A Walk Around the Track With an Event Donor

On most weekends in the spring and summer in Atlanta, there is at least one walk, run or ride happening to support a fantastic charity and raise money for a fantastic cause. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to be elbow to elbow with some of the fine folks participating in an event this weekend. And me being the ever-curious blog writer, I decided to do a little "research" while hanging out with these folks post-event.

So, I have good news and bad news — but let me set the scene.

• Medium to large event
• Big brand
• Lots of awareness stuff around the event area
• Roads blocked for the event for the safety of the walkers

Can't figure out which organization it is? Good. I'm specifically trying to be vague because, in reality, this is not about the charity. Why? Because I think this is a common situation where we all can probably do a little better. In other words, let's not focus on who this was — let's focus on what I learned from a few team leaders and members who were participating as a group.

I wanted to know a few things from these people, and I'm going to give you the highlights of our conversation and my thoughts on how we can all learn to do things differently. Here's how the conversation unfolded.

'So, tell me about the organization ...'
This was an interesting discussion, but the event planners would have been proud. The participants were able to really tell me the basics of the organization's mission and even about the goals of the event. There was a sense of pride in them because they were really happy to talk about their fundraising and how their team was one of the top teams. I'm not sure I've ever really just sat down and talked with folks right after they participated in an event — it was really uplifting. That moment in time was electrified. They were finished with the "hard part" — the fundraising, the activity itself, etc. So I commend the event planners and marketing/communications teams because the track signs and other awareness content and materials really did drive home the key messages for these folks. And I cannot state it enough — the sense of accomplishment and pride was something you could feel with this group of people.