Transcript:
This podcast was transcribed through a third-party application. Please disregard any misrepresentations.
Brad Caruso:
Welcome to Civic Warriors, brought to you by Withum. On this podcast, we bring the conversation to you, sharing, engaging stories that motivate and build consensus in the nonprofit community. This podcast is about the innovators, the leaders on the frontline of adversity, guiding lights in the nonprofit industry affecting change. And through their stories, we can all join forces to become civic warriors. Hey, warriors. Welcome to today’s episode of Civic Warriors. Brought to you by, Withum. I’m your host, Brad Caruso, leader of Withum’s not-for-profit practice. Today we are gonna talk about the importance of fundraising and volunteerism, uh, with a very special guest, Sheri Kirkpatrick. Uh, Sheri’s a nonprofit fundraising and communication expert with over 25 years of experience. She currently serves as the campaign development manager for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, working on the visionaries of the year fundraising campaign. And also Sheri has been happily married for 28 years, a mom of two girls and a dog Stewy.
Brad Caruso:
LSS’s mission is to cure blood cancers and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLLS funds life-saving blood cancer research around the world, provides free information and support services, and is the voice for all blood cancer patients seeking access to quality, affordable, coordinated care. Sheri and I met through, uh, a board member of LLS and former Withum employee. And, and I was very happy that I got this introduction to Sheri, um, to get involved more with LLS and, and to, to learn about the Visionaries of the Year program. Um, I was asked to participate in it, to, to make an impact on cancer, and got very excited because I had the opportunity to work closely both with Sheri, who’s a wonderful person, um, and work on a fundraising campaign, which is something that quite honestly, I’ve never done before in any large scale, other than maybe raising a couple dollars here and there.
Brad Caruso:
I realize that it’s a ton of work, but excited to really embark on that, embark on that journey, even though I am quite terrified of, you know, how I’ll do and, you know, am I gonna be able to have an impact like I’m thinking I can. Uh, but bigger picture, you know, we’re, we’re really, we’re really looking forward to it. And, and, and I, I, I learned through Sheri kind of the importance of fundraising and, and why it’s so, so important to get very closely involved with an organization you have a connection to. Um, I developed a team, Civic Warriors for a Cure, uh, named after this podcast itself. Uh, and, and we’re, you know, we’re looking forward to running a good campaign. Um, so welcome to the show, Sheri. Appreciate having you here.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
Well, thank you so much, Brad. I appreciate being here.
Brad Caruso:
Uh, just to start off, maybe give us a little background. Um, how did you arrive at LLS? What, what drove you to Leukemia Lymphoma Society?
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
Wow, okay. So I have to go back quite a ways. Um, I first, uh, got started with philanthropy back in elementary school. I don’t know, you might be too young, Brad, but I don’t know if you remember the, the muscular dystrophy telethons that Jerry Lewis used to have. I just used to always, it was like a three day telethon over either a Labor Day or Memorial Day weekend. I used to love watching it as a kid, and they always talked about ways the kids could get involved and, and raise money. So I started there, um, and just went around the neighborhood collecting money and was pretty excited. Cause, uh, the first year I did it, I ended up, uh, getting a bike because I raised so much money. So that was pretty exciting. Then in college, uh, the part of my sorority, I, I became the philanthropy chair for our sorority and did a, um, we, uh, we did a big volleyball tournament with the Denver Broncos, which I’m from Colorado originally, so the Broncos are huge for me.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
So it was great to be able to work for them and do a volleyball tournament on campus at the University of Denver. And, uh, we ended up raising about $5,000 there. So, you know, lots of experience there. Uh, graduated college, worked for a radio station for a little while. Um, while I was doing that, I volunteered for the March of Dimes. Then I, I worked for a little while. I took a temporary position with Big Brothers Big Sisters to help them on a big boon that they did. And then after that, yeah, I worked at an ad agency when my husband and I got married, we moved to the city, thought it’d be really cool to work at an a ad agency. And, and once I worked there, I was like, yeah, no, I’d much rather go back to nonprofit. So, uh, worked for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, uh, worked for another small nonprofit here, um, in Monmouth County where I live. Then I worked for another organization for 15 years, the Lupus Research Alliance. A little while I worked for Make-A-Wish, and now I’m here at, uh, the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. And I’m very happy to be here because, um, just like most people in my life has been touched by cancer. Um, I lost my grandmother to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which is a, uh, a form of blood cancer. And then a couple of years ago, um, I lost my dad to pancreatic cancer. So it’s a definitely, uh, something I’m very passionate about this cause.
Brad Caruso:
That connects to that cause Definitely helps, helps with the work. And, and, you know, you can, you can tell just in, in my conversations with you, how, how passionate you are about helping LLS and, and, and the work that you all do. Um, you know, maybe share a little information about, if you can, about LLS itself. And, you know, what, why is their mission so important in this, in this fight against cancer that, that many of us are personally impacted by.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
LLS’s mission is to cure blood cancers, which is leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s Disease and myeloma. And also to improve the quality of life for PA patients and their family. Um, we were founded about 70 years ago by a family who lost their teenage son to leukemia. And, uh, they wanted to do whatever they could in their power to ensure nobody else lost a loved one. So we started, I think it was the Leukemia Society way back when, and we’ve changed our name over the years. And now, you know, now we’re the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. We have three mission pillars. Uh, obviously the first one is research. Cause in order to get new treatments and ultimately find a cure that takes research, uh, we advocate so really to, um, we advocate for policies to protect patient access to life-saving treatments, access to care, help bring down the cost of prescription drugs, bring down the co cost of healthcare.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
And then I, I kind of think this one is most important because yes, our, our research and everything is great, and treatments, you know, are really good at helping people cure cancer. But in order to really help them through that battle, you know, they have to be in the right mindset. They need to have that support system of their family. They need to have support, you know, through somebody who’s been through what they’re going through. Um, they need to be educated. And that’s what what LLS does really well, is that patient support portion of it. For me, when I first started here, I didn’t realize that, um, there have only been four oncology treatments approved for first use in children by the FDA in 40 years. However, breaking news yesterday, the, uh, we just saw that the FDA approved a fifth treatment for pediatric blood, uh, blood cancers, which is really, uh, amazing.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
Um, but I was so shocked that there’s only been four treatments. And for anybody who has had a family member or loved one or somebody go through, um, you know, a cancer journey and had to fight that battle. And you know, how toxic most of those treatments are for adults, let alone imagining a child having to go through the same treatment. And what really shocked me the most is, is 80% of all childhood cancer survivors, it doesn’t matter what kind of cancer it is, will develop one or more chronic health condition as they get older. And to me, that was, I just couldn’t believe that, you know, you, you, you go through all the stress and the, the of being afraid and everything, you know, helping your child get through, go through that cancer battle and, and they survive. And then now you’ve gotta look, oh my gosh, what’s next?
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
What’s gonna come up? Are they, are they gonna have learning disabilities? They’re gonna have permanent organ damage? Are they gonna, um, have fertility issues? You know, what other kind of things, could they even develop a secondary cancer all as a result of their treatments? So one of the programs that LLS has that I think, uh, we just started, is our Dare to Dream program, which is an amazing 175 million project to improve, uh, and outcomes for children. So that not only can they survive their cancers, but thrive in their lives afterwards. And this is targeting everything from getting new treatments, more safer, more effective treatments, trying to move away from chemotherapy and radiation, moving more towards those am immunotherapies and precision medication, um, precision medicine, I should say, for, um, for children, but also really working on advocating for children’s rights as they battle cancer and providing support and resources and stuff for, uh, children. And that to me is just, you know, so important to help children and, and help them get through their, their cancer diagnosis and, and thrive afterwards.
Brad Caruso:
There are so many things that occur in that journey. So many challenges. Some of that is financial, some of that is education and understanding what you’re going through or understanding where to go to. Um, you know, some of that is a support system, as you mentioned. And, you know, it’s, and I think, you know, my experience, um, in talking with a few people as well as in working directly with you is, is, you know, how integral it is with, for an organization or not-for-profit, like, like lls to be involved just in helping people kind of navigate, uh, I don’t wanna say the system, but navigate, um, the various challenges and complications that that arise. Um, you know, what, financial or not. Uh, so it, it, it’s super important, um, especially if it’s your child. I mean, I can’t imagine it. And it, it scares the daylights out of me to think, you know, having a child. Uh, I have two kids, obviously, and, uh, as I’ve mentioned before, and, um, you know, having those, those two children, I can’t imagine going through that. Um, even from that first initial, Hey, your, your child has cancer. Like, like what goes through your head and how that, and, and how you, how you wade through that, uh, moving forward, you know, it’s, it’s such a challenge.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
Well, and how do you explain it to ’em? Like how do you explain to a four-year-old, <right, right>. That they’re gonna have to have, you know, they’re gonna have to have spinal taps, so they’re, they’re gonna have to have blood draws that they’re gonna have to wear a port that they’re gonna, you know, feel sick after treatment. Like, how do you explain that to, to a four-year-old? And, and, and how do you wrap your head around that as a parent? So those are all things that are, are so important to help with. And, and that’s where, you know, LLS can be a huge resource for anybody that, um, is going through that cancer journey.
Brad Caruso:
Definitely. So, so I think, you know, one of the things I thought was very important, and, and, you know, I was new to this, um, in, in meeting you Sheri, and, and in working on the visionary of the year program, was the importance of volunteering and running a fundraising campaign and being involved and connecting yourself to that cause and doing all the work that goes into it. Why is volunteering and, and running a fundraising campaign so important
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
For parents? If you have children that are at elementary age, it is a great idea to start getting them involved in, you know, in philanthropy and giving back. Um, it really can help your child develop their core values, like gratitude, generosity, empathy, and compassion. Um, studies suggest actually the kids are more likely to empathize with those in need or identify things that they have in common than adults. So kids are already prone to, to wanting to help out. Um, so I highly recommend like, start encouraging them to, to get involved. And here’s some ways to do that. So for example, like we did, um, each year at the end of the year, you know, we like to give to charity. And so we ask our kids to, to sit down with us and kind of research some charities and find charities that they, you know, you know, wanna support, and then we can give our donation that way.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
So that’s a great way to start getting them to think about that. Um, they, you know, we, the kids could give a percentage of their allowance or maybe go through and, and donate some of their toys or some of their clothes to people in need. Um, maybe they can be involved, like if you’re, you know, do a, a, like a fundraising event, like a Walkathon or something like that, they can participate in that. Um, maybe they can have an em a lemonade stand or collect coins or do a car wash or something like that to raise money for a cause that they care about. Um, or maybe they can even do like a food or a coat, uh, or toy drive for, uh, a charity. That, that’s some great ways to really start teaching them those core values that you want them to have. And then I would move, even move on to like adolescents, like teenagers.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
Um, there are a lot of charities that will take, you know, teenagers to help volunteer with different things. Um, just to keep in mind that some charities may have a, an age limit. You might have to be 18. I know a lot of animal shelters, uh, limited to 18 before you can start volunteering. Um, and then some, you know, there’s lots of different ways you can, they can get into fundraising. Sometimes they’re high school, maybe doing a, a relay for a life event or, um, maybe you can do something in the school as far as collecting coins. There’s also some, some organizations will have leadership roles that high school students can take. And very importantly, for high school students, you know, you, for honor society, the National Honor Society, you need so many hours, right? To volunteer. So this is a great way to, to help get those hours.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
And it’s also looks really great. Um, like the adult visionary of the year that LLS has. We also have a student Visionaries of the Year program where high school students, uh, try to raise as much money as they build teams and try to, uh, multi-generational teams, I should say, and try to raise as much money as they possibly can in seven weeks. Uh, this things like that. Great learning skills while learning how to present, uh, how to manage a team, how to communicate all of these things that these kids can learn. Um, and think about that, you know, most kids write their college essays on, you know, oh, I, you know, tore my ACL uh, playing sports. This is something that you can write whatever you do for a charity, you can write about it in your college essays and put it on your college applications to really help you make you make you stand out, you know, when applying for colleges.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
So there’s lots of great reasons, um, there. And then college, right? You’re in college, there’s still lots of opportunity to, to get involved and volunteer. A lot of colleges have many clubs. Some of them are just strictly for volunteering fraternities and sororities, for example. Every fraternity and sorority has their own, uh, pet cause that they fundraise for. So that’s a great way to get involved there. You can do an internship at a charitable organization. Um, unfortunately those don’t pay kids. So if you’re thinking about doing it, just remember this is, uh, you’re gonna be more of a volunteer, but you do get credit for it. Um, you can volunteer on your own or choose your own charities. Um, and think about it though, as the more you volunteer, especially if you pick something and you stick with it all four years of college, if you do an internship, it’s great on your resume, right?
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
It’s great, you know, as, as, as once you graduate, you don’t have a lot necessarily a lot of work experience on your resume. So anything that you can use to boost, um, your resume is, is definitely very good. And then now the original question, young adults, um, <laugh>. So, um, there are so many opportunities, um, for young adults, uh, just starting in the workforce. Um, you know, it can be any, anywhere from right as you graduate, a as you’re moving up in your career to get involved. So there’s a, you could join, first of all, think about joining an employee resource group. If your company has one of those, that’s a great way to start giving back and, and helping volunteer. There are a lot of organizations that have a young professionals group or an emerging leaders group that you can, uh, join, which is, is great to start taking on that leadership role.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
You get not gonna be able to necessarily go right out and, you know, go to call up a charity and say, Hey, I wanna be on your board of directors. It usually doesn’t work quick that way. So you wanna start at a little, uh, lower level. So, um, you really definitely wanted to, um, you know, see if they have a young professionals group or an emerging leaders group and find out what’s involved in that. Um, if they don’t have something like that, a lot of charities, especially if they do any kind of fundraising events, could do, uh, have a, um, a committee. So like, if there’s a walkathon, they might have a committee to help plan the walkathon to like get food donations and corporate sponsors and things like that. So that’s a great opportunity to join and, and be part of a committee. And why, why do these help?
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
Well, it helps you when it comes to your career development. It’s a great way, like, you’re gonna reach out to your company, you’re gonna let them know what you’re doing. You might ask them for support. They’re gonna see what you’re doing and how you can manage. And so, you know, when they’re thinking about who they wanna promote or, uh, if there’s another position available or something that you might want that may make you stand out, uh, as opposed, as opposed to some of your other coworkers, it’s a great way for developing your personal brand. Um, LinkedIn is the thing right now, right? Everybody that’s looking, you know, looking to hire somebody goes to, uh, the potential, uh, candidates page and looks at, you know, the things that they’ve done. You can put that on your, um, on your LinkedIn page saying that you’re a volunteer and you’ve done these different types of things.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
It just shows them what kind of a person that you are. Um, and it’s also good for, um, networking. Um, Brad, as you were saying it earlier, is like, you know, you’re really learning how through this, through the visionaries of the year campaign, to work with your networks to develop them, to build those relationships, to communicate with them. Uh, you’re also learning really valuable skills. Learning leadership skills, presentation skills, storytelling key. Storytelling is like a very key word right now, knowing how to tell your story. Um, tell your story about your company, about what your company does. You’re doing the same thing with the charity. Um, active listening. Those active listening skills are extremely important. Obviously, simple things like organization, communication skills, networking, and just so many others. That’s why it’s so, so important for everybody to get involved no matter the age. There are so many benefits to getting involved besides just, hey, you know, the most important. Like, you’re helping other people and you’re gonna end up feeling good about yourself.
Brad Caruso:
Yeah. And, and, and just that I think that, that, uh, on, on the feeling good about yourself, just the personal empowerment, empowerment aspect that, that you find with accomplishing something, uh, and, and doing something kind of bigger than yourself and, and doing something that is, you know, forcing you to use all these diverse skills in, in an overall effort where, you know, there’s not really like an an end game for you personally, right? It’s not like there’s a paycheck you’re fighting for. It’s not like there’s, you know, you know, an accolade. Like, you know, I would never do this cuz I wanna, I want, I personally wanna be recognized. I would rather do it anonymously. You know, and it’s, I think it’s that aspect of that selfless act, but then using all of these life skills that you need, especially in business, when you’re talking about storytelling, when you’re talking about your personal brand and really having who you are through how you talk through the stories you tell people can get a sense of who you are, um, on a variety of char of character traits like authenticity.
Brad Caruso:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Absolutely. You know, I think authenticity is a massively underrepresented character trait that I am very, very, uh, keen on evaluating. Like, are people authentic with what they’re saying? Or are they just reading the last tagline that they heard? Uh, especially in today’s day and age with social media. Like, do the people really read the articles underneath the taglines or are they just, are they just saying the taglines themselves and passing it off like they understand it and like, you know, that that authentic component of, you know, are they doing this really from an authentic place or are they doing it for other reasons? And, you know, I think all those skills are super important for anybody to learn. The leadership aspect of just leading a team of people to do something. I don’t care what it is, I don’t care if it’s digging a hole in your backyard, or if it’s fundraising for a not-for-profit, or it’s, you know, running a team for a project for work.
Brad Caruso:
You know, that leadership skill of being able to work in the bounds of people, um, coordinate things, uh, be transparent about what your mission is and what you’re trying to achieve. And, and then being, you know, open and honest to, to make it better all the time. You know, those are all regardless of the task, but in, in, especially if you’re gonna do a, a, a volunteer of fundraising campaign, especially like the one a mag tour, um, embarking on it really teaches you a lot. And then when you get that resume question on, like, or that, that interview question, which we ask all the time, and I interview tons of people, um, tell me, tell me a dif tell me something that you went through that was, that was difficult that you overcame or, you know, tell me about, uh, tell me an example of leadership in your life that you’ve, that you’ve, that you’ve done, um, that you wanna share.
Brad Caruso:
And you know, if you, if you say, oh, I ran this fundraising campaign for this not-for-profit because this personally affected me because of X, Y, and Z and I had a team of 10 people and we raised $50,000 or $3,000, or whatever the number is, and, and we accomplished our goal or, or we were short, but we, you know, made it up the next year. Like, you can learn a lot about, about a person that went through something like that, just by them telling that story and how important <absolutely> that is, and how much that benefits everything else you’re gonna do. So once you get through that, okay, you’re gonna come across that again in a different way in your job. You know, I do auditing for a living, so when I go run an audit, it’s the same skills and principles. It’s just applied to auditing a business.
Brad Caruso:
You know, you have technical knowledge, you have, you have, you have to understand the business. You have to lead a group of people, you have to hold each other accountable. You’re accountable to an external party. You know, all of those things are, are, it’s all the same. Um, but you, but you learn it in an environment that, you know, you’re, you’re volunteering, you’re helping, you’re, you know, it’s kind of like a, like a safe environment to some degree because you’re, you’re, um, you know, you’re helping out. If you weren’t there, it wouldn’t be being done. You’re, you’re there as an extra helping, right? So, um, it, it’s a great way to get involved and, and you do it for a cause that you appreciate and you, and you’re involved in. Um, you know, that’s also important in all of this is, is finding an organization or, or a place or a, a a cause that, that you’re connected with. Cuz it, it makes it so much easier. <laugh>, it does <laugh>
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
Another skill that I was just thinking of as you were talking to that that’s, that you learn, um, and then you have to use that is, is important for every aspect of your life is that fear of asking, right? Right. There’s always that fear of asking somebody for anything. It doesn’t matter what it is. It’s asking at your job for, for a raise or asking your, you know, for a promotion or, or asking a family member to do something for you or whatever. Um, you know, you learn how to kind of overcome that fear by helping, you know, especially doing any fundraising for a charity is because you are understanding that I’m not asking for myself, I’m asking for the charity, and I’m giving, uh, people the opportunity to support that charity. So I think that’s, that’s another big skill that so many of us have that we’re all terrified of public speaking or, or putting ourselves out there. And, and that’s, that’s another really great way that by being involved in charity, um, and giving back can really help you overcome
Brad Caruso:
That. Yeah, that is a great point, Sheri. When you, when you, when you really look at like that, you know, that initial fear of an ask what, whatever it is, whether it’s asking for business, whether it’s asking for, you know, companionship, whether it’s asking for friendship, whether it’s asking for someone to help you with something, um, or whether it’s asking someone, Hey, can you contribute a dollar to this cause? You know, a lot of people have that fear of, well, how is that person gonna react to that? And once you, once you figure out how to get over that fear of how the person’s gonna react and you focus on, my mission is X, my goal is X, this is how we’re gonna accomplish that, that fear starts going away because you, you realize that it doesn’t matter what that person asks. And also the fear of rejection, it doesn’t matter
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
That’s the biggest thing. The fear of a no. Oh my gosh, you got a no. Is that personal? No, it’s not personal. It’s not against you.
Brad Caruso:
No, no. You always gotta put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Listen, if maybe you weren’t compelling enough, maybe that person has no connection to it and they don’t want to give to that. You know, and, and kind of learning that both the fear of asking as well as the fear of their response, uh, or the act, you know, the, the actual response to their response, you know, eventually you realize that, you know, those are very valuable life skills and you know, you’ve had a, you’ve had an environment where you’ve experienced it and, and you get better at it. You, you know, you, you lose that, you know, you probably never lose that fear a little bit. I mean, I, I speak to thousands of people over my life about difficult matters, complex scenarios, whatever it is. I never lose that initial fear. However, you, you gain the confidence to say, even though that fear is there, I’m still gonna gonna do it. I’m still gonna get through it. I’m, I know how to react to it now. I know how to respond to it.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
And you gotta get used to getting nos, nos are okay, you know, nos are not a bad thing. You know, every time you reach out to somebody, you know, especially when it comes to fundraising and to tell them about what you’re doing, you’re increasing awareness for that charity. And, and you know that that’s a, that’s a big deal. Um, so it’s really important. And I also wanted to talk about, cuz you said that picking a charity that you’re passionate about, right? I think that’s, that’s really important. So, so how do you do that? How do you pick a charity, um, you know, to support? And I think that comes to figuring out what are you passionate about? Are you passionate about the environment? LGBTQ rights, um, uh, disease or mental health, suicide prevention, substance abuse, uh, politics, women’s rights, food insecurity, maybe at risk youth, all of these type of things.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
You just gotta figure out what is it that you’re passionate about. Um, and then once you figure that out, the next thing, the next step is to do an internet search. See what charities in your, you know, in your town, um, are, are there, you know, check those out, see what they have, um, look at their websites, see what kind of things they do, what kind of volunteer opportunities they have, you know, look at their financials to see how much do they actually give to the cause, you know, so that you can pick a, a, a charity that you know is, is going to be, um, really good and then, you know, and then talk to somebody there, you know, and just get some more information about them and, and, and ways that you can help. I mean, it it, it’s important that you wanna make sure you pick a good charity. One that’s, that’s really doing, you know, good work and, and something that you can get behind and, and believe behind before you, you know, don’t just choose any charity randomly.
Brad Caruso:
Yeah. And trial and error, right? I mean, I think there’s, you know, the first place that you work with or volunteer with or, or connect yourself with is probably not gonna be the last place that you volunteer with, connect with, you know, so a lot of times too, I mean I’ve, I’ve had a, I’ve had a few organizations over my, you know, entire life I’ve worked with, um, closely. You know, sometimes that, you know, that work, uh, DOAC connects with you. Sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes there’s points in your life where it does and there’s points in life where it doesn’t, you know, I mean, I, I never, you know, growing up, I never thought I would join the fire department and, and then, you know, make it my mission to both actively volunteer and fundraise for them on a variety of levels. But, you know, now that’s a very important, important part of my life.
Brad Caruso:
And I don’t even, I don’t even second guess it. I, you know, I, I donate to the place that I volunteer 300 hours a year to, I still donate to them <laugh>, you know? And so it’s, it’s, uh, it’s definitely, you know, you develop that connection, but, but it’s, it’s through, it’s through trying it, it’s, you know, if you’re, if you’re just looking for that perfect scenario, you’re never gonna find it. But if you’re looking for somewhere, look, I, I think I can, I think I can relate or, you know, that’s, that’s, I I, I’ve, I’ve heard of them. They, they sound like a good place. Yeah, try it out, call ’em up, reach out, see if, see if there’s a way you can get involved. You know, start small. Help, help an organization with a special event. You know, uh, every not-for-profit has some kind of gala or golf outing or, um, or, or fun run or, you know, every, every not-for-profit does something different.
Brad Caruso:
You know, I guarantee with all the ones I work with, they’re always looking for people to help coordinate. They’re always looking for people to help with the, the event, the day of event stuff. There, there are plenty of things that you can, that you can inject yourself into and get involved with that. Um, you know, just try it out, see what it’s like, see what the people are like, see what, see what, see what you hear when you’re at that event. See who, you know, see how they, how they purport their organization. Um, and you can learn a lot in, in a, you know, without a massive time investment. Um, it, it’s, you know, it’s another way to think about it.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
Yeah, it definitely is. And, and there’s so much more to that you get out of it. I mean, I know people that have, uh, been candidates before for the Visionaries of the Year campaign have ended up joining our leadership team and, um, have done other campaigns throughout LLS, but they’ve become good friends too. Like they’ve become, you know, they’ve become really close. They’ve become like family. Um, they’ve, they’ve, uh, people have gotten new jobs or, you know, clients or, uh, you know, new vendors and things like that from participating in, in fundraising events and things like that. So there’s lots of opportunity there. I would keep one thing in mind though, when reaching out to a charity, um, that if you’re just looking for, like, I wanna go into the office and stuff envelopes, you know, for a couple hours a week. Most charities will really need the help is by fundraising. Um, you know, cuz they, uh, they can’t fulfill their missions without money. I mean, LLS couldn’t do all the research that we do. We couldn’t, you know, advocate for new policies and, and things like that to support cancer patients. We couldn’t provide support groups or education services without money. Um, so when it comes to to volunteering, it’s, it’s great that you volunteer and give back. Just keep in mind that most charities, the thing you can help them most with is through fundraising.
Brad Caruso:
Yeah. Without, without question. So where I wanted to kind of dedicate a minute to here is just talking about the Visionary of the Year program itself Sure. And some of the impact it has. So I’m embarking on that program right now and participating in the campaign and, and really trying to make an impact. From your perspective, what is the Visionary of the Year program and what is the impact that it actually has?
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
Sure. Well, Visionaries of the Year is a fabulous program. It’s one of the most unique fundraising campaigns that I’ve ever been part of. And basically it’s a 10 week philanthropic competition where leaders throughout the country, specifically ours is for New Jersey, try to put a team together and try to raise as much money as they possibly can in those 10 weeks. And at the, the end of the 10 weeks, we have a huge, uh, gala, uh, we call it our grand finale, where all the candidates in their team members are invited and we keep all the totals secret so nobody knows where anybody is and how much any other candidate has raised. And then at the night of the grand finale, we announce our visionary of the year, which will be the candidate and the team end up raising the most money. Um, so we’ll have a visionary of the year, a visionary of the year runner up, and, um, a visionary of the year second runner up.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
Another aspect of the campaign that I, I really love cuz I think it offers somewhat more of a instant gratification for, for the candidate and their team members is each candidate can pick one of LLS’S three mission pillars. And if you remember, I talked about it a little bit, that our mission pillars are research, advocacy and patient support. So they get to pick one of those mission pillars, and Brad, you pick, you pick patient support and they get to align their campaign with that particular mission pillar. And, uh, Brad, I know you have some things coming up later, um, in the podcast to tell, tell everybody a little bit more about the services and, and patient support options that we have, and you’re gonna be talking to a patient. Um, so really helping to, you know, align your campaign with that specific mission pillar.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
And, um, we will also, at that night at Grand finale, we will announce our winner of each mission pillar that will be the candidate who has incorporated the mission pillar the best into their campaign. So it’s a, it’s a really, um, it’s really a fun campaign. Um, the 10 weeks is tough. There’s a lot that goes involved in that, um, you know, but the impact is huge. So last year in New Jersey, we had 12 candidates and about 230 team members. And the combined impact of all of that was we were able to raise $900,000 for LLS’s mission, which is just amazing. And that’s what the so cool about the finale is you get to see that huge impact that everybody, that collective impact that everybody makes.
Brad Caruso:
That’s incredible. And that, you know, when you look at that impact and you look at all these team members that participate and, and you look at the candidates, you know, I think everyone, everyone kind of brings their own experiences. They bring their own networks and they, and they bring their own, you know, ability to, to really have a massive impact. And, and to know that, you know, over a 10 week period, you know, you have 10 people that, you know, may or may not have been been affiliated in a significant way with LLS that that can raise, you know, $900,000 or a million dollars. And, and you know, I know that the, that’s, that’s New Jersey, right? Yeah. And there’s, there’s LLS across the country. I mean, you think about that impact that that has, you know, as Sheri mentioned, you know, all those, all the research that’s done and, and finding cures, you know, I mean, there’s a substantial amount of funding that has to go into that.
Brad Caruso:
And, you know, some of that comes from the not-for-profit sector, some of it comes from the private sector, some of it comes from, you know, different, different sources. But, you know, at the end of the day, what I learned through this is just, just how important it is to set a lofty goal and then just do everything in your power to meet that. Or I’ve been fortunate is in meeting, you know, having Sheri coach me through this, you know, I, I never would’ve known how to approach this type of campaign or this type of goal, and I never would’ve set a goal that we set and, you know, our team Civic Warriors for a Cure named after this podcast and named after our overriding mission here is to raise $75,000. And, you know, from our perspective, I never would’ve picked a number like that because I always said, how, how would we ever do that?
Brad Caruso:
Um, but at the end of the day, you know, we’ve been, we’ve been meeting week, uh, every other week. We’ve been working on this for probably almost five or six months now, and the campaign is starts April 4th. And, you know, I realize that, you know, when you’re deliberate about something and you care about something and you get people that surround yourself with people, um, and I surrounded myself with gr a great group of a great team members, you know, a lot of family, a lot of personal friends, a lot of coworkers that I work with at, Withum. Um, and, you know, I realized how many people had a close connection to it and how many people were passionate about it and how many people, when I mentioned to them, they were honored to be a part of the team and wanted to help and, and, you know, the amount of great ideas that came out of our team meetings and things.
Brad Caruso:
Um, it’s been phenomenal. And so, you know, I I never realized, uh, going through this what it would be like to participate, but to Sheri’s point, I mean this, it’s just an innovative way of approaching it, but it, it just is so much good for both the candidates as well as for LLS as a whole, which is the overriding mission or the overriding goal here is to help LLS. Um, but yeah, you know, we set a lofty goal and now we’re doing our best to raise as much money as we can and make it to the Hall of Fame over at LLS and, and hopefully be on that board one day with, uh, meeting our goal and, and doing good for the world. It’s really a great thing that, uh, you, Sheri do personally, uh, working with all the candidates and, and LLS doing, uh, to both support us and our mission to raise dollars as well as in providing us all the resources to allow that to happen in a, in a seamless way. There’s a lot that goes into it. I’m excited about how we’re gonna do
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
<laugh>. Yeah, it is, it is so exciting. And it’s, it’s amazing how much, um, everybody can raise. Uh, we just finished up our students visionaries of the year for North Jersey. We just had their grand finale last weekend, and I think we had 26 candidate teams for students. They get to half up to, up to three candidates on together. Um, whereas unfortunately for the adults, it’s just the one person and then they build a team. But, um, the, the campaign this last weekend raised 1.2 million, and these are high school kids. It is amazing what, you know, when you get the right, you know, you learn the right skills and you learn the right things to do and, and you really, you know, dig into your networks and, and reach out and give everybody the opportunity to donate. It’s really, um, amazing how generous people can be. And, uh, it just makes you feel so good at the end of the day that, you know, you have great family and friends and people that are willing to support you, how many people are affected, but yet everybody’s willing to, to give that, you know, effort or, and do, you know, give generously to, to help you raise, you know, a significant amount of money to do something really, really good.
Brad Caruso:
No doubt. Sheri, if someone wanted to, to find more information about lls, how, how could they do that?
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
Oh, so simple. You can go to lls.org, that’s the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, so l ls.org. And now you can look, learn more about our organization and everything. Just keep in mind, poor Brad can’t do any fundraising until April 4th. But, uh, once we get to April 4th, Brad’s gonna be doing everything he can and his power to raise as much money as possible. So, uh, I’m sure he would love anybody’s support, but definitely check out our website.
Brad Caruso:
Well, Sheri thank you so much for your time today. Thank you for, for spending the time, uh, sharing that information about LLS and, and your personal background with the audience and, and share more information about how, you know, everybody out there can get more involved with fundraising. It’s, you know, we really appreciate your time today.
Sheri Kirkpatrick:
Well, thank you. It’s my pleasure.
Brad Caruso:
And Warriors, just wanna say thank you for listening and we’re gonna do a couple part series here, as Sheri mentioned. Um, we have, uh, talk a little bit more about LLS on another episode and we have a very special guest that’s gonna be coming up and I’ll, I’ll leave that surprise till the episode’s released, but you’re not gonna wanna miss it. And remember that it takes many people years and significant efforts in organizations to solve major issues and provide solutions to problems like cancer and funding cancer research. And, you know, if, if you have the opportunity to get involved, you should. If you have the opportunity to find a nonprofit to get involved with, you should, um, you know, do your research, find an organization to connect with, help them achieve their mission, and ultimately be a good person in the world. Um, so thanks so much for being here and subscribe and meet us right back for another episode of Civic Warriors coming up. Bye everybody.
