Behind the Button

Small is a BIG problem for Non Profits

I first posted this on my makehope blog and frankly hesitated posting it here ~ the tone is candid and not as positive as I'd like but I feel that this needs to be said. My hope is that the post will start what I think will be a timely and important dialogue. please comment

Small things are so often a portent of bigger problems. Regular readers of this blog or it's sister blog Behind the Button know that I started a company called Buttons of Hope that uses custom photo buttons to help people with their fundraising by putting a face on their cause. Mine is a small start up with a big ambition and mission ~ to change the face of fundraising. While the major charities have been thus far less than enthused about the idea I am making buttons for hundreds of people who are inspired and often share their stories and powerful testimonials here, here and even here.

 

So is this just all about Mike Gibbons' sour grapes - not at all and here's why. As I forge on making 1000s of buttons caring about each button, each story and each fundraiser as if they were the only one ~ the people who wear buttons crave to share their stories with someone who'll listen ~ the big charities are too often indifferent and I think missing a very BIG opportunity.

In December Buttons of Hope made a (albeit small) donation to a well respected national cancer charity**. I sent the following letter (below) with a few of the actual buttons and the $41 check. Today I received a form postcard with fill in the blank for date and donation amount (see below) good I suppose for tax purposes but given the nature of my letter I was nonplussed to say the least.

You might be thinking geessh I read all this way and basically some guy is ticked because his $41 bucks did not evoke "top donor" recognition? NO the point is this: I think non profits have out of convenience, necessity or both forgotten the little guy, the grassroots. More disconcerting for them, you never know if that little guy is in fact a little guy? This non profit had no way of knowing that behind the $41 buck donation is a guy who also started a cycling team that has raised over $270,000 for cancer charities the past four years! Small can be a very big problem for even big non profits. Indeed.

(those are my thoughts I would really value your feedback/comments on this especially if you are with a non profit)

This is the letter I sent...

         This is what I received...

Behind the Button honored to be on Alltop Fundraising

Guy Kawasaki is mercurial: "Having the characteristics of eloquence, shrewdness, swiftness, and thievishness attributed to the god Mercury." OK maybe not the thievishness part but the rest applies to this most interesting and prolific of entrepreneurial icons. Guy worked at Apple in the early days and is still at the pulse of the most interesting stuff on the net. Follow him @guykawasaki and me @buttonguy on Twitter.

So why is Behind the Button talking about Guy Kawasaki? Or indeed why is Guy Kawasaki talking about Behind the Button? Because the internet and ecommerce is about three things -- having people Find, Know (like) and Trust you. See the small Alltop badge over to the right -- that means that Guy and his Alltop, one of the top websites on the net has recognized our blog as one of the top fundraising blogs on the internet meaning people have found us, like us and trust us! We are honored to now be side by side with the best fundraising minds and their blogs...

Beth's Blog
Step by Step Fundraising
Donor Power Blog
A Small Change
Fundraising Coach

We are honored and hope we can continue to provide you with inspiring stories of hope along with useful, unique and updated information about the wonderful world of fundraising. Tip o' the hat to Alltop and my friend Guy Kawasaki!

Fundraising How to(s) at Step By Step Fundraising

For many of us fundraising is anything but FUN, truth be told. It's not easy to ask the same friends, co-workers and family for money year after year - especially if they just bought 15 boxes of Thin Mints!! The 2009 charity walks** season will be here before we know it -- so if you're looking for some tips and ways to stand out in 2009 you should spend some (maybe a bunch) time on Sandra Sims' Step By Step Fundraising website and blog. (click here for my award winning Charity Walk lens on Squidoo)

I don't know how Sandra does it but between here original writing and the trolling for the best of the internet she has compiled maybe the most comprehensive fundraising resource on the web and she's a genuinely nice person to boot! Be sure to check out Sandra's Charity Mile website too where people doing charity walks, runs, bike rides and triathlons connect.

You can start by subscribing here to her jam-packed email newsletter - I do!

Everyone is gearing up or the charity walk season Relay for Life, Komen for the Cure, Walk to Cure diabetes, Heartwalk, March for Babies are all a robin's tweet away! So this year spend a little time on your fundraising strategy - you may find it's easier than you think. I picked out a few interesting articles to get you started:

Recently From Charity Mile
Social Networking: A New, Cool Fundraising Tool
Fundraising — Seven Tips for Getting Started
Focus on Your Message for a Successful Athletic Charity Event
Host a Jewelry Party Fundraiser

Recently From Step by Step Fundraising
Throw a Party, Raise Funds for Your Favorite Cause
An Important Fundraising Safety Message
Free Online Fundraising eBooks: Download These Today

So that should get you started, I hope you'll find Sandra's sites helpful in reaching your fundraising goals. And I hope that when you learn it all over there you'll remember to come back here to make your Button of Hope so that you can share your powerful story and put a face on your cause in 2009!

Walking the Walk for Charity Fundraising

I was talking with an inspiring Buttons of Hope customer the other day and she asked me if I had any advice for starting a team for an upcoming Relay for Life event. I was able to help her but I realized she was not aware that in addition to starting Buttons of Hope I have also been involved directly in charity fundraising as captain of the MojoRiding Cyling team here in Charlotte NC. I started the team with my wife Rhonda in 2004 and now we are 100 members strong!  What really blows my mind is that before starting this team I did little or no fundraising and in four short years we have raised over $275,000! (I'll let you read a recent article about me and the team in the attached PDF file) Download Citizen-page

The Endurance Magazine article starts...

"Michael Gibbons jumps into things. Four years ago he chanced upon the Charlotte Criterium, and the next week he was a newly minted cyclist.

From the first day I got on the bike I loved it,” he said. But Gibbons’ evolution into a 100-mile-a-week cyclist isn’t as impressive as his rapid rise as an organizer of other bikers. Within months of starting riding Gibbons’s business, which allows people to make customized buttons in honor of those battling diseases, those who succumbed to them, and others they want to remember or share." (more)

In the coming weeks I will be sharing some ideas about how to start and then engage, motivate and inspire a team to do great things for all kinds of causes and any number of 2009 charity walks. I will say this it's not as easy as it looks nor as hard as you might think! You can do this!

Tip One: Don't be afraid to stand out!

 

Charity Walks gearing up! Avon Walk "Great Start Party"

Charity Walk season is not too far away! Are you ready to give a little bit of your sole(s) to fight breast cancer!

Check out this great information I found about Avon Walks in your area on Cancer Walks Blog. And for more information I hope you'll check out my Avon Walks lens at Squidoo.

And to get you inspired how 'bout a little Walk on from U2!

Icing on Dr. Martin Luther King's cake

A tribute to Dr. martin Luther King today on his birthday and inspiration for all who serve a cause... "be the change you wish to see in the world."

Anything I could write here would pale in comparison to the resonance of Dr. Martin Luther King's own words as he extols his noble vision in his "I Have a Dream..." Listen and then act. And I think as appropriate icing to Dr. King's birthday cake is this stirring performance of Pride in the Name of Love by irish lads U2 I can only imagine too the feelings of U2 especially Bono as they played their homage to Dr. King on the very spot where he made his groundbreaking speech. Enjoy, there is always more we can do!

Riding with Lance Armstrong, way more than a ride | part 2

...so what's it like to ride with a sports legend, a hero? Do you play golf, what would it be like to play a round with Tiger Woods?  uh huh that's what it was like except there was more, so much more...See the thing about Lance Armstrong is he IS that rarest of people/celebrity who not only inspires but can transform a person's life through hope (in the active sense of that word). Before I get too far here I am not saying my life was transformed per se' but I know someone who was! (if you missed part 1 of my story you can read it here first)

The first thing people ask me about meeting Lance, were you nervous? (curiously I must say not a bit) which is weird for me because I thought for weeks about what would/should/should not say, what would I ask him? I even thought of asking him about Bono and about a lunch they shared in France -- love to have been a fly (are there even flies in France?) on that wall listening to those (cause hall of famers) but I digress.

The next thing people ask is, what did you talk about? The day we rode I was wearing three photo buttons one of my cousin Dale (Hoss) Lewis, one of Ellie Potvin and one of Brandon Elam ~ cancer took Brandon & Dale atrociously early in life and seven year old Ellie is in the battle of her young life. I knew Lance had met Brandon so I started talking about him -- right away Lance remembered and we talked about how Spencer Lueders while on stage with Lance in front of thousands turned around and presented his LiveStrong national fundraiser award to Brandon. I came to know Brandon and his parents Scott and Anita about a year before he died and I know how much Lance's friendship meant to him, it's not a stretch to say outside his family, Spencer and a few close friends Lance meant everything to Brandon - transformation, check! I know too that Brandon was smiling on me as I rode with Lance in my pink spandex which gave Brandon (and Lance) the biggest kick!

I talked about Ellie's story and Dale my inspiration for Buttons of Hope -- I think Lance got the button thing -- just in case I gave him one with a picture of him and Brandon and one of Ellie.
  

Some observations:

• Why is Lance the only human who looks good in a bike helmet?
• Riding knowing in a instant he could be a mile up the road before I could....well you know
• He looked "tour ready" to me
• As a bonus got to meet and ride with world class cyclist Davis Phinney who was just about the nicest man you can meet and his incredibly tall LiveStrong junior cyclist son Taylor Phinney
• The top fundraiser Zang Toi designs the clothes in NY, rides in a kilt and that is just perfect!
• Given the chance Lance quickly and politely declined my "setting him up" with pink Mojo gear!
• A couple of deserving kids road too and Lance gave them time like he would for the President
• I have never seen a person more natural speaking to a crowd or one on one

I know it sounds like a lovefest and that's because it was -- I can be a pretty cynical guy sometimes but really the weekend was perfect. I met some amazing LiveStrong fundrasier/advocates, some heroic survivors, the LiveStrong staff who are unsurpassed in what they do and more importantly how they do it! Austin is a bit weird, wild and fun -- I enjoyed it with the group from 24 Hours of Booty who are reinventing the charity fundrasier (we need more of this). Special thanks to Spencer, Betty Otter-Nickerson (LAF),Natalie Seeboth (LAF) especially Ellie, Brandon, Dale and of course Lance -- you do walk ride the talk and it makes all the difference!

And BIG thank you to Liz Kreutz for the fantastic photos -- she is the PRO!

and it wasn't all me --my wife Rhonda got to meet and greet and then proceeded to drop me a like a bag of dead armadillos over 60 miles of the Texas "hill country" on Sunday! Thanks honey!

Riding with Lance Armstrong, LiveStrong | Part 1

Lance Armstrong, so what's he really like? Did the 7 or 8 minutes I spent riding with him change my life? Actually yes it did. Lance has been an inspiration and hero for me and knowing that people can go their entire lives without meeting their hero how could it not be life-changing! Basically he was a really nice guy, quick to laugh, funny but what most impressed me is he was engaged in our conversation & sans sunglasses, seeing a person's eyes while talking makes a huge difference. (I actually let him get a word in ...I think?)

So how did all this come about? As many of you know my wife Rhonda and I started a cycling team Mojoriding in 2005. When you start riding "road bikes" you learn fast that the best rides are charity rides, that's how I became what I like to call an "accidental fundraiser". I am by no means the best fundraiser on the team, far from it but I suppose I had a hand in motivating, sometimes begging the Mojos to raise over $125,000 the past 3 years in the 24 Hours of Booty** to benefit Livestrong. So thanks to my good friend Spencer Lueders and in larger part my cycling team Mojoriding I got to ride with Lance in his beloved killer Austin hill country (emphasis on hill!) **24 Hours of Booty is an amazing event started by Spencer Lueders who rode 24 hours straight the inaugural year (more about Spencer and Booty here)

Rhonda and I were invited guests of Spencer and the 24 Hours of Booty team for the annual Ride for the Roses | Lance Armstrong Foundation events in Austin TX on October 24. I was the very lucky cyclist in a group of 30 well deserved cyclists|top fundraisers who got to meet, ride and talk with Lance one on one. With well over 17,000 Livestrong Challenge participants and countless cancer survivors nationwide and knowing that every one would give their granny gear to ride with Lance I consider myself very lucky indeed!

OK, so back to Lance. We met on a picture perfect Saturday afternoon at a winery in the Austin hill country, which is best described as stepping into your favorite western movie, desolately beautiful. Oh...sorry first let me step back and tell you about Friday night and The Salt Lick in Dripping Springs TX.

As part of the Yellow Jersey contingent we were feted like royalty -- so of course we should get the chance to see the King (or as Lance calls him the President) of Texas, the indomitable Willie Nelson. So get this, on Friday night we are shuttled out to The Salt Lick for an open air Texas style BBQ fest and then a private show with his excellency Willie! (I felt at any moment JR and Bobby were going to show up). Momma's might not be so bad to let your babies grow up to be cowboys after all...part II in next post