“It is our choices, gentlemen, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
Ted Lasso quoting John Wooden.
First off, I love Ted Lasso. Period. Moving on… 🙂
Secondly, choices come with consequences. I can want or have a desire to run a half marathon but if I don’t CHOOSE to train for it, I won’t have the ability to run it. My ability at the beginning is far less important than the ACTIVE CHOICE to train for it.
Headed into 2020, Runners Doing Good had some choices to make and we did. The idea was to eventually strive towards formalizing the team as a nonprofit so that we could contribute more directly to causes, people, and charities however we wanted.
We scaled the team back to start anew with some core members so that our baseline expenses could be as minimized as possible with the hope that if things went as swimmingly as we hoped, that we could expand again someday soon.
In many ways, I think we became a leaner and better team because of that choice. Because of the pandemic, it certainly made what we did far easier. It’s why we’re choosing to run the same strategy back out in 2022 but with a few select choices:
#1 – We’re choosing to do this without a net. If we want to move towards operational independence. Now is the time. Our hope is to receive some help from past sponsors but if they can’t support us because we’re not a nonprofit yet, it’s understandable. We’ll work to earn their support when we’re set up.
#2 – We’re choosing to promote us on our terms. Since our inception, we’ve always operated within the confines of the cause of choice that we were working to benefit and oftentimes didn’t receive a ton of support in that effort. If we are going to have to work hard to promote what we’re doing anyways, it’ll be nice to be doing it our way this year.
#3 – We’re choosing exactly where the money is going this year and it will be clear. We have no doubt that the organizations we’ve fundraised for have been good stewards of the money that our efforts produced. That said, when we worked on behalf of Kate’s Kart, they never told us how many books our money purchased and only in one year did NeighborLink tell us what project our fundraisers covered. This won’t be just supporting a good organization this year. When you give to our 2022 campaign, it will be abundantly clear where those dollars are going. That’s extremely important and a choice that we’ll be making every year going forward.
#4 – Our choice of cause this year will be unique and emotional because we’ve never approached anything like this before. This is will not be us helping an organization. It will directly impact 2 worlds by helping bring them together and both will, for certain, be better for it.
Finally, the last choice, #4, is very much an intentional choice. In the past, we’ve sought to reach for the stars with our fundraising and it’s always felt like whatever we raised was pure gravy for the organizations we’ve worked to benefit. Beyond that, it’s always felt like because we were something “extra” for them, if it didn’t work, they weren’t out anything.
With #4, if it goes like every other year has, the upside to this is that 2022 is a stepping off point for Runners Doing Good as a group. There will be proof of concept that we can take this plan together, which has always been aided by past organizations help, and bring it to fruition on our own.
Good Lord willing, it’ll be the official start of something amazing and we’ll be able to spread that love in a thousand directions before we ever call it quits.
So, to follow along, please come back on Sunday at 6 pm when our official announcement is made!
Runners Doing Good 