walk team. Fundraising walkers also have access to all the fundraising tools in the online fundraising participant center. Select this participation type if you plan to join the event in-person and fundraise.

People who choose to participate as Virtual Walkers do not physically attend Walk Day. Virtual Walkers can participate on a team or as an individual. However, Virtual Walkers still must register for the Walk in order to have access to the tools in the online fundraising participant center. This is a great option for supporters who do not live close to their preferred Walk location or cannot attend Walk Day.

As you begin collecting Walk donations, we encourage you to send all contributions to The ALS Association Chapter office prior to the Walk.

However, there are other options for submitting donations:

1. Encourage online donations! Online donations made directly to your personal Walk web page are instantly attributed to your personal and Walk Team fundraising goal. No additional steps are necessary. We suggest using the tools in your online fundraising participant center to create a custom URL link you can share with friends and family to take them right to your donation page!
2. Bring all your donations to the Registration Area on Walk Day. Simply collect contributions from friends and family members, and turn them in to one of the volunteers working at the Registration and Donation Tent areas. They will file them in the appropriate folder and add them to your total donation amount in the week after the Walk.

All donations received after Walk Day should be mailed to The ALS Association Chapter office at 825 NE Multnomah St., Suite 940, Portland OR 97232. Checks should indicate which walk the funds are for in the memo area.

The ALS Association launched Unlock ALS at Walk events in 2018 to provide participants with a tangible way to recognize the real reasons we Walk to Defeat ALS. At each Walk event, participants select a lanyard in one of four colors to represent their connection to ALS, receive a branded key, and join in on a meaningful opening ceremony. Unlock ALS provides a way to honor all those living with ALS in our community and throughout the world, and a reminder that the key to Unlocking ALS, the key to a cure begins with us. Read more about Unlock ALS.

Remember that your username and password are case sensitive. Click here to find your password. You will receive an e-mail with your username and password. If you don’t receive an email or have trouble resetting your password, contact your Walk coordinator and he/she can reset it for you!

First, login to the site using your username and password. Once logged in you will see a link at the top of the page called "Update My Profile". Once in your profile, you will be able to update your contact information, e-mail address, preferences, username and password. All changes will be made to your account immediately. There is no need to sign in again.

Blackbaud, the company that powers The ALS Association’s Walk to Defeat ALS website, makes every effort to protect your personal contact and credit card information. They use industry-standard SSL encryption techniques to make sure your credit card information, passwords and personal information travel securely over the Internet. Blackbaud also installed an encryption engine on our database server so your data is securely stored within our offices as well.

Credit card information is not stored in our database. During the donation process, we send an individual’s credit card information to an online processing terminal using a secure connection. The information passed back is an approval or denial for the credit card donation.