Running the Boston Marathon for Charity: A Personal Fundraising Initiative (Part Two)

I may have clocked my best time ever for this race the first time I ran it – as a “bandit” – in 1981 (3:34:24), but the best experiences I have had in Boston have been when I have run the marathon for charity.

Indeed, for those who are running it for a charitable organization, this historic marathon is not just an enormous challenge, it’s also an opportunity to make a difference in other people’s lives, a good way to feel like a champion come race day even though you may be pulling up the rear.

The Boston Athletic Association’s Boston Marathon Charity Program is the quintessential pledge-based fundraising event for the average runner who otherwise might never have the chance to officially take part in such an elite competition.

It’s a classic win-win-win situation in which the athlete, donor and charity – fervently bound together on behalf of one common cause – all stand to gain.

For instance, the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team, one of the first nonprofit organizations to take part in this program, hopes to raise more than $3 million this year to support the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

As a member of this team in 1996, I ran the marathon in memory of my cousin, Douglas Ewing, who had recently succumbed to melanoma after a long, hard five-year battle with the disease.

Using the team’s official Dana-Farber stationery, I mailed an emotional appeal for funds to 100 of my closest friends, relatives and colleagues, asking them to “participate in this team effort to beat cancer” by sponsoring my run.

“With your financial support, every stride I take will hopefully bring the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute closer to a cure for cancer,” I wrote.

“My cousin, Doug, lost his battle to cancer at age 41. But together, we can help save others from such a sad fate by joining the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge.”

Along with this letter, I also enclosed a copy of a moving tribute to my cousin that had been published in his hometown newspaper, the Vineyard Gazette – assuming the more my audience knew about Doug, the more inclined they would be to support my fundraising efforts. Including this article put a brave, inspirational face on such a devastating, dread disease.

The response from those on the receiving end of this appeal was quick, positive and, to say the least, encouraging. Of the 100 people who received it, 47 were kind enough to lend their financial assistance. My personal fundraising campaign brought in an average gift of $33.95 and raised a total of $1,596 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, thanks to the generosity of all the people I knew, not to mention all the people I didn’t know at the Boston Athletic Association (those who made this charity program possible in the first place).

Note: Written by Yellowfin Direct Marketing’s Bob Cargill, this is part two of a four-part series on running the Boston Marathon for charity. Parts three and four will include case studies of Bob’s own personal fundraising campaigns on behalf of The Home for Little Wanderers and Children’s Hospital Boston. The entire series will be featured here in A Fine Kettle of Fish. To sponsor Bob’s marathon run this year (April 18, 2005) on behalf of Children’s Hospital Boston, please click here first, then click on the Sponsor a Runner button. Charitable gifts of any amount – even just a dollar – are greatly appreciated.

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