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Dawn Lowell is the San Jose RNR team captain for NF Endurance. Below she shares some of her fundraising success secrets. Dawn runs for her daughter, Ava.
It is now June already and we are just about four months out from the San Jose Half Marathon. I wanted to share some success stories in regard to fundraising. I never really thought I would do that well in fundraising, and I just always thought I could count on some close friends and family to make a donation and sort of always had low expectations and felt bad in asking for money. Let me tell you I was so wrong!
I am now on my second time around raising money and have had great success. Please click on my link to my current fundraising effort and take a look.
First and foremost please utilize Bob Skold at (Enable Javascript to see the email address) with your fundraising page. He will help you with ideas and making your page look very nice and appealing. He is always available to bounce ideas off of and help you design your page.
Start early. I typically will compose my web page about 4 month prior to race day – think about what you will want to say and how you may want it to look. Pick out some nice photos for your web page. Once it is looking like they way you want it, start sending out those e-mails. For me personally, I sent out emails twice a month to anyone who hasn’t donated. Sometimes people mean to donate, but they may delete the email. I keep sending them until race day.
Write letters. I had done a letter up for a few neighbors and family who I didn’t have emails for. I put one of my letters in a neighbor’s mailbox who has spoken to me while out walking with my daughter in the stroller. She took my letter and showed it to all of her other neighbors whom I did not give a letter to. I received a $5,000 donation from a neighbor down the street from someone I didn’t even know! This neighbor also made another $5,000 donation this year. Never would I have imagined in my wildest dreams this could ever happen. My point being: do not be afraid to get your story and your quest known. I now place a letter with a donation envelope in everybody’s mailbox in my neighborhood! You never know what is going to happen unless you try. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
This year, times are tough for a lot of folks. This time around I hit up anyone who I write checks to on a monthly basis, including letters to my gym, my son’s preschool, and even the salon who cuts my kid’s hair! You name it, I was in there with my letter. My husband is in real estate, and he has hit all of his business contacts and has gotten lots of donations this year.
Kevin Wales (left) and friends at an LSU tailgate.
Kevin Wales finished the Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon in February, raising more than $5,000 for NF research. For Kevin, who has NF1, this half marathon meant much more than completing 13.1 miles. “It meant doing something that at one time in my life would have been inconceivable,” said Kevin.
Kevin broke his right femur in March 1991 when he was in eighth grade. He was in the hospital, had to have to his leg in a cast, enduring many days of physical therapy. It took months for his leg to be back at full strength. Kevin’s orthopedist had to write a letter to his high school exempting him from physical education courses because of concern for further injury. Although Louisiana required two years of physical education to graduate, his doctor’s letter trumped the requirement; he had to take alternate courses instead.
So when Kevin crossed the finish line of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon, it meant much more — accomplishing something he never thought possible. “To be able to run 13.1 miles after nearly 19 years after that life-changing event, is, well, life-changing in and of itself,” said Kevin.
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Fundraising Secret:Modify letters. Kevin sent out more than 100 letters to his friends, family and community members. However, he tailored letters by how well the recipient knew him and how much they knew about what NF has done to him. For example, because his sister and three of her five children have NF, he could cut out how NF affected him personally. For other letters, he had to be more specific, without getting into too much detail, as he wanted to keep the letters down to one page only.
Training Tips:Start small. When he started training in the latter part of June of 2009, Kevin could barely finish three miles. His first goal was four miles, then five, until he could gradually increase his mileage to double digits. “Once I started focusing just on distance and ignored speed, I noticed that my speed on race days increased!” said Kevin. “When I was able to run 12 miles in late January and didn’t feel any pain afterward, plus no soreness the next day, I knew that I was ready.”
The No. 14 car came in battered and sporting duct tape. After 24 hours of racing, the Foundation’s Porsche GT3 car finished 15th in class on Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010, after 611 laps around Daytona. It was all part of a program called Racing4Research to raise awareness about NF.
In addition to the NF Endurance Team, the Children’s Tumor Foundation offers an array of programs such as Racing4Research, that also help fund research and generate awareness about NF. Racing4Research raises money through fundraising by NF Heroes, individual donations, and corporate sponsorship. The 2010 R4R program has already raised more than $300,000 for NF research, bypassing their goal for the year.
This is the fourth year the Foundation has partnered with a racing team to sponsor a car in the Rolex 24. The uncertainty and challenges of NF can parallel the obstacles a race car encounters during during a 24 hour race. Racing4Research director Jill Beck is personally affected with NF; her husband Bob suffers from Schwannomatosis.
One of the most memorable moments for Stephanie Yolish, who works with the Racing4Research program, was just prior to the start of the race. “Glen Gatlin, a first time driver for us this year, who did not know what NF was before this weekend, gathered everyone around the car before it was about to be pushed onto the race track,” said Yolish. “He asked everyone – NF families, crew, drivers, supporters, anyone with a blue Foundation hat on, to gather around the car and connect with each other. It is truly amazing to see a group of people – the drivers and the crew – who have no touch to NF, know nothing of NF before this program, get misty eyed and give their money, their resources, and all their efforts for our NF Heroes.”
A special thank you to all of the R4R drivers Daniel Graeff, Glen Gatlin, Seth Thomas, and Ron Yarab as well as crew chief Frank Resciniti. For more on the weekend in Daytona, check out Garrett Gleeson’s article on NBCSports.com.
