Wednesday, April 28, 2010

What I learned about fundraising

I was pretty busy last night with cooking, and being a nice husband to my lovely wife, so there was no post.

Today is the big night. We’re doing our lil’ function to raise funds for our World Champs trip. And I thought I’ll share with you what I have learned during the last couple of weeks:

Be innovative: I think our movie night was spot on on that front, a lot of people was happy to see something different from the sausage sizzles or the like.

Be mindful of timing: the venue was great but timing has come as an issue, a lot of people would have come if the movie was an hour or hour and a half earlier.

Market yourself well: we tick the box on that one, but probably would have done better with another week.

Have a worthy cause: people raise funds for many worthy causes (cancer research and cure, domestic violence awareness, homeless people, kids trips at school and many more) somehow I found that triathlon world champs doesn’t quite fit on that category. HOWEVER been part of the national team quite lifted the profile of things and I’ve received lots of positive vibes from a lot of people.

Which brings me to the one issue in contention here: me doing triathlons is an indulgence, a lifestyle choice that I decide to carry on with. In a sense I feel I am asking people to pay to support those choices. ON THE OTHER HAND, why not? I’m not ripping anyone off, and we’re offering a good night out to a lot of people in exchange for a small fee above what they would have paid for any other night out at the movies. Besides, they get to be part of my jurney, wel… our journey to Budapest and whatever happens there.

I’m putting my body through some pain to get the rewards, not only for me, but for all of those who’ve chosen to help us out.
On another note, here’s yesterday training:
Date: 27 Apr
Sport: cycling
Time: 1hr
Dist: n/a
Comment: last week of labs! 330 watts and counting! 5x5min+3min active recovery

3 comments:

  1. don't feel bad for raising some money! It is an expensive sport and a lot of people are inspired by the work that you put in to get to the level you are at! Hey, and there are some people out there with to much money anyways, they need to put it somewhere! I hope your event is a hit!

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  2. Great event, good choice of movie, a real pleasure ! Well done to you 3. Cheers. J

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