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Meg I dont know how these things develop, but I am sure that a lot of them start with somebody like you. What are the lessons you learned at local level which can be successsfully applied at national level? Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: "Meg Duggan" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, September 30, 2002 2:04 PM Subject: Superwalks > Hello Everyone, > Perhaps I should give you a little background on me. I am Meg Duggan, I am > the Executive Director of the Parkinson Association of Greater Kansas City > which is one of the largest chapters of NPF - however, for about 10 years we > have had our own 501c3 and do all of our own programs, services, advocacy and > fundraising. I am in the game because my sister, Cindy, was diagnosed in her > late 30's. I am all about Parkinson's-just ask my husband... > > Though I love to do programmatic and advocacy stuff, my job has morphed into > lots of special event planning and fundraising, I guess because I am good at > it. I also firmly believe that we need money to do nearly every important job > ahead of us, and that raising money is an excellent way to raise our overall > profile. I have been on board for 3 years and have quadrupled our operating > budget. I oversee 5 major events per year, without a development office, but > with a decent budget and lots of fabulous volunteers. I have plenty of time > and energy to devote to another project. > > I know that NPF/TPF is interested in developing a signature, national event. > I also know that they have a lot on their plates, and that if we bring them > something already conceived and formed, we will have their attention. I > think it is important to have at least one of the nationals at our backs so > we can seek national sponsorships and media coverage. > > What I envision is a walk that is national in scope and local in process. > Perhaps all these walks take place on the day of the Unity Walk - perhaps we > call it the National Unity Walk. Maybe then everyone could get involved; > APDA, NPF, Parkinson Alliance etc. > > I think we need to send out, to every support group and every chapter, a > basic template for holding a walk/run. The national entities/sponsors could > use their considerable power to design locally imprintable entry forms, race > numbers and T-shirts. We all decide on a a single name and date (difficult > due to varying weather conditions, but really a must). Each local group > finds their own sponsors for water, food, race timing, T-shirts - most of the > associated hard goods, etc., with the help of our template. The template > also covers things like insurance binders, an event timeline, number and use > of volunteers, stuff like that. Working in concert with the national group, > we all harass our local media for coverage. > > If there are, and I think there are, currently 100 different groups each > having a PD related walk/run, my suggestion is that we simply run under the > same name and with the same colors and logos. I don't even care who gets the > proceeds, let APDA chapters support APDA, NPF NPF, locals keep the money for > programs and services. Maybe we all just say "Raising money for education, > services and to find the cure for PD." I just know that if we all band > together we can make a MUCH bigger impact on a national scale. God knows, we > need to make some noise! > > We have been planning to do this same thing, on a much different scale, in > our own catchment area next spring. We plan to supply our 36 support groups > with imprintable brochures, T's and a template and hold "our" 5K (Race to > Planet Cure - don't ask) all across Kansas and Missouri. Our plan is to let > each support group keep their proceeds, we will do the sponsorship spade work > to ensure that their costs are borne, in the main, by us. We are talking > about maybe 500 people in Kansas City, 100 people in Manhattan Kansas, 30 > people in one place, 5 or 10 people in smaller, rural areas. Maybe the whole > thing raises $25,000 -- maybe twice that. Who cares? The point is to > develop some cohesion, unity, strength in each other. The longest journey, > you know. > > I see this an eminently doable...get a national on board, let them develop > national sponsors (an airline, Walmart, etc.), get our "how to" template > written and distributed, pick a date, name, logo..., get our national to > design and make available and downloadable, printable brochure, race forms, T > shirt slicks. Get Hallmark to donate a couple thousand somethings for a > certain level of pledges, get Walmart to donate a few thousand something > elses for a different level. Look at the Memory Walk, they have really > marginal stuff and no one seems to mind! I think we could hold our first > event early in 2004 - and generate some press and excitement in 2003 during > the planning stages. > > Anybody want to try this approach? Feedback please! Thanks, Meg > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn