Walkathon Maven

The month of October is winding down, and so is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

November is Diabetes Awareness month, yet I have not seen any purple (I think that is their color) items for sale promoting the cause. November is also the official month for many other organizations:

Pancreatic Awareness Month

Alzheimer’s Awareness Month

Lung Cancer Awareness Month

Prematurity Awareness Month

Epilepsy Awareness Month

Some of these organizations have walkathons, and some promote their cause thru other activities.

A fun November event is Movenmber. Men (and some women too, I guess) are encouraged to grow facial hair to bring awareness to men’s health.   I hope they have a walkathon someday, because I have a feeling that would be a fun one to attend!

Movember participants are encouraged to become a Mo Sista or a Mo Bro and raise money for the Movember Foundation.  I checked with Charity Navigator and they are unrated. Not sure what they do with the money, but I love the unique concept.

I came upon a big-honkin-pink display at Bed Bath and Beyond.  I had no idea there were so many items using pink to sell their products!  Take a lookie:

pink toothbrush!

pressure cookers! TicTacs, tweezers, ice compresse, pillow, curler, tumblers and pens!

Eos for lips, airline carry ons, binder clips and spatulas!

I hope all the money made from these pink items makes it to the right place, and by right place I mean a place that supports breast health.   Off to November!  I wonder if we will see fake moustaches for sale!

The World Cup futball games are now in the semi-final stage, with 4 teams (nations) left to play.  Fédération Internationale de Football Association (“FIFA”) says it is the largest single sports event and most-watched competition on earth.  Brazil is the host country, and one of the final four teams to play.  I happen to live in a town that has a large Brazilian population, and we have plenty of traffic jams downtown before and after each game with cars proudly displaying the Brazilian flag.

I have watched a few games, and like how the sideboards rotate the sponsor names in sporadic intervals. It made me wonder who the sponsors are, and how much they have to pay for the privilege.  I found some good info on the “official documents” page on the FIFA.com website.  

I had no idea that there was an official mascot

And an official slogan

An official look element. Say what?

An official poster with logos

Here are the companies that are allowed to use the above “Official Marks” for promotion:

According to their website, here is the breakdown of the sponsor levels:

FIFA Partners – pay between $25M and $50M for the privilege.

FIFA Partners are altogether 6 entities to which FIFA has granted or

will grant the most comprehensive package of global advertising,

promotional and marketing rights in relation to FIFA, all FIFA

activities and all FIFA competitions, including the 2014 FIFA World

Cup™.

FIFA World Cup Sponsors – pay between $10M to $25M each.

FIFA World Cup Sponsors are a maximum of 8 companies to which

FIFA has granted or will grant the second-most comprehensive

package of global advertising, promotional and marketing rights in

relation to the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ (and the FIFA Confederations

Cup Brazil 2013).

National Supporters – combined $170M to promote only in Brazil

National Supporters are a maximum of 6 companies to which FIFA

has granted or will grant a package of advertising, promotional and

marketing rights in relation to the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ (and the

FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013) for the territory of Brazil.

When I see that there is a price range for sponsorship, and everyone gets the same – it makes me nervous for the sponsor-sales peeps.  What if a company comes back at them with information that one company paid less than them?  I would always protect the integrity of my event by making sure that everyone pays the same.  No side deals. It helped me sleep at night knowing I was not going to have any uncomfortable confrontations.

These FIFA-folks are serious about their brand protection, and have a complete section on their website talking about intellectual property and enforcement.  I guess there really is such a thing as the Logo Police!  FIFA is serious about protecting the rights of their sponsors, and have a three-prong brand-protection plan: Communication, Surveillance and Enforcement. How do YOU protect YOUR event brand?

I found this under the Enforcement section, wondering if there is a FIFA-Hit-Squad for those street-corner-vendors selling unauthorized merchandise:

FIFA’s approach to brand protection focuses on education and guidance, rather than enforcement by means of legal threats and sanctions. FIFA prefers direct personal contact to bring infringing situations to an end by speaking to the business in question, explaining why the specific situation is problematic and seeking cooperation in solving the issue.

In more serious cases, where there is a clear intention to take a free ride on the goodwill vested in the event and the public excitement surrounding it, FIFA may need to engage in court proceedings to halt an infringing situation and to claim financial compensation for the damages suffered. However, FIFA will not resort to such legal action without an in-depth analysis of the intention, scale and commercial impact of the matter at hand.

Perhaps your walkathon should incorporate some of these tactics when your teams make their own shirts using your trademarked event logo. They should be supporting your cause by buying YOUR event shirt.

I wonder if the Logo Police will come after me for using these “official Marks” on my blog.  I’ll be waiting with the official Brazilian drink, a  Caipirinha, in-hand.   Good luck to my Brazilian neighbors today!

The Boston Marathon is one month away, and the event organizers are understandably doubling the security on the route. This article  in the Boston Globe reports that over 3,500 police are planned to work the event that day. I’m no math whiz, but it appears that there will be enough officers to place 100 of them for every mile, and still place 450 each at the start and finish. If I may dazzle you with more statistics, that is one officer for every 10 runners.

That’s allota security and also allotta money!

If you have read my previous post of the 3 budget-busting P’s, then you know that Police is one of the largest expenses you will have for your event. (The other two are Postage and Printing).  Who is paying for this increase in security? Here is the list of the sponsors for the marathon. I’m not sure if the One Fund is paying or if any of these sponsors are writing larger checks to pay for the doubled security.

The article also states that Spectators who plan to attend the marathon are being strongly discouraged from bringing backpacks, rolling bags, coolers and other large items, and are instead being asked to carry personal items in clear plastic bags. My friends and family usually cheer on our running pals from ‘our spot’ in Framingham, at the 6-mile mark.  I can tell you that we will probably NOT be carrying our personal items in clear plastic bags.  Unless Longchamp makes a clear plastic crossbody purse measuring 10x10x2 then I’ll be wearing my standby non-complaint bag to the event.  Maybe I’ll get frisked by one of the hundred officers in Framingham lining the route.  My kids should have a good story to tell at school after vacation week.

Another one of the new restrictions is the clamp-down on the running bandits. These are the folks that do not have a number and frequently runs wearing costumes.  Fun for the spectators but not for the event organizers. Imagine paying for the  porta-potties, hydration stops, first-aid and security for the 36,000 people (25% more than last year!) who have paid to be there and then multiply that by an unknown factor to accommodate the bandits.  They are not allowed this year and are “subject to official interdiction.”  I’ve never been witness to an ‘official interdiction”.  I hope it happens at Mile 6 so that my kids remember that instead of Mommy-being-frisked-for-carrying-an-opaque-bag.

Here is the schedule and event information for the Boston Marathon on April 21:

Here is the official site of the Boston Athletic Association, organizer of the Boston Marathon.

It is barely October, and the Pink Promotions are in full swing.  Many of you already know that my major pet-peeve is when companies use the pink ribbon to market their items, and give a small amount to a breast cancer cause.  I am convinced that they spend more on the marketing and pink packaging than they do on the donation.   I’m waiting to be proven wrong.  (yawn)

Here is a few that I have come upon this week:

Delta Airlines is having a competition for their “pics for a cure” campaign to encourage Facebook folks to upload their fave pink-spirited photos.  Winners are decided by the number of votes and they will get a $20K donation to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in their name. If the winner gets more that 20,000 votes, then Delta will donate $40K to the BCRF.

Lane Bryant is selling pink ribbon apparel, with 10% of the sales going to the American Cancer Society.  According to their website, they hope to raise $700K for ACS.  I like how they rolled-in the texting option for an instant donation.

Here is an Energizer promotion I found in my Sunday paper.  Who knew that buying batteries could help fight breast cancer?  That little Energizer bunny is very busy. That pink bunny has a website to let consumers know that they have given $3 million to Susan G Komen since 2005, including $150,000 in 2013.

And here is the BIG BOOB award for their shameless self promotion using breast cancer to raise money:

Work Out World ad

Work Out World is running commercials indicating that they will donate $1 per new member to breast cancer awareness.  I visited their website and no recipient is noted.    Pfttttttthhhht.

Finally, here is a great article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy about how consumers that buy charity-related product want results.  Interesting that they noted that 54% of consumers bought a charity-related product last year. 

Good luck to my pals this weekend in Boston for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk!

The Susan G. Komen 3-Day came to the Boston area last weekend and raised $2.5 million for breast cancer research and programs.  Last month, they announced that the Boston location of the event was being discontinued for 2014 – so I had to swing by the start location and take some photos.  Unfortunately, Mutha Nature rained on most of the setup (thus the dark photos) but the weather got progressively better for their 60-mile trek around the Boston area.

I did a drive-by of the start area on Wednesday, and found a parking lot full of event vans, tractor-trailers, and trucks:

Parking lot full of vehicles for event

Lotsa vans

Lotsa trucks. I hope Budget was a transport sponsor!

The opening ceremony was located at a beautiful park overlooking the water. Sadly, the staging area for the start was being setup in the rain:

setting up the stage

I was surprised to see that they had a large trailer to serve as the command center.  I got out of my car to try and get close to see exactly what happens inside of a large, pink “Command Center” but my kids were afraid that they were going to call the police on me so I only got an exterior shot. As a parent, I feel proud that I have done my job teaching my children the definition of trespassing, and to respect boundaries (when they are with me!)

Command Center!

They even had some motor homes in a coned-off area!  I wonder who got to shack-up in those!!

Big Honkin’ motor homes

On Friday, the break-down began immediately after the walkers left the start area to begin their trek.  This was an efficient crew with forklifts and dozens of workers:

I loved the signage they had instructing folks where they can, and cannot park:

I tried to look for information about how many walkers participated in the event.  Nothing on the official 3-Day website.  I did find info on the City of Boston website that there was approximately 2,500 walkers.  The fundraising minimum for this event was $2,300.  If the 2,500 walkers raised the $2,300 minimum – that equals $5,750,000.  I noted above, based on information from the local CBS news, that they raised $2.5 million.

If the numbers are correct. I have questions. Here are a few:

1. Did they really have 2500 participants?  I hope not, for the numbers sake.

2. Was there really 56% expenses? ($5.7M minus $3.2M = $2.5M)

3. Did they spend more than they raised?

If you read my post last month about the 3-Day, then you know how I feel about the production costs and return on investment. I’m glad they they raised $2.5 million for a disease without a cure, but I think that the logistics may have made it to be less cost-effective to sustain.

Here a link to a good blog about the Boston 3-Day.

One final photo.  You know I cannot refuse a beautifully straight line of potties:

Good reads this Wednesday in the Philanthropy world!  Coincidentally, both are about money.

Several charity groups have asked that we stop worrying so much about their overhead expenses when choosing organizations to support.  The Chronicle of Philanthropy outlines both sides of the debate and suggests that we still need these data points to keep everyone honest.  I feel that there will always be a few bad apples when money is involved and we need some watchdog groups to tell us who is not being a good steward of the donor dollar.  I especially get annoyed with the pu-pu-platter of cancer charity organizations that have a name similar to the larger, more well-known organizations and use that similarity to skim donations from the intended recipients.  Call them out!

In other news, it appears that Komen has ‘replaced’ Nancy Brinker with a new CEO.  According to the Dallas Morning News: Judith Salerno, 61, is executive director and chief operating officer of the Institute of Medicine, a prestigious independent group that advises the government and private sector about health and science.

The NPQ announced the new hire with a snarky headline: Komen Finally Chooses a Successor to Brinker or So They Say 

Apparently, the NPQ does not believe that Nancy Brinker was really replaced, since her new title is Chair of Global Strategy and will be responsible for “revenue creation, strategy and global growth as chair of the Komen Board Executive Committee.”  She will report to the new CEO.

Komen clearly needed to do something bold, since they have been criticized for some bad decisions in the past year – like the Planned Parenthood debacle, the “resignation” but not departure of the CEO, and the dialing-back of their signature events.  I hope this new ‘leader’ can use her health policy experience to get the fundraising back to where it should be so that we can get rid of this nasty disease. 

We will miss you, Kris

I’m a useless trivia lover, and am fascinated with statistics, rankings and lists.  Especially Top Ten lists. David Letterman, the King of the Top Ten list, has the same birthday as me.  Coincidence?

This love of numbers would be surprising to my high school math teachers and college accounting professors, since my grades in their classes did not reflect my adoration of ‘the digits’.

The website Charity Navigator, has oodles of top ten lists. According to their site, Charity Navigator is America’s leading independent charity evaluator, works to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the Financial Health and Accountability and Transparency of  6,000 of America’s largest charities

Below are a few of my faves. Click on the links if you want to read about the deets.

10 Highly-Rated Charities with Low Paid CEOs.  

10 Highly Paid CEOs at Low-Rated Charities.  Lots of 6-figure salaries.

10 Inefficient Fundraisers – These folks spend more than 50 cents of each dollar raised on expenses.  Ick.  Sad to see several Veterans charities on this list.

10 Top-Notch Charities.  Lots of Food Banks on the list.

There are oodles to choose and read about on the CN site.  I was surprised to see that so many low-rated charities were from Veterans and Public Service (fire, police) groups.  I did a search on getting a non-profit 501c3 status – and found that there are websites that will help you apply for the designation for the low-low price of $359.    No wonder there is so much fraud.  I think there needs to be more oversight to have a tax-exempt status and the state AG office should more closely scrutinize the required yearly filings to their office.  It’s sad that a non-profit organization can submit their yearly forms and there is no discipline for having less that 50, or 70 percent of the donations actually make it to the intended recipients.  Boooooooo!

I love the name of this walk!

Memorial Day weekend coming up!  I hope you and your family have a good one!

Mother’s Day is this Sunday and my fave gift each year is to simply have the day off.  My wonderful hubby takes care of all the kid taxi duties, cooking (meal arrangement) and child drama for the day so I can go do whatever I want.  In past years, I have leisurely strolled an IKEA store, perused an outdoor artisan market and visited a local museum.  On Sunday, I may go for a bike ride around Boston or see a chick flick if it rains.   Best Day Evah!

Many organizations are also taking advantage of “the day” by marketing their products to raise money for charities.  Major League Baseball is allowing players to use pink Louisville Slugger bats for the day.  According to Louisville’s WDRB: MLB will authenticate and collect the game-used bats and auction them on MLB.com. Louisville Slugger has donated over 250-thousand dollars worth of bats to raise awareness and money for charities.  Proceeds will benefit breast cancer charities

I have visited the Louisville Slugger website several times and cannot find the specific breast cancer charities that will be receiving these funds.  The MLB has a whole pink breast cancer awareness shop. They have a lovely MLBcommunity page that says the monies raised will go to Komen and Stand Up to Cancer.

Speaking of Komen, here is an NPQ article about Nancy Brinker, the founder of Komen.  She supposedly resigned last year as CEO but just received a 64% raise.  Things that make you go Hmmmmmm.

Most of the breast cancer walks and runs happen in either October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month or May – to commemorate Mom’s Day.  May Mutha Nature smile upon you and your participants!

I hope all the mommies out there have a great Sunday!  Happy Mother’s Day!

It’s been one week since the Boston Marathon tragedy.   It’s been one week – and many are already making money on the merchandising of this horror show.  Many fraudulent charitable organizations have popped up too.  If you know me, then you know how I hate, hate, hate people who profit from diseases, or tragedies.   Shame on you.

The Huffington Post had an article yesterday about the race to trademark the words Boston Strong.

The IRS has made a statement about charitable fraud.

Mayor Menino and Governor Patrick, along with other corporate leaders in Boston, have create the One Fund.

they have a logo, too

The website names all the wonderful people who are involved, yet there is no description of how they will use the donations.  Oh, and the One Fund is not yet a designated 501(c)3.  They have applied, but not been given the designation.  Too soon I suppose.

According to an article in the Non Profit Quarterly, The One Fund was setup within 7 hours of the blast and The fund has been placed under Kenneth Feinberg, the well-known attorney who managed the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund as well as compensation funds for victims of the 2010 BP Gulf Coast oil spill and the mass shootings at Virginia Tech and Aurora, Colorado.

I wonder why people feel the need to start a brand new charitable organization when so many good ones already exist?  Hello!  Red Cross!  They specialize in disaster relief.  Logistics and operations are in place to handle things like this.  Why re-invent the wheel with a new charitable organization that will have administrative over-head and other related costs?  I guess the Red Cross is not sexy enough, or the logo was not acceptable.

4/24/13 edit:  The Boston Globe reports that no administrative costs will be charged to the fund.  Phew!

Speaking of logos –  just like any good severe weather or news event, there are already several logos commemorating the day.

Even the New England Revolution has a logo:

Here is a ribbon logo that has been seen around:

These are $10, and $8 is supposed to go to victims

The custom printing site CafePress even has a page designated for Boston Strong merchandise.  Mouse pads, mugs and tote bags.  I did not see anything about a portion of proceeds or profits being donated to the victims.

I made a purchase at my local CVS and the cashier asked if I wanted to donate to the Boston Marathon victims.  When asked, she could not tell me how the money would be distributed or if the CVS Foundation would be taking care of this.  Ugh.

That home-made-crap site Etsy has stuff too.

I’m annoyed and will continue to call-out all of these shameless self-promoting tragedy-profiteers.  I hope they donate money to the innocent victims. I’ll be watching.

cutting the budget

What happens when you have a budget sequestration that causes constipation?  Your money gets backed-up in the pipeline.

All of this nonsense I have been reading about a sequestration made me think about the possibility of having a walkathon budget cut. What happens when you are told that you still need to have a walk, and you need to do it for less money?  You have a goal to raise a certain amount of money  – money that researchers, survivors and staff are depending on.  What to do?

Ideally, most walkathons have expenses of less that 20%.  Trimming money will be hard.  Where do you cut the walkathon budget?  I would start with the three largest budget items. Budget Busters – The three P’s:

Postage, Police and Printing.  Here’s how:

Postage

Hopefully you have had a meeting with your local Postmaster, so you can make sure that you are mailing at the least expensive rate.  There is also a company called Postal Advocate that can audit your postage expenses and make sure your are being efficient.

Police

If you are having your walk on City property, you may be stuck with City Police as your only route and site security options.  You may also want to check if the County Sheriff’s department offers security detail for less money.  If your event is on park property, you may be able to have Park Rangers be your route security – for ALOT less money.  Some Park Rangers do not pack heat, and you need the heat around the Registration Tent and Banking areas.

Printing

T-shirts are a huge money-suck on an event.  My feeling is that if you are giving a shirt away for free, then it should be short sleeve white with a one-color imprint on one side.  If you are selling t-shirts, then order less and sell out early.  Cost-cutting options are to buy short sleeve instead of long sleeve.  Two color imprint instead of four.  One-side imprint only. 

Same idea with printing collateral.  Use black and blue instead of four color.  Put a screen on the black and blue in some areas to make them lighter so it looks like you have four colors.  Ask your printer about using less expensive paper.  Maybe there is a less expensive standard size that you can adjust your artwork to fit.  Your graphic designer can help.

It is frustrating to be told to do the same for less.  Budget cuts are no fun, but it is a good exercise to see where you can offer the same services for less money.  I doubt anyone would notice if any of the above suggesstions were actually used.  If they do, you can tell them that sequestration frustration made you do it, and you would rather see the money raised go toward the mission.

who knew?