Day Fourteen of...98 Days

I just arrived in Chicago for the weekend with Tom. We are staying in this amazing high rise with the most magnificent view.  The tenants are away and let us stay here in their beautiful apartment in their absence. Thank you Katie ad Tyler.  As I look out upon the city I can see thousands of windows all compacted into this single square mile.  And I think what if somehow I could reach into the window of the soul of all of these people and ask them to donate $1.00, just a $1.00 contribution, how quickly that would add up and make a tremendous difference in funding the research to find the cure.

It sounds doable but how do you reach out to perfect strangers who may not know anyone who has been affected by this devastating disease and ask them to contribute $1.00?  To them even for a dollar they probably want to understand the difference it could make in someone's life.  But then again it would be asking them for less money than it would cost to buy a cup of coffee.  And if only a dollar for this cause then they would have the ability to contribute to many causes that mean something personally to them.  So if I could make a wish for this fund-raising campaign it would be this: to have many people feel like they have contributed to the fight and watch the positive impact it can make on those 900,000 lives affected by blood cancer.

Day Thirteen of...98 Days

It's Friday and I am writing my thirteenth post.  It's been very cleansing to share my thoughts about this fund-raising campaign.  I have been travelling a lot in my car to and from appointments for my other life in technology and it's given me plenty of time to think. 

It given me time to think about the campaign as it is about to begin in a couple of weeks and do a rewind of where we are:

• We ran a couple of tests to see how the letter would layout on the letterhead.  With the header and footer taking up 3 inches it was a tad too long so we made a couple of adjustments since we need to keep it to a page.  We noticed we referred to sponsorships levels as attached in the letter but thought better of sending more paper.  Our decision was to take the electronic Sponsorship PDF version and upload and post the URL in the document so they can get easy access to it.  Its little things like this we are glad to be catching now.
• The first 500 companies have been identified and 50 individuals for personal donations. We will pulse the number that go out and follow up with phone calls.  And every two weeks that will repeat over the next six weeks. 
• We have a new member of the team joining our efforts.  Her name is Kathy she is in Louisville with my Mom and we are so grateful she wanted to join the campaign.  She feels she can make very strong headway with corporate giving.  With this really being a National Campaign all of the dollars raised goes into one fund-raising pot to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to fund research and find that cure.  There are no boundaries to this campaign that helps our efforts tremendously.
• We just got word we have our first of one of the target fundraisers appointments with the decision maker who can pull the trigger and we will know in just a couple weeks time right before kickoff.  And the other we will schedule that meeting with the powers that be and hopefully they will see the vision see the benefit and would say "of course why wouldn't we want to be involved".
• We secured another auction item that will have people singing a tune and as soon as I get more details I will disclose.

So as I am reviewing and thinking about where we are my mind always goes back to why this is so important that we succeed in fund-raising and then I look at my blog and our honoree and enough said.  We are ready...

Day Twelve of...98 Days

Last night after I completed the post I was unwinding and I turned the TV on for some background noise.  American Idol was on right before President Obama's speech.  So I kept it on yes I admit it and they were going through the normal rigmarole of talented individuals and others who you are convinced were looking for their five minutes of fame.  And then they went to a back story about the next person coming in to give it her best shot.  Her story at age 4 she was diagnosed with Leukemia.  The family was not sure she would survive but through her hard fought battle there she was now in her teens and taking a fearless stance to walk right in and sing her heart out.  She was marvelous so much soul in her voice.  Low and behold the judges adored her they all gave her thumbs up and she got her ticket to Hollywood.

So the takeaway is there are survivors that are in remission.  The money toward research is working. The $69 million that went to research funded by LLS in 2009 has led to advances in treatments such as chemotherapy, bone marrow and stem cell transplantation and new targeted oral therapies. 

But the cold hard reality is there is much more that needs to be done.  But for today lets end on a high note let's concentrate on the survivors right now and this one who knows may be our next American Idol. 

Day Eleven of... 98 Days

I was just looking down at my mousepad and actually and coincidentally it is from The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society back in 2006 for my work on the Bob and Tom Radiothon.  At the top it reads "Relentless for a Cure".  And as I open this blog daily to write and see Tressa's face I say "no more" this can never happen again. 

With these letters* that I posted as promised I trust we can start to make impact.   There are a couple of things that may surprise you on what we are doing of course you'll want to read through it but it will definitely be the gift that keeps on giving and for us that was so important to do that.  This campaign only two months long is not enough time and for me it goes beyond that it's about finding that cure for blood cancers. Yes we can make headway these next two months but it's only a beginning more will be necessary.  The research, awareness and education needs to be continued and additional dollars needs to be raised so not another 10 minutes go by when we lose another to this devastating disease.

That's right relentless for a cure that's us and that's the campaign.   

*Letter for Corporations
  Letters for Individuals

Day Ten of...98 Days

What a great strategy planning day!  Our campaign team met at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society offices.  We are so close to being ready for kickoff.  We picked up the letterhead for our "ask letters" that I will post tomorrow.  We talked about the importance of putting return envelopes in with the letters to make it that much easier for corporations to make a donation.  It was thought that may raise the response percentage even if it's just a little bit.  We have a volunteer who will be handwriting the outside of the envelopes so again it would increase our chances of getting a better "open rate". They will have all different contribution methods as to how they can make their donation online, offline, by check and/or credit card.  We don't want there to be any reason they can't participate.

We nailed down the events and everyone was very much energized.   If we can get the support from those we need to pull these together, wow, not only can the message and education of funding research for a cure  be heard but the range of audience we can tap could be amazing.  We made a conscience decision to pass on doing many small events.  It was important that if we really want to make an impact with this fund-raising campaign we have to go big.  As soon as I receive confirmation that we have gotten approvals I can announce these events.

We even received our first auction items.  Think of a fun popular weekend getaway, lessons from one of the top artists, and sellout tickets to a show.  These are just a few hints- can't really say much more until I have the full details. 

Yes this is coming along well.  There is still so much to do but after today I feel like we are on our way to doing our part to raise money to fund research and find a cure!

Day Nine of...98 Days

We completed the final draft of what I will refer to as our corporate ask letters and pulling together lists of companies that we will be sending them to.  I will post the letters later this week.  I admit it really feels a little like a hit or miss.  You just hope that those corporations receiving these are not the same ones everyone seems to target.  You feel like in every city there are the top 20 companies that everyone consistently goes to.  The thought is there are companies out there that are not on the radar screen and would be touched by our honoree Tressa and her battle and this fund-raising mission.  The hope is these companies would understand that their contribution can make a difference toward finding a cure for blood cancers so this never happens again.

Corporate contributions can add up whether large or small it's all relative and to this campaign giving anything is more than what we ultimately started with to present to the The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society so they can fund research for the cure and isn't that what it is all about!  If they can't give money but can provide a service or product that would be greatly appreciated because those could be used for auction items that someone would pay for and the cycle begins because those dollars raised from the auction items would go to this fight.

Even though I don't know these companies personally maybe as I invite them to this blog and they see what we are doing on a daily basis and how it's all about preventing another tradegy like Tressa they will find it in their hearts to want to contribute in time or money or auction item or even share this mission with others.

So the letters will go out late next week and the calls will follow and here's to the fund-raising campaign's beginnings on February 18th.

Day Eight of...98 Days

I was thinking today about the massive fund-raising efforts that seem to be successful when you have star power behind you.  When Celebrities or Athletes are involved then so many others like to be associated with that effort.  I guess it's the feeling of being aligned with people and causes you believe in.  We are brainstorming Events that we could possibly do everything from a tennis night where people can compete against the top local athletes or basketball or something that people would pay to be involved. And we will drill it down to something that would drive tons of traffic and participation.  They would want to come to it to do it even if it weren’t a good cause. The cause is just the icing on the cake.

But it just strikes me as a little odd that our honorees can't be the Stars that would have you come out.  That their fight against these blood cancers are one that are greater than any effort a top athlete could ever give you that their bravery is one that would amaze you and that there game face would give them an Oscar when they tell you they are not afraid and are okay when the pain is more than they can take.

An example of this happened with Tressa's fight when she went in June for her three of eight rounds of chemo.  Where she was trying to fight through the treatment yet feeling so bad and in so much pain because her white cell count had dropped from 8000 to 700 and a rash started to develop on top of a fever. Tressa had developed staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome.  It was an infection and the source was the catheter that was placed in her chest to facilitate blood draws and give medications.  She battled through that time and rebounded yet again.

So to us for this fund-raising campaign Tressa is our Celebrity, Star, Athlete that we want to honor and how we know just learning more about her and seeing that smiling photo that appears on the page will have people taking action having wanting to support these efforts by joining this fund-raising campaign so we can find a cure!

That is our hope and the event no matter what it is will be a celebration of life of all our star honorees!