Fundraising Progress Report

My race, the Seattle Half Marathon, is only six weeks away. Consequently, I realistically have only about five weeks left to hit my fundraising goal of $8,500. Here is where things stand right now:

Money posted to date: $6,780
Checks in hand but not posted: $150
Corporate matches waiting to happen: $525

Total of all money collected and pending collection: $7,455

Now that being said, there is no guarantee that the corporate matches will arrive in time to count, but ultimately, LLS will get those funds - which is what really counts, not fundraising credit for them. So I guess I am somewhere between $1,000 and $1,500 from my goal, depending on what happens with those matches.

Fundraising is hard this time around, for most people, it seems. This is my fifth time doing this. People are really generous, but times are tight and the economy is still struggling. Bad news makes people skittish, even if they are not affected directly - because they think "that could happen to me." So all I can do is to keep asking and try to think of new things to try.

On the plus side, I am now a Rock Star, meaning I have raised at least $1,000 more than the minimum amount I recommitted to, which was $4,700. I am now $2,000 past that minimum amount, and that feels really good because when I first did Team in Training, raising this kind of money seemed like it would be impossible, or nearly so. Thanks solely to the generosity of so many people that I know (and some that I don't), it has turned out not to be so.

I had money arriving so quickly in the past 10 days that I had to update my Purpleometer twice! On April 16, I had raised 64% of my goal, and it took until May 9 to reach 73%, mostly when the funds from my International House of Pancakes Fundraiser arrived. Then, less than a week later, people responded very generously to my latest note, and my total shot up to 80%, where it now stands. This only accounts for money actually posted by LLS.

I don't know if I will reach my goal or not, but I believe I will. I believe my hair will be purple come race day. The next five or six weeks will determine whether this is so or not, but regardless, I am very grateful for the generosity of everyone who has donated to my "Survivor in Seattle" Campaign.