What I'm most excited about isn't the run actually. It's the creative fundraising I want to employ. I'm taking the advice of my friend Mike Brooks for raising money. He should know, since he raised tens of thousands of dollars for Camp Sunshine through running the Badwater Ultramarathon. And then there was the 6 day race in New York City he did. And the ten day...
Anyway, I have ideas. I'm thinking I can commit to community service on Mount Desert Island in return for donations to the CF Foundation on my fundraiser page ( http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/24HourRun ) and pledging a few cents to a dollar per mile for my race. That way, I am helping others and they are helping me (reciprocity). Mike suggested I enter every establishment in town and ask for a donation. At least it couldn't hurt. And ask to leave CF Foundation donation cans at the counter.
The CF Foundation has some great tips for creative fundraising too. One tip is to have a pizza lunch at the office for your coworkers. Get a pizzeria to donate a few pies and charge a five dollar donation for each slice. Or asking stores to donate a percentage of their sales for a day. That way, it's a win-win situation. I had no idea how endless creative fundraising could be.
My goal is to raise $5000 in 6 weeks.
Mike Brooks taught me a great thing about advocacy. By hosting a running event to promote and raise money for CF, I could be inspiring others to participate in other CF events down the road. Also, the more people that know about CF and the 30,000 children and adults it affects in the US, the more likely they are to help out.
I am very excited to flesh out these possibilities and form partnerships with local establishments. Ah, the promise of Spring...
You inspire me! <3
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