Meet my first sponsor: Mr. Smith

OK. The realities of the job search have continued to dominate my waking moments this week, and I really haven't been able to do much to beat the drum for Y.E.S. and the Mass Snow Challenge. In fact, Wednesday when I checked, and saw $0 donations, I fully considered dropping the entire race and fundraising as too little, too late, and too many other priorities.

However, when I checked later in the day, someone had made a single donation. You know who you are, Mr. Smith! Even with just one donation, I was committed.

When you ask for help to do something that you think is worthwhile, you don't say "Oh, sorry, it isn't that important anymore" when someone else is holding up their end of the deal. At least that's how I felt about it.

As a result I've sent my emails, tweeted to my measly following, who will probably be shocked that I still have an account, and posted a notice and link on my Facebook wall. And in response there has been a small flurry of activity in donations, for which I am grateful.

I hope folks are passing the request for donations on, but who knows. There is really only another day, maybe two left for people to contribute. So, this may not become the opportunity to drive a lot of small gifts, leveraging social media, as I had originally envisioned. However, it was still worthwhile. Even through my own difficulties, I was able to more than triple what I would have contributed had I simply "shown up".

So, thank you Mr. Smith, for keeping me committed and engaged to do something worthwhile and outside of my own needs.

-Lance

Still reading? Please donate today at http://www.firstgiving.com/lancegomes

of setbacks and stubborness

T-minus 6 days and counting. $0 raised.

Well, this week has been a bit of a roller-coaster, and my fund-raising efforts have suffered for it.

Donate $5 today at Lance's Mass Snow Challenge Fundraising Page.

On Monday, I set up my donation site, and tried to set up my blog on another site. Had a ton of headaches, gave up on that blog site and finally set up this blog on Wednesday night.

On Thursday, I was laid off from my marketing job, so adjusting to that and getting the necessary paperwork done, and warming up the network has taken up most of my time. (See my LinkedIn profile at www.linkedin.com/in/lancegomes.)

However, my wonderful wife agreed that I should still plan to ski next week, and I still believe in this cause and want to help support it. So I am re-launching my fundraising efforts, now with less than a week remaining.

Next steps:

1. Email Friends & contacts
2. Post on Facebook & Twitter
3. Email/Call a few blogging/podcasting friends/contacts
4. Come up with more next steps
5. blog about it

Ah, may the money start rolling in, even if it's not for me!

Lance's Mass Snow Challenge Fundraising Page.

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