General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement" Rss Feed  
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2014-08-28 8:49 AM

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Subject: Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement"

I apologize in advance, this could get long.

 

Before I get to my question I will try to give you a quick background.  I did IMLP in 2013, and Challenge AC in 2014, and as many of you know the time commitment , body sacrifice, and mental overload is immense. I had promised my wife and I had no desire to do an IM or IM distance in 2015. I am kind of burnt for the distance. We agreed that I would try to get into Challenge ROth for 2016 or maybe another destination IM that is good for a family vacation.

 

Ok, but here is what happened. 2 weeks ago a family in my town found out that their 6 year old daughter was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor that after surgery she will need chemo and radiation etc.....so basically a long road. This type of tumor has a 5 yr survival rate of only 63 percent for her age group. The parents travel 2+ hrs to NYC to stay in ronald mcdonald house, may not be able to work etc  .. SO basically a complete $%^#storm of grief.

I know the mother through facebook and our kids are in the same school, and though I have not met her face to face she is a teacher and for about 12 months she has given me a lot of info on the changes to education and in our district. So suprisingly that though I do not know them personally I have taken this news of her daughter pretty hard. Probably because we live in a small town and I have a 5 and 10 year old boys.

 

Well obviously they are going to need a lot of money. A friend of the family started one of those FUNDME sites and they raised 16k in 3 days!!!.....I have been promoting the page also.  But I know after the intial surge of donations it will probably slow down, and I know they will need a lot more money.

For 2013 IMLP i raised some money for a local organization 503c charity, so I am familiar with fundraising but I am thinking about doing a IM or at least distance in 2015 to raise money for this family specificaly but not sure if there are issues with it.

Does anyone know of any pitfalls to raising money for a specific family vs an organization, regarding anything, logistics , taxes etc??

I would probably set up another ironman dedicated donation page or maybe I should just link to the current one? I wanted to keep track of what I have been able to help them with.

I have not approached my wife with this idea yet, and not sure how she will take it.  She obvioulsy is sensitive to the needs of this family but not sure if the demand placed on me once again will be too much.

So any thoughts, advice, input would be great for me to think about before I "go public" with this locally.

Thanks

 



2014-08-28 9:11 AM
in reply to: FELTGood

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Subject: RE: Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement"
i believe if you do the fundraising via Ironman that it needs to be a registered 501 with them - so that may negate being able to do an individual family - I was looking at a specific charity, but theri 501 was still pending so I could use them

there is friends4michael.org that is raising money for children with brain tumors - your friends family may be able to reach out to them - and maybe do fundraising through them, but have funds go towards a specific family (not sure if that is possible or not)
2014-08-28 9:14 AM
in reply to: austhokie

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Subject: RE: Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement"

Thanks for input. I will check them out.

To be clear, when I say I was doing it with an IM..... I do not mean with the IM or WTC corporation. Just meant that to increase interest , I will be signing up for the ironman and then trying to raise interest from donors by tagging an event with it.

2014-08-28 9:47 AM
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Edited by Fred D 2014-08-28 9:48 AM
2014-08-28 10:10 AM
in reply to: Fred D

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Subject: RE: Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement"

Originally posted by Fred D

Are there options to fundraise without linking it to an IM?

 

I ask because it sounds like you have a bit of IM burnout (been there myself), and just wondering if this is the best way to raise money?

It might well be, just suggesting other options. Either way, hats off to you for caring about this family!

ETA: I can see how it might generate more interest and donation linked to the event. I also know a number of people (myself included) who give a lot to charity, but generally don't if it's associated with a race, etc)

Yes I am looking into those options also. Just didn't share the non- tri related ones with the group.   A cause like this may eliminate the burnout. I know when I did IMLP and I fundraised and made it bigger than me, I had more motivation.  I also felt like if I just tried to raise money without the race tied to it , it would be harder to get people to donate. The race seemed to create a Buzz.  thanks for input. I will be pursuing other means. I also shared the link given to me above already.

2014-08-28 10:21 AM
in reply to: FELTGood

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2014-08-28 10:39 AM
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Subject: RE: Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement"
Since you are burnt out I would suggest recognizing that first and if this family's plight is really important to you, use the training time and resources directly towards helping them out. Many organizations have a run for this, bike for that, etc which works because.....they get hundreds of individuals to do them and support the cause. They are extremely successful because of volume. For one person in one event you are not going to see the return on investment of time.

As an aside. The last Ironman I did I dedicated to a friend fighting for his life in the hospital. It raised awareness for his situation but honestly looking back it did more for me by motivating me to train and get to the finishline than it did for him. I didn't recognize it at the time.

So....with your love of triathlon and recognizing the current burnout, I suggest organizing some local 5k's, sprint tri's, etc and having 100% of the proceeds go to the family. The participants could get pledges etc. You only need 501 status if people want to make it a tax deductible donation. In situations like this, most people are all too willing to give without the deduction.

The entry fee you would have paid for an event will be a great kick start. Add to that the difference in time saved training for IM compared to just maintaining fitness and you have the recipe for a great outcome.

Just my thoughts...from being there.

Edited by tamason 2014-08-28 10:43 AM
2014-08-28 10:53 AM
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Alpharetta, Georgia
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Subject: RE: Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement"

I love where your head is at. The only suggestion I might have is to reach out to Ronald McDonald house or another charity you know will be assisting this specific family, and see if you can have your donations be sent directly to their 501c3 and earmarked for them? They might be able to set up an online donation code that when people donate and enter the code, it is marked for that family (I've seen that on other fundraising sites). Having donors send directly to the charity also helps with tax purposes. 



Edited by lisac957 2014-08-28 10:54 AM
2014-08-28 11:40 AM
in reply to: tamason

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2014-08-28 12:04 PM
in reply to: lisac957

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Subject: RE: Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement"

Originally posted by lisac957

I love where your head is at. The only suggestion I might have is to reach out to Ronald McDonald house or another charity you know will be assisting this specific family, and see if you can have your donations be sent directly to their 501c3 and earmarked for them? They might be able to set up an online donation code that when people donate and enter the code, it is marked for that family (I've seen that on other fundraising sites). Having donors send directly to the charity also helps with tax purposes. 

good idea...did not realize they could earmark $...thanks

2014-08-28 2:40 PM
in reply to: FELTGood

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Subject: RE: Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement"
Just another suggestion... you might consider getting sponsors for a long ride (often from xxx town to xxx town is more impressive than a number of miles), or even organizing a charity ride. It seems like those require less in terms of closing down roads, permitting, etc than running races or triathlons.
It's great that you're thinking about this. What a tough thing for the family to go through.


2014-08-28 10:24 PM
in reply to: FELTGood

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Subject: RE: Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement"

Does the family have any specific interests?

My first tri coach his 1 year old son had a brain tumor. Friend of his put on an organized ride in various lengths as his passion was cycling. It was great for his in real life friends who shared his passion to give with joy to help his son and his family.

If they are runners, help with a running race with a walk option. Cyclists do a organized ride. If they are into something else consider using that to do some type of fundraising.

In my town their were young twins who had significant medical issues. The developed a multi faceted approach to help them including yard signs, bumper stickers to raise awareness and help with their needs.

You may also want to see if someone else in the family or their circle of friends is brainstorming to raise funds and you could be part of that group and help put together something even bigger instead of doing something on your own.

With your heart and passion for helping this family, you will find the right way to do it and help them.

2014-08-28 11:19 PM
in reply to: KathyG

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Subject: RE: Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement"
I think it's fantastic that you want to help and commend you for it but before you get any further down the IM path you need to talk with your wife. If you do this you will be going back on what you have agreed on. It is even sly important that she is on board. Maybe she has been think gin about things to do to help too. Maybe between the two of you you can come up with something to do together rather than you IM which I'm not sure you're in the head space for.
2014-08-29 9:49 AM
in reply to: FELTGood


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Subject: RE: Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement"
You need to talk to your wife and you need to ask yourself, are you really doing this for the family, or is it a good excuse to do an IM after telling your wife you would stop and spend more time with your family. If you really want help, there are plenty of other ways to raise awareness and raise funds that give you more bang for your time. Use this as an opportunity to get your kids involved with awareness/fundraising, visits, spending time with the other child, meals for the parents, etc. You can raise the same amount of awareness and money doing an OLY as you can an IM, with a lot less time away from your family. If people are inclined to give and help out, the tipping point will not be the distance of the race. And you won't be raising awareness going out on 6 hour bike rides and two hour training runs and swims. bottom line, if you want to do this while training for an IM, then great for you. But if you are using this as an excuse to do another IM, thinking it will be your motivation, that is not fair to your wife or the kids you are not spending time with.
2014-08-29 12:43 PM
in reply to: FELTGood


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Subject: RE: Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement"
Before you move forward, you really need to talk to the family to see if this is ok with them. Even if they are being supported by other funds and have said yes to other fundraisers, you really, really need to get their okay. I think its awesome that you are so willing to devote your time and training to them as well as fundraise via your IM racing- but having done a fair amount of fundraising myself, and having recently seen a family in our town who had a daughter with cancer (she recently passed away) have some conflicts with the way people in town were throwing their name around as a "cause", you need to tread very lightly here and make sure they are 100% on board with you fundraising in the child's honor.

That being said, if they okay it and your wife okay ' sit- it can be a fabulous motivator and you have some opportunity to do some real good here! Feel free to PM me if you'd like some detailed thoughts on the best way to take on the unique fundraising challenges here versus raising money for a big name charity. I'd be happy to share my experience with you!

Best of luck,

Mellie
2014-08-29 8:07 PM
in reply to: #5044457

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Subject: RE: Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement"
Thanks for responses and I am taking it all in. I have ideas that are not IM related to raise money also. Of course before I would commit to an ironman I would get the wife's seal of approval. I am not that crazy. Lol. I am just thinking this out myself and with the help of BT first. If I was to do an IM next year I would need to be sure u could commit mentally first before talking to family. If I don't get there than it will be a no go before I even get to that point. Don't want to get into the conversation unless I am committed.

Yes I understand that there are others ways to raise money and I am not using it as an excuse to do another. Though maybe I overstated it by using " burnt out" but since I love the sport and distance it is not like I would be miserable ( other than normal stuff)

Think i am going to let it simmer a bit for a month or two and support family in other ways while their daughter gets treatment. She had a surgery today to partially close the hole in her skull while still relieving pressure.

Thanks for input


2014-08-29 11:15 PM
in reply to: FELTGood


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Subject: RE: Any pitfalls to this type of fundraising? May come out of IM "retirement"

A lot of good info and I applaud you for wanting to help out.

From my own experience, you can find funds by googling the disease and append "funds" "charity" "assistance" "patient support" "copay assistance", etc. - you get the idea.

There are a lot of organizations and help that can be found.

Good luck on whatever you decide!

Best,

-Dennis

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