Fundraising lessons from the Third Grade
May 6, 2010 in Fundraising Tips by CauseShare | No comments
Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting a pretty impressive guy, Brett Leckey. He’s the kind of guy you wouldn’t be surprised to see on the front of a cereal box, the kind of guy who will lend an ear to a stranger, even though he’s busier than most.
Brett is currently a full time student, a tri-athlete (baseball, football, and wrestling) and a budding guitarist. Brett is also a fulltime advocate for safe drinking water.
I might also mention that Brett is in the third grade.
I called Brett up after he got home from school and had enjoyed his afternoon snack to ask him about life and his campaign to educate folks about water and an amazing device called the LifeStraw.
Brett discovered the LifeStraw flipping through the 2009 World Almanac for Kids with his sister. They saw a photo of children wading in dirty water, and drinking it through this LifeStraw. The five-dollar* portable device is the invention of the Suisse Social Enterprise Vestergaard Frandsen and it removes potentially deadly contaminants from water as it is used to drink. Brett learned that 6,000 people a day, mostly kids, lose their life simply because their water is dirty and this device makes their water safe to drink. Most would stop there, and flip the page. To Brett, the low price tag of the LifeStraw looked like an opportunity to help a lot of other kids get safe drinking water.
Since that day, Brett has hit the road raising money to distribute LifeStraws to more people who need them through the efforts of the Rotary Club of Fort Lauderdale.
He started telling folks in his own hometown, standing up in the front of classroom, teaching the other kids and teachers about water and the LifeStraw. He has since been invited to other schools to speak, to churches, local events, festivals, the local Rotary Club. Brett bravely speaks up and educates other kids and folks many times his age about the LifeStraw.
Brett’s fundraising approach – education. He says that when he is out raising money for LifeStraws he doesn’t just beg for money, he makes a card that people can take so they can learn more and donate later if they want to. His poster shares the straight facts. For on the spot donations, he trades twisty straws, a takeaway that serves as a constant reminder of how lucky we are to have clean water. Brett’s CauseShare fundraising page is the online piece of his larger movement. His local high school who saw his fundraising page decided to donate the proceeds of their upcoming concert.
Brett was a little scared when he first got started, but he started and that has inspired a lot of people. He thought that it would be great if he could raise $100. Today, he has raised over $1200 thanks to the recent contribution of his cousin who recently turned 11 and generously donated the $50 he received at his birthday party.
Brett is moving people, because he is moving, and he has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.
To read the full article go to: http://blog.causeshare.com/?p=85