49,000 Canadians did push-ups for 18 days. They raised $2.4M without a single gala.
No venue. No tickets. No silent auction. No rubber chicken dinner. Just 2,000 push-ups in 18 days, a phone app, and the quiet pressure of knowing your coworkers can see your numbers.
That is how the Canadian Mental Health Association raised $2.4 million in February 2025.
A challenge imported from Australia
The Push-Up Challenge started in Australia. The concept is almost too simple: sign up, do push-ups every day for 18 days, raise money for mental health, and track everything through an app.
2025 was its second year in Canada. The first year had been a test. The second year proved it was not a fluke.
49,000 Canadians registered. Each committed to completing 2,000 push-ups over the 18-day period in February. Participation grew 42 percent compared to the previous year.
The challenge is free to join. Fundraising is optional but encouraged. And that “optional” part turns out to be important, because when you are on day 11 and your team is watching, you tend to raise the money.
Every day, a different number and a different fact
The app does not just track push-ups. Each day, it assigns a specific target and pairs it with a mental health fact.
Day 4: 112 push-ups. Fact: 1 in 5 Canadians will experience a mental health problem in any given year.
The daily facts serve a dual purpose. They educate. And they give participants something to share. When you post your day’s push-up count on Instagram or Slack, the fact goes with it. Mental health awareness spreads without anyone having to write a speech or organize a panel.
When one company out-raised small nonprofits
Stantec, a global design and engineering firm, put together a company-wide team. More than 250 employees across Canada participated. Together, they completed over 276,000 push-ups and generated $284,000 in impact for the CMHA.
One company. 18 days. Nearly $300,000.
For context, there are Canadian nonprofits that do not raise $284,000 in an entire year. A team of engineers doing push-ups at lunch outperformed them in less than three weeks.
Where it fits in the bigger picture
The Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum tracks the top 30 peer-to-peer fundraising programs in Canada. In 2025, the Push-Up Challenge debuted at number 15 on the list, in only its second year.
The top 30 collectively raised $215 million, a 7.6 percent increase year over year. Total participation climbed to 5.1 million across all programs.
At the top of the list, as always: the Terry Fox Run, at $33 million, up 24 percent. The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation placed four separate programs on the list. Hockey Helps the Homeless entered the rankings for the first time at number 7.
Why simple works
There is a reason galas raise less money per dollar spent than peer-to-peer challenges. Galas require venues, staff, food, entertainment, and months of planning. The overhead eats into the total. The reach is limited to whoever can attend.
A push-up challenge requires a phone and a floor.
The lesson is not that galas are dead. It is that the barrier to entry for fundraising has dropped to nearly zero. Anyone with a social network and a simple challenge can now generate the kind of collective action that used to require an event team and a six-figure budget.
In Canada, platforms like Tiing are built on the same idea. You do not need to organize an event to rally your community. You need a page, a cause, and a way to share it. The push-ups are optional. The principle is the same: give people a low-friction way to give, and they will.
49,000 Canadians proved that in 18 days. All it took was getting on the floor.
