Desparately ISO marathon fund raising ideas

[Lynno1975]

On July 10 I decided to join the Luekemia and Lymphoma Sociey Team in Training and I will be running the Honolulu Marathon in December. That is if I can raise the minimum donation of $4800 by November. Their primary fund raiser is a letter writting campaign. I also have the full support of my supper club to help me with bake sales and selling cookies-in-a-jar. Other means are corporate sponsoring and matching as well as garage sales, raffles, dinners, parties and such. I need some unusual ideas if anyone out there works in fundraising or sales I could use some suggestions....

Lynn :-)

[sneezles]

Not sure if this is what you're looking for or how to work it into what you already have but how about "auctioning" off some of your talents...ok, outta the gutter there...cooking, cleaning, crafts?
Maybe at one of the dinners you could have a silent auction for these items.

[hannah_phi]

Can you try to get one or more corporate sponsors? Perhaps you could wear their logos when you are training, so that they get exposure in the local community. Possible sponsors are running gear stores, travel agencies, health food stores, and etc. Have fun!:D

[Leisa M]

How about a garage sale with a portion of the proceeds going to your fundraising? Are you doing this in a team effort? If so, see if some of the others want to join in with the garage sale. Or maybe some of your supper club members.

[615bride]

I started trainig with Team in Training last season and was going to run in San Diego but go injured so now I'm running Kiawah Island in December. I have raised almost all of my money already because I started last season. Your mentors will give you lots of ideas once you start having meetings but I did raise most of my money through letters. You will be surprised at who pulls through and donates a lot (and surprised at who doesn't as well). I know someone who put a note on everyone in her neighborhood's door or mailbox saying who she was and what she was doing and that she would be coming around in the next few days to collect change. That way people could get prepared that she'd be coming. She wrote something like my name is so and so and I am the one who walks around the neighborhood with the black dog, etc. So people felt a connection with her. She raised a lot of money. When you get paired up with your patient it will help too because you'll have someone to think about. Send me your address or PM me and I will send you a small donation!

[jmarie]

I PM'ed you!

[Shirley Panek]

I participated in the Avon breast cancer walk last August, and got all of my money through letter writing. Is there a special reason you are running this race? Have you been touched in some way by Leukemia and Lymphoma? Be sure to add these things to your letter. When I first signed up to do my walk, I was walking with my best friend whose mom had died of breast cancer. Before I sent my letters out, my mom was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. I was amazed and touched by the responses I got from my letters - people whose lives had been touched, and I hadn't known it until then.

One of the things I learned when I was researching what exactly to write was that it also helps to have a dollar amount goal in mind. I "only" had to raise a minimum of $1900 (which seemed insurmountable to me), but I made a point in my letter to mention it. Below is my letter, if you think it will help. One of the other things I did when writing my letter was to look at as many different letters as I could to write mine better. I'm not sure if it was the letter, the cause, or my history, but I raised nearly $12,000.

Good luck!

Shirley

************
Copy of fundraising letter:

Dear Friends & Family –

I am writing to enlist your help. I am embarking on an adventure, but I need your generosity and support.

In November, my very dear friend, Lisa Harrison, sent me an e-mail inviting me to join her on the Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk in Colorado August 2-4, 2002. This sixty-mile trek will take us from Boulder to Denver, and find us sleeping in tents each night. I know the journey will be long and hard, but it will be an easy one compared to what cancer patients go through in their fight against the disease. When I decided to join Lisa on this walk, I thought it would be a chance to reconnect with a friend close to my heart, but living halfway across the United States.

In March of this year, my focus changed. My mother, Marilyn Copeland, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now this walk has become much more personal. I cannot think of a better way to show my love and support to her than to walk in her honor in this awesome event.

This walk does not come without a price. Along with months of training, I‘ve agreed to raise a minimum of $1900. I would like to put that number to shame – how does $10,000 sound? I am not comfortable asking for pledges, this is by far the hardest part of the commitment. But because the cause is so important and because the disease has touched me in different ways, I feel compelled to do it. Not only will the proceeds fund medical research and breast cancer awareness but, more importantly, it will assist in providing medical treatment for women who may not have adequate health care.

Please look deep in your hearts and seriously consider donating as much as you can. Regardless of size, every donation helps to make a difference in someone’s life. Just as a journey of sixty miles is reached one step at a time, so my financial goal is met one dollar at a time. If you would like to honor someone, please let me know so I can put their name on a T-shirt that I will proudly wear during training and the walk.

Some valuable information:
• I’ve included a pledge form that must accompany each donation.
• To ensure that my pledge account is properly credited, if paying by check, please include my participant number (# XXXX) and city (Denver) on your check.
• Checks should be made payable to Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day and may be mailed directly to me. Shirley Panek, XXXXXX, xxxx, XX 12345. I have included a stamp for your benefit. You may also donate online at www.bethepeople.com. Follow the links to the Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day – Colorado. (http://www.bethepeople.com/avon_3days/events_3day_co.htm)
• Every donation is fully tax-deductible.

Breast cancer does not discriminate on the basis of age, color, heredity, or even sex. Did you know that every year 1500 men are diagnosed with breast cancer and 400 die? One in eight women in America will develop breast cancer in her lifetime, and over one million women in America are living with undetected breast cancer. The donation you make could help someone’s mother, sister or daughter survive this disease.

Thanks in advance for your generosity and for joining me on this incredible adventure!

With much appreciation,

[Lynno1975]

Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions! I just missed my neighborhood wide garage sale (I committed on Thursday and the sale was Saturday :( ). I know a couple of people that are bar owners and a DJ, so I'm thinking about hitting them up for a Halloween party with a cover or something to that effect.

Some of you have asked why I myself have decided to do this. There are several reasons that are in no certain order. One, my Dad's dad died of a recurrence of lymphoma in 1988 (he had been in remission for about 10 to 12 years before that). A friend of mine from my hometown was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001 and is currently in remission. I will be running in honor of them as well as a friend of mine's father that died of lymphoma this past fall and in honor of our team honoree. I work as a CT/MRI technologist and I see patients everyday (sometimes more than once) with new onset or recurrence of cancers of all kinds. The topper for me was this past winter when I had a woman who was only 50 who had been a prominent lawyer, a mother of three and someone's wife tell me, when I asked "why are we doing this scan today" as I always do, that we were doing this scan because she was in advanced stage four colon cancer and the scan I was doing was to tell her how much longer she had to live. It was all I could do to hold it back until she left. My Mom lives (along with the rest of my family) 2 1/2 hours away and is an oncology nurse that gives chemo treatments to patients. When I go home sometimes through the week, I go to lunch with her and I meet a lot of her patients. Some of these patients are people that I've known all of my life, others aren't. Either way, I wanted to find something to do to in some way make me feel like I was actively doing something to counteract all that I come across in this thing called life. So, hopefully that answers some questions for some.:D

Thank you, Shirley, for showing me your letter because, in case anyone hasn't noticed, I can be long winded at times. How do you express everything you want to get across in a one page letter like that? I agree, the more I see, the better idea of what I want to put in mine.

Does anyone know of a website (such as Yahoo) where I can set up a webpage (or get a friend of mine to go to to set one up for me) so that I can post my progress for those who are at home and want to keep track of my progress?

Thanks again everyone!

Lynn :-)

[BeachBum]

You will be surprised at who pulls through and donates a lot (and surprised at who doesn't as well).

To be honest, this really hurt my feelings and I think it is a terrible attitude. Many of us have charities that are near and dear to OUR OWN hearts. Just because we don't identify with YOUR charity of choice and YOUR cause doesn't mean we are selfish or that we aren't generous. I appreciate and respect the time and dedication it takes to raise money for any charity or cause, but I don't feel I owe you explination or deserve your judgement when I choose not to dontate through YOUR vehicle of giving.

Marci

Good luck in your fundraising efforts, Lynn!

[badunnin]

Marci - I would like to respectfully disagree with you. When someone is committing themselves to a marathon/triatholon/3-day, 60 mile walk, it is still nice to acknowledge THAT accomplishment with a small donation. When I did the Avon walk, I got a lot of $5-$10 donations. I knew this wasn't THEIR cause, it was MINE. But they knew it was important to me, and acknowledged THAT, not the cause.

Lynn - I PMed you, by the way.

[MaryH]

Marci, having participated in a Leukemia event and having done the fundraising I wanted to say that from my experience it is not that I am "disappointed" in people who for whatever reason did not contribute when I sent my letters. What happens is that most people have an expectation (for better or worse) that their "close friends" (and that is ambiguous but I mean it in the sense of people who you know better than simply acquaintances) will support you. When you send out the letters you think you have an idea of who you will get responses from, but what actually happens is usually quite different. Everyone I have ever talked to has a story about an unexpected donation. I agree that no one owes me an explanation if they chose not to contribute.

[jmarie]

Have you considered setting up a Paypal account so that those of us who desire, can forward you a contribution, however small? I couldn't send much, but lots of little donations could equal a big one!

[615bride]

I have to respond to BeachBum. I sincerely apologize if you were offended by my comments so I will expand on them. In my fundraising letter I explained the whole process and explicitly wrote that any sized donation (even a dollar) is appreciated. I also said that I understand that some people can't/choose not to give and in that case some encouraging words in my training would be useful. There were some people (family members and close friends) from whom I expected some sort of small donation or an encouraging response and did not get one. Additionally there were people who got letters through friends or family members (who I barely know) who sent large donations that were very helpful. I think this is a great cause but DO NOT expect everyone to give...

[Leisa M]

Originally posted by 615bride
I have to respond to BeachBum. I sincerely apologize if you were offended by my comments so I will expand on them. In my fundraising letter I explained the whole process and explicitly wrote that any sized donation (even a dollar) is appreciated. I also said that I understand that some people can't/choose not to give and in that case some encouraging words in my training would be useful. There were some people (family members and close friends) from whom I expected some sort of small donation or an encouraging response and did not get one. Additionally there were people who got letters through friends or family members (who I barely know) who sent large donations that were very helpful. I think this is a great cause but DO NOT expect everyone to give...

I thought recently about doing a marathon for strokes. In the ensuing meeting I went to the speaker said the same thing. "You may get a donation from the little old lady at church that you don't know, and there will be people who you think will give and don't".

No one is trying to make anyone feel hurt. What 615bride said is simply the truth.

[Lynno1975]

Thank you so much for your offer! I by no means intended to solicit any donations with my thread, but that is generous of you! I can ask about how that works if you're sure that you're interested and PM you about it. I have an account set up though Paycor in Cinncinnati, of which I have to send my donations to. Since I'm still in the process of getting letters ready to go out, I have yet to find out the process of doing so. I'll check with LLS and see if it's possible to post an address to where that could be done, or at least give you directions on how to send it directly in without going through me.

Since I've been putting together my letters, I hadn't been on here for a few days and I see that I have given a base for a heated discussion, which I had no idea would happen. In my own thoughts, I think I can see both sides of this. I have been approached for donations for several things in the past. Being on the other side of what I have found is a very HUGE coin, at least in this instance, I see things a little differently. I ask, but I leave it at that. i pass no judgement on anyone that I hear nothing from, including donations of words of encouragement or monetary or otherwise. I, at the same time, understand from what little experience I've had so far with this what someone was talking about when they said you'll be surprised who donates and who doesn't. I took that when I read it to mean that it was more from more immediate relations, such as friends and family, not acknowledging in some form what you're doing. I have relatives that are the same way. I also understand that it's ususally how they are (in my family, now) about everything, so I haven't taken it personal.

Shirley, I forgot to ask earlier, just out of curiosity, how many did you send out? Tweleve thousand seems like an incredible amount for letter writting in itself. Was there any other means that you used?

As well as the ideas I've gotten here, I'm looking into what it would take to have a tent party with a DJ and a raffle (I have the donation of a DJ for services, but I need a site) and sell tickets for $20 or $25 in advance or five more at the door. I had also thought of a craft show or flea market where I could sell booth space.

Thanks again to everyone who has taken the time to see all this!

Lynn :-)

[Shirley Panek]

Lynn -

Believe it or not, I sent out less than 100 letters. Some donations I got through word of mouth, and someone in my mother's hometown asked my letter to be printed in the church newsletter - and I got several donations that way. Some of the donors asked their companies about corporate matching - some companies will do this, you may want to mention it in your letter - I think 2 came through. One matched 100%, the other added a zero at the end of my friend's donation (ie. she donated $100, they donated $1000).

I didn't do anything else for fundraising - just the letters. There were lots of people I met on the walk, however, who did other things. Some made jewelry, others sold t-shirts (the one that I remember most had a list of names for breasts (things like: hooters, boobies, jugs, etc.) and at the bottom in pink it said "No matter what you call them, they're still at risk). It was really cute.

If you've got an idea for a fundraiser, I say go for it! The tent party sounds like fun.

Shirley

[Lynno1975]

Just in case anyone is curious....

I started my own page on delphiforums.com, it's a big bb/chat room with different forums. I just did it today, so I don't remember the exact web link, but if you search under running it's called "Lynn's Way to The Honolulu Marathon". I have some out of town relatives that want to "keep tabs" on me, so I thought that this would be a cool way to do it. You can log on (it's free to get a login name and browse-my supper club has been using this site for communications for almost 2 years. It's great!) and go from there. I can also email invitations if anyone is interested.

Thanks again for all the ideas!

Lynn :-)

[jjsooner73]

Just bumping, as I'm now in the same boat as Lynn (who I've communicated w/ via PM-thanks Lynn). Just in case anyone has any more ideas and such.
I'll be doing a triathlon in CA in late March, so have plenty of time, but I know it'll arrive fast! I hope to get started addressing letters this weekend. Of course, I still have to write my letter to.
Any more suggestions or words of encouragement?

[jmarie]

Please email me with a paypal email address and I would love to contribute to the both of you...It won't be much, but a lot of littles equals a LOT!:D
Joyce

[jjsooner73]

Thanks so much Joyce! I don't yet have paypal set up yet, as I've just barely gotten my feet wet in this whole thing, but I'll put you on my list and let you know when it's up and ready.
You're a gem!! :D