The Stokes Me Surfers Helping Humans fundraising campaign runs through Oct. 30th. SIMA Humanitarian Fund President Ross Garrett updates us on the progress made during this innovative online challenge.
How close are you to your goal for the Stokes Me Campaign?
We’re doing well. As of Friday, October 19th, we’ve raised over $43,000, with 430 individual donors.
Who’s in the lead?
Last Friday, Surfline led the teams, with Shop-eat-surf and Ocean Minded in second and third, followed by Roxy, Billabong and Rip Curl. But Grind Media just signed up a team – and they’ll likely be giving our current number one a run for its money.
Among our individual donors, Judy Burlingham is in the lead, followed by Avery Aydelotte and John Pike. Our donors are averaging $100 per donation – it would only take 26 friends donating to win if the contest ended today.
How are teams promoting their fundraising efforts?
Surfline did an email blast last week that generated good results for their team. A lot of teams and individuals are using social media to raise awareness for the campaign and to show potential donors where their money will go.
We also had some athletes send Tweets about the campaign — Kalani Robb and Sunny Garcia both sent out some great messages. It’s important to keep up the awareness — things like emails and tweets can have exponential effects.
Remind our readers of the prizes?
The brands are competing to win the SIMA Humanitarian Award and complimentary advertising on Surfline.com and in Surfer Magazine.
Individuals are competing for a trip for two to Hawaii to attend the Triple Crown of Surfing on the North Shore. It’s a great opportunity because employees can join the campaign as individuals and help their company’s team at the same time, all for the benefit of some really important surfing-related organizations.
Any final thoughts this week?
Last week was a big week, and now we’re in a sprint to the finish. Individual fundraisers have some real opportunities — you only need to beat the top fundraiser by $1 on Oct. 30th at midnight to win.
