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!