Kicking off my social fundraising experiment

Welcome to my two-week fundraising sprint for the Mass Snow Challenge charity ski race.

Last year, a friend invited me and a group of others to take part in the Mass Snow Challenge, an charity ski race to benefit Youth Enrichment Services (yeskids.org). We all had a blast, and I recall wishing we had more time before the event to try to raise money.

This year I decided to be proactive about it, and got the event date (March 21, 2009) a WHOLE TWO AND A HALF WEEKS before the event. I know you're impressed. Me too.

How much can I possibly raise in only two weeks? I think a lot, if we all work together.

Rather than have a handful of people make larger donations, I am hoping that we can get a lot of people to give a little by using social media, email, etc. to spread the word. So, of you think this is a good idea, go ahead and email, IM, text, tweet, blog, or podcast away to as many people as you want.

Donate today at Lance's Mass Snow Challenge Fundraising Page.

As it happens, I am going to technically be the "defending champion", if there is such a thing, this year. Anyone who races with me knows I'm not that good. So to inspire your generosity, I am offering an equally absurd challenge.

In short, the more money you donate, the more ridiculous my outfit will be on race day.

1. $1,000 or more = full suit & tie (An outfit as tame as the amount. Less than $10 per Facebook friend, never mind email address book, Twitter, etc.)
2. $5,000 or more = Elvis outfit (If I can find one! feel free to suggest backup plans.)
3. $10,000 or more = Sponsors pick the outfit
   1. To help choose the $10,000 outfit, write a suggestion as a comment on this blog, or post a note voting for an existing suggestion.
   2. Suggestions must be safe, funny, family-friendly, not offensive, and reasonably doable in the time available, as judged by me. :-)
   3. Winner will be selected on the above criteria, and number of votes.
   4. Photos to be posted in the blog!

So get creative, be a litte generous and a LOT "social", and let's see how much good we can do in two weeks!

-Lance

Lance's Mass Snow Challenge Fundraising Page