Scentsy for the Cure

Despite my best efforts to avoid actual fundraisers, I decided to succumb to the reality that raising the funds will not be as easy as it was last year.  Think about it, last year mentioning the event to people had the whole shock and awe effect, however, once its over and you try the same tactic for year two, the amazement has worn off.  Granted, it is the same cause, but its not as easy to raise the $2300 the second year.  With this being said, I’m kicking off the new year with my first fundraiser.

 

Thanks to Melissa Elliot, our local Scentsy rep, she has partnered with me for a win-win situation.  Not only will you be able to purchase some amazing products for yourself, or as gifts to loved ones (Valentine’s Day is right around the corner), but you’ll also be helping us find a cure for Breast Cancer.  Its easy, no need to attend a home show, just point your browser to the following Web site, make some purchases and voila!  You’ve bought something that will last for years to come, as well as helped support me in my 60 mile journey.

 

There are a few key promotions I’d like to point out for your shopping experience:

• Love, Life, Hope Scentsy Warmer
  Created to honor women with breast cancer Love, Life, Hope’s simple pink-and-white stripes and black accents spread a message of hope and support to breast cancer survivors and their families. One hundred percent of the net profits from the sale of Love, Life, Hope will go directly to The National Breast Cancer Foundation to support their breast cancer awareness and education programs.
  
• Bundled Discount
  Buy 3 full size warmers, 4 plug-in warmers and 9 scents bars for $150.  This is a $200 value!  This is a Melissa Elliot special, so in order to take advantage of this deal, you’ll need to e-mail her directly: mel.easley@gmail.com

Thank you in advanced for your support!  If you want to donate additional funds to the cause, please feel free to visit the tax-free donation site directly.

Gmail Fundraising Signature

Do you use Gmail’s Web interface for your day to day communication?  Why not enhance it with a snazzy 3-Day signature to help your fundraising efforts in 2011?  This post will walk you through a simple set up utilizing the Chrome Web browser (should also work in FireFox) and a few add-ons to enhance the Gmail experience.

1. First step is to download the Chrome browser.  I am not saying you have to do this, but this article is assuming you are using it.
   
2. Once installed and running, you will want to install “WiseStamp”.
   
3. After WiseStamp has completed installation, visit Gmail and you should notice a new icon in the upper right hand column.  This is the administrative interface for WiseStamp.

Now that you’ve completed the above steps, it is now time to customize a signature for your 2011 3-Day journey!

1. Log into your 3Day.org Participant Center site.
   
2. On the left-hand side, you will see a navigation link entitled, “Fundraising”.  Go ahead and click on that.
   
3. Under the Resources heading, click on the link for “Widgets and Facebook Application”.
   
4. Click on the city in which you will be walking.  In my case it was the Dallas/Fort Worth link.
   
5. Choose the widget of your choice.  One is supposed to be for the walkers and the other for the crew, however, just choose the one which you enjoy best and click on the “Get Snippet” button.
   
6. Select the entire contents of the snippet and copy it (control-c) to your clipboard.
   
7. Go back to the window where WiseStamp’s administrative interface was open (or just open up Gmail and click on that new icon for WiseStamp).
   
8. Now you want to click on the far right button in WiseStamp, which says “HTML”.  this allows you to edit the HTML source of your new signature.
   
9. Paste (control-v) the contents of your snippet captured above into this text area and hit save.

That is all there is to it!  You now have a fancy new signature that will attach itself to all e-mails you compose in Gmail.

Of course, there are additional configuration options, such as detailing which emails it should attach the signature to, social networking links that you can add to you signature for additional flair, etc. 

Have fun and get to spreading the word!  If you found this article useful, please don’t hesitate to donate to my 2011 3-Day journey!

Christmas Season

Imagine life without breast cancer and what that would mean for countless families during this festive season. More joy, more hugs, more lifetime moments. That’s what I’m walking for — because I can.

The Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure is a 60-mile walk for women and men who want to make a personal difference in the fight to end breast cancer. As a walker, I will raise at least $2,300 and walk an average of 20 miles a day, creating awareness about breast health with every step. Funds raised impact breast cancer research and community-based breast health and education programs.

If you want to celebrate the holidays with hope for the future, register to join me, or support my efforts with a donation. Call 800-996-3DAY or go to The3Day.org today.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Facebook for the Cause

How do you use the social networking king, Facebook, to help fundraise, spread the word, and keep others informed of your 3-Day progress?  I’m sure with the number of people out there using this tool, some great ideas are in abundance.

Facebook provides a quick and easy way to get your point across to a great many people, but also is one of the easiest mediums to ignore.  Have you had success in your fundraising through this particular method?  Susan G. Komen provides the widget that helps alert people to when a monetary donation is made, however, I don’t believe this actually spurred any of my “friends” to take that next step.

It didn’t work too well for me in regards to the fundraising aspect, but the one thing it did provide was a place for others to provide short snippets of encouragement, inspiration, and other messages during my training that might have otherwise never been received.  To me, this is just as important as the monetary donations, as training for a 3-Day walk is quite the challenge.

Although the above questions refer to the fund-raising timeframe prior to the walk, what about Facebook’s use while on the walk?  Did you use the “check-in” feature to provide your friends with your whereabouts and status?  Did you post pictures during the walk?  Of course, while following all of the rules and regulations revolving around cell phone usage.

Let us know how you use Facebook to help your 3-Day journey?

Breast Man Walking

Although I’ve heard that men can be diagnosed with breast cancer, I recently had the honor to talk with a couple involved in the 3-Day, whose husband had been the one affected by this disease.  We all know breast cancer can occur in men, yet we often associate this disease with women just due to the overwhelming statistics. 

“Breast cancer in men is rare. However, an estimated 1,970 new cases of male breast cancer will be diagnosed in the United States in 2010. Overall incidence of breast cancer is 1.3 per 100,000 men, compared to 123 per 100,000 women.” For more in depth information, I encourage you to visit Breast Facts for Men.

While talking with the Giller’s, they mentioned that they sell t-shirts to help raise money for their 3-Day journeys.  I wanted to provide you an opportunity to donate to the cause and although the proceeds of the t-shirts do not directly impact my 3-Day journey, they do help the Giller’s on their own journey.  In the end, all proceeds go to the same place to help find a cure. 

The shirts are selling for $25.00 (which includes shipping) and are in honor of Kathy Giller’s husband, a breast cancer survivor.  I’ve attached a picture so you can get an idea of the shirt’s design (printed on front and back).  If interested, please contact Kathy directly: ksgiller@gmail.com. Let her know you found the shirt through this blog!

Donation Cards: Part Two

So for those of you that are interested in doing donation cards for this year’s 3-Day, I wanted to provided you the final fruit of my labor.

In my earlier post, I showed what I thought to be a classy card that clearly depicted the essentials for my fundraising effort.  When I showed the card to Lora, she liked it, however, said that it really should be pink.  I was trying to create a more masculine looking card, then realized that she was absolutely right.  The card needs to jump out and quickly remind someone why they have received this card, so back to the drawing board I went and what you see here is the final result.  Please feel free to use any portion of this for your personal use, as the end-goal is the same; to raise more money for breast cancer.

For those of you interested in creating such cards, I found an excellent deal ($10 was the grand total with shipping) for VistaPrint and I’m unsure to when it expires.

URL to Deal:
http://www.fatwallet.com/redirect/bounce.php?afsrc=1&mid=14919474&url=http://www.vistaprint.com/anniversary

• 500 premium cards
• Free unlimited logo/photo uploads
• 195 full color backside options
• Upgrade to Glossy or Matte paper stock free
• $10 includes shipping and handling

Donation Cards

For last year’s walk, I used e-mail as my primary source of fundraising and was able to meet my goal.  This year, I have a feeling things are going to be a bit more involved in order to reign in the donations.

While reading through a variety of friendly Tweets on the subject, the idea of a business card came about.  I was intrigued as VistaPrint usually runs deals that allow anywhere from 250-500 cards to be printed for the cost it takes to ship the product.  The best deal I found right now was 500 cards for $3.00 + shipping.

Several others mentioned that the cards really helped them spread the word to others and provided a great method for word of mouth donations.  It just makes sense, as emails are very easy to delete, verbal discussions tend to get lost in the shuffle, mailers are wonderful, but let’s be honest, they are expensive, so business cards seem to be a great middle ground for the budget conscience.

I’ve come up with design that I felt spread the word and was friendly on the eyes and wanted to hear about your experiences with business cards.  Has it helped?  How many did you go through?  Would you do it again?