Okay, I get that you can raise money by people paying you $x.xx per mile or per lap or whatever to help your cause.
But there’s a 3-day walk or something like that for breast cancer and the commercial has a young woman saying, “I didn’t get to say whether or not I wanted my mom to die of breast cancer–now I feel like I finally had my say.”
I’m very sorry her mother died. But how does walking for three days equal saying that you wish cancer didn’t kill your mother? This just doesn’t make any sense to me.
I think that in the case of the Walkathon for Breast Cancer they’re trying to pull together the fact that regular exercise (including walking) reduces your chances of breast cancer. By walking, the mother-less lady is beating breast cancer (hopefully it’s not genetic or something) even though breast cancer beat her mommy.
It would be interesting to find what the history of walkathons is and when they started.
I’d guess they started as a cross between organized marches for a cause and organized marathons in which proceeds/entry fees started to be given to charities.
Someone probably saw the success in naming an annual 5K run for (insert cause name here) and decided to expand/change it to include non-runners to increase participation and donations.
Now people organize them and attend them to 1) Raise money for a cause, 2) meet other people who share a similar interest in that cause, 3) have an excuse to get some excercise, 4) hear updates about the charity and how the money is being used by the organizers and charity leaders, and 4) as a memento/celebration/memorial to someone they may have lost.
Dunno about your average middle school walkathon, but the Breast Cancer Walk is huge. When they did it in San Diego last year, it seemed like there were hordes of pink women everywhere. So my guess is they are going for visibility. That, and it lets potiential donors know how devoted you are to the cause. Smaller organizations probably like them because, if you play your cards right you get to keep basically all of the proceeds, as opposed to shilling for fundraising companies like Sally Foster, who take a hefty kickback.
Have you ever known or heard of someone going through something horrible and sad and you just wanted to DO something? Anything? It’s just that - she couldn’t do a damn thing to help her mother in a way that felt big enough for her. Now that she can spend 3 days walking and raising money for breast cancer research, she feels like she’s “doing something.” Is it going to benefit her mother directly? No. But my guess is that sending $20 a month to that big eyed kid in Sally Struthers’ commercial isn’t actually going to help him, either - he’s either grown up or died by now. But still, you’ll have done “something” to help the issue that tugs at your heartstrings.
I suppose this could be another optimist/pessimist test, or maybe a romantic/cynic test. If you think this is a noble way to raise awareness and money for a worthwhile cause, you’re probably a romantic. If you think this is an expression of survivor guilt and that putting these things on is a waste of funds that could be going directly towards the topic at hand, then you’re probably a cynic.
I’ve often wondered about this. And the odd ones are those who try to cross the state or country in a bike or skateboard or something and try to scold people into paying his keep along the way. How does collecting hotel bills advance any cause?
It’s a productive way to channel one’s sense of frustration and helplessness by raising money. Walking together gives a sense of solidarity. Women who’ve battled breast cancer are touched to see strangers and friends alike walking with them to support them and show that they care.
We do a night walk each year in May and walk along a candlelit path. It’s very moving.
Boston has a 20 mile Walk For Hunger every year. My wife and I did it when we were younger and in really good shape. We finished faster than many casual marathon runners cover the same distance.
I was exhausted at the end because we tacked on some extra distance to make it a true marathon. I still don’t really know what the point was but they didn’t lie. I was hungry as hell by the time we got back home.
When Terry Fox ran (partway) across Canada he raised 24 million dollars - when Rick Hanson went all the way across he raised 26 million. You can disagree with the message, but there’s no denying that that is way more than hotel bills!
What I dislike about the ads they show here for the Weekend to End Breast Cancer is that there is one where an older woman says something like “I beat cancer, and I want to show others they can beat it too - if I can do it anyone can!”. I just feel like it’s very hurtful to people who have lost a loved one to cancer - like if they had only tried a little harder, they wouldn’t be dead. Cancer just doesn’t work that way!
The OP talks about the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Judging from the advertising, the sense of solidarity and “doing something” seems to be a big reason for the event. I’ve been reading the website for it, which says that each walker is expected to raise $1,800 in order to participate.
But I wonder how effective the event is at fundraising, given the advertising costs (and I’ve seen a lot of ads for it), the costs of the event and the costs incurred by the participants. With some of these widely advertised fundraising projects, it’s clear that the advertising and promotional costs actually exceed the amount raised.
For example, a New York Times article from last month on (Product)RED (Bono’s project for raising funds to fight AIDS in Rwanda) said this: “In its March 2007 issue, Advertising Age magazine reported that Red companies had collectively spent as much as $100 million in advertising and raised only $18 million. Officials of the campaign said then that the companies had spent $50 million on advertising and that the amount raised was $25 million.” So even if you believe the campaign’s numbers, twice as much money was spent on advertising (by participating companies) as was raised to actually do good works. So the companies could have raised more by just quietly making a donation. But of course that wouldn’t have sold any products.
I suppose the walkathon gives the fundraising effort a focal point. Sure, one might ask why not just ask people to donate to whatever worthy cause you have and not bother with any sort of event. You can undoubtedly donate money to them any time, but the walkathon provides an event that you can draw everyone’s attention to.
Walk-a-thons are a great way to draw attention to the cause, raise money from the public and to garner corporate sponsorship. For example, the Humane Society in my community holds a walk-a-thon every spring. Anyone can participate by getting a donation form and asking friends, family, coworkers for donations. I usually get $200 or so every year. You can also register as a team. The event is held on the Humane Society property and corporate sponsors pay a chunk of change to set up and hawk their goods or brochures. A local radio station donates their time to broadcast from the event. People bring their dogs along to walk the 2 mile course around a business park. Cats and birds come along too every year (leashes or tethers are required) It’s a great time and they end up raising up to $100,000 or more during this event alone. There is also a 5k run earlier that day that people can participate in for a $15 registration fee.
The other nice thing about it its, since even people who are not walking can come to the event, the thing is huge. Some people end up adopting pets that very day or signing up to volunteer at the shelter.
I don’t think I need to tell you that this particular shelter is very nice and does a fantastic job getting animals into good homes.
I’ve posted before that I don’t get any fundraising -athons. I’d far prefer contributing to someone who is doing something useful. Hell, if they are walking, I hope they are at least picking up trash by the side of the road.
