Tag Archives: komen

Meet the Philadelphia 3-Day Coaches!

Every Susan G. Komen 3-Day® event has a core team of three coaches, each of whom plays a different role in helping our walkers and crew members prepare for the Komen 3-Day. For months, these dedicated staffers have been having personal conversations with walkers to help them with their training and fundraising, have hosted dozens of local events to bring participants together and build a community of encouragement, and have organized and inspired the amazing team of crew captains and crew members.

Let’s meet the coaches for the Philadelphia 3-Day®!

Joanne Harrington – Philadelphia Local Events Coachsusan g. komen 3-day breast cancer walk blog philadelphia coach joanne

Describe your job in 10 words or fewer. – “Coordinate everything to welcome our walkers to the 3-Day.”

We’re a couple weeks from the Philadelphia event. What’s a typical day like for you these days? – “I’m insanely busy here! I’m firming up private cheering stations and mobile cheering squads, gathering bakeries for baked good donations, answering questions about ceremony flag bearers and generally just putting on the finishing touches.”

What are 3 things that we didn’t know about you? – “1) I have two lovely granddaughters: Abby, age 9 and Caroline, age 5. Unfortunately, they live in Maryland so I don’t get to see them as much as I would like; 2) I am a Philadelphia Eagles season ticketholder. E-A-G-L-E-S, EAGLES! LOVE my birds! 3) I have been on 16 cruises.”

 

Jen Haber – Philadelphia Participant Coachsusan g. komen 3-day breast cancer walk blog philadelphia coach jen

Describe your job in 10 words or fewer. – “Answering all things 3-Day-related on a daily basis.”

We’re a couple weeks from the Philadelphia event. What’s a typical day like for you these days? – “Busy! My days are filled with interactions with participants. I’ve gotten to know many Philadelphia walkers through the emails and calls I am receiving. It’s that time of the event season when I am helping with matching gift questions, assisting with online check-in and providing last-minute event details. Everyone has a story that connects us to this cause and I love hearing them. The conversations I have each day are very important to me because they remind me why we are all working so hard to make an impact in the fight against breast cancer.”

What are 3 things that we didn’t know about you? – “1) I live in Southern California and have two dogs who love coming to visit the San Diego 3-Day every year; 2) I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Poland, where I organized my first breast cancer awareness walk and where my passion for this cause began; 3) I was a vegetarian for almost 20 years until very recently. My carnivore husband couldn’t be happier!”

 

Melanie Toner – Philadelphia Crew & Volunteer Coordinatorsusan g. komen 3-day breast cancer walk blog philadelphia coach melanie

Describe your job in 10 words or fewer. – “Supporting our amazing captains and crew members to rock on event.”

We’re a couple weeks from the Philadelphia event. What’s a typical day like for you these days? – “I spend most of my day working on communicating final details to crew captains and supporting the crew. My goal is to ensure the crew feels confident and prepared on event. The days are long but it’s all worth it. I’m looking forward to seeing the hard work pay off!”

What are 3 things that we didn’t know about you? – “1) I’m a lefty; 2) An ‘intimate’ family event in my family involves 35-40 people; 3) You will likely find me singing to myself on event – something I do when I have a lot to accomplish and need to focus.”

 

Going to be at the Philadelphia 3-Day? Come meet coach Joanne at a special meet-and-greet on Friday and Saturday in camp, 6-7 p.m., in the 3-Day Lounge.

The Life Cycle of a Matching Gift

There are hundreds of fundraising tools, tips and ideas available to Susan G. Komen 3-Day® participants who are working toward their fundraising goals, but I am consistently surprised at how underused matching gifts are. Matching gifts are a way for a donor to double his/her donation, but for some reason, many people don’t pursue the option. Perhaps it’s from a lack of understanding about how the process works, or a misconception that it’s too complicated or time-consuming. I’m hoping to clear some of that up here.

In general, a Komen 3-Day matching gift works like this:

  • Meet Petunia.
  • Petunia has just made a $100 donation to her sister Daisy, who is raising money for the 3-Day®. She’s very proud of what Daisy is doing, and wants to support her as much as she can.
  • Petunia works for Awesome, Inc., which has a company matching gift program. Many companies (especially larger corporations) offer matching gifts as a way to inspire their employees to give charitably.
  • So, Petunia goes to the Matching Gifts info page on the 3-Day website (The3Day.org/Matching) to look up Awesome, Inc., and confirms that they do match with the 3-Day. Hooray! The Matching Gifts page has info about how Awesome, Inc.’s matching process works, so she submits a request for Awesome, Inc. to match her $100 donation with $100 of their own.
  • Every company’s matching gift process is unique, but in most cases, the company will use an online matching gift portal (such as EasyMatch or CyberGrants) to process requests. Some companies use paper forms that must be mailed in. Petunia confirms that Awesome, Inc. uses an online process, so she logs in and enters the correct information about her gift. She makes sure to specifically designate the Susan G. Komen 3-Day as the recipient of the matching gift (as opposed to her local Susan G. Komen® affiliate or Komen headquarters), and includes Daisy’s full name and the city where she’s walking, to make sure Daisy gets credit for the match.
  • The 3-Day matching gifts team receives notification of the match request from Petunia/Awesome, Inc., and once they have verified Petunia’s original donation, they will approve the match and send approval notification back to Awesome, Inc. This process can take up to 4-6 weeks, but is usually much faster.
  • Even though Awesome, Inc. may not send the matching funds to the 3-Day right away (many companies only pay out matches once a quarter, or twice yearly), credit for the matching gift will be added to Daisy’s fundraising total as soon as the match is approved.
  • And just like that, Petunia’s $100 donation has doubled, and twice as much money goes back to Susan G. Komen® and the fight to end breast cancer – the cause that the sisters care so much about.

The number one piece of advice we give to participants who are raising money for the 3-Day is to ASK, and that advice carries over into asking about matching gifts too. When you send out your fundraising emails or post on Facebook, be sure to remind your donors about 3-Day matching gifts and ask them to inquire with their employers about getting a match.

You can find more detailed information about the matching gift process, and a searchable list of companies that currently match with the 3-Day, at www.The3Day.org/matching. And as always, the 3-Day coaches are available at 800-996-3DAY to answer any questions you might have about the matching gift process or the status of a request that has already been made.

Congratulations to the Twin Cities 3-Day Top Fundraisers!

Today marked Day 1 of the Susan G. Komen 3-Day® in Twin Cities , and walkers and crew enjoyed Minnesota’s lush green landscape at scenic spots like the Lake Harriet band shell, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, and B.H. Nelson Park.  Upon arrival at the Komen 3-Day camp, participants enjoyed new camp elements that premiered last weekend in Michigan, like a make-your-own trail mix bar, and cozy bean bags and foot rests. The 3-Day® camp show wrapped up a beautiful day, and our friends from Bank of America helped us recognize the top fundraisers for the Twin Cities 3-Day. Please join us in saying congratulations to these inspiring people!

Top Fundraising Team: Northern Nippys, $62,445 raised

This is the Northern Nippys’ sixth year at the 3-Day, and in that time they’ve raised an incredible $184,195 total. The 2014 Northern Nippys team has 33 members.

Northern Nippys Team Captain Laura

Northern Nippys Team Captain Laura

Top Crew fundraiser: Sharon Gruenhagen, $4,650 raised 

Hats off to Sharon Gruenhagen who raised $4,650; and has raised $21,963 lifetime total. This is Sharon’s  7th event as a crew member in Twin Cities; she is part of the Sweep team this year.

Top Crew Fundraiser Sharon G.

Top Crew Fundraiser Sharon G.

Top Individual Fundraiser:  Patricia Miller, $14,000 raised 

Patricia Miller raised $14,000 this year; and has raised an astonishing $70,739 in the six years and six events she has completed. Patricia lost her mother to breast cancer 60 years ago when she was just 5 years old. She walks today because she wants to help others who fight this disease.

Top Individual Fundraiser Patricia M.

Top Individual Fundraiser Patricia M.

We’re so grateful to these amazing participants and for all of you who take steps every day to help us end breast cancer forever. To learn more about the top individual, Crew and team fundraisers in Twin Cities, as well as our eight series walkers, check out the framed table-top displays in the dining tent in camp.