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Never Give Up

Monday, March 16th, 2009

L to R: Justin Haskell, Anthony Shriver, Brett Banford, Scott Thornton, Betsy Thornton, Rick Larsen, and Dan Clark

If you want to learn how to create an effective program that impacts a lot of people, talk to a Shriver. After all, Sergeant Shriver and his wife, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, between them helped create or launch the Peace Corps, Special Olympics, Head Start, VISTA, Job Corps and Foster Grandparents.

Wednesday, I had the pleasure of listening to their son, Anthony Kennedy Shriver, founder of Best Buddies International, speak at Westminster College’s Institute for New Enterprise in Salt Lake City. It was educational and inspiring.

Anthony was only a college senior when he founded what became the Best Buddies organization at Georgetown University in 1989. “Growing up, I’d met lots of different kinds of people,” Anthony said, “but it was those with intellectual disabilities who really touched my heart. My father always told me that everyone has at least one great skill, but that some, including those with intellectual disabilities, often never get recognized for it, never get to develop it. Everyone, he said, deserves a shot at the American dream.”

Anthony continued: “I also realized early on that the happiest people I knew were involved in volunteer service. That’s why I think the greatest legacy we can leave our children is the legacy of service.”

At Georgetown, Anthony paired university students with people with intellectual disabilities of a similar age. The program proved so popular that students from other universities asked if he could help them develop similar programs on their campuses. With that, Best Buddies was born.

Today, the organization has 1500 chapters and impacts nearly 400,000 individuals in 50 states and 40 countries. Its mission: to enhance the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by providing opportunities for one-to-one friendships and integrated employment.

Recognizing its effectiveness and impact, we have supported Best Buddies for several years.

Recognized internationally for his achievements as a “social entrepreneur,” Anthony described several factors necessary for a non-profit leader to help his or her organization achieve consistent success.

Be creative. Create unique experiences for your donors and volunteers that they can’t get anywhere else. Don’t be a commodity.
Be passionate. Make your non-profit job your lifestyle. Engage your family in your work.
Hire incredible people. Build a great team. Invest in training and coaching so everyone is on the same page.
Exercise fiscal discipline. Manage your organization efficiently, and if a program or service can’t sustain itself, then drop it.
Create diversity of revenue. Plan to get revenue from multiple sources; don’t be tempted to focus your fundraising efforts on one primary source.

Being successful in the non-profit world is hard work, Anthony said. “There are no shortcuts. Just set your goals for the top of the mountain and hammer away every single day, and you’ll eventually get there. Just keep going and never give up.”

It was exciting to spend some time with Anthony – to hear firsthand his story – and to think about applying his five success factors to my position at Operation Kids. I’ll also remember his admonishment to “just keep going.”

We are working every day to be better, more efficient, more effective, more impactful – in short, a better organization that betters the lives of more and more children each year. If we keep going, and do a little more each day, just imagine what we, along with organizations like Best Buddies, can accomplish!

-Steve

Tags: Anthony Kennedy Shriver, Best Buddies, entrepreneurship, giving, nonprofit operations, Partners, people making a difference
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Ragnar Relays – Florida II

Monday, November 17th, 2008

What a spectacular experience I had at the finish line of the MyoMed Ragnar Relay Florida in Daytona Beach on Saturday! It was my first time to sit at the finish line of a Ragnar event and, while I knew no one running the race, each runner that crossed the finish line made me stand up and cheer. I cheered for their efforts, their accomplishment and because not many people can say they have run across the state of Florida!

Congratulations to all of the teams and a “well done” to those teams who finished top overall and in their divisions. Team Road Thrill came in at 22:12:47, first overall - their bright orange jerseys were certainly hard to miss. Ragnar has posted all results online here.

Several teams have posted blog entries about their experiences:
Twelve Wild Soles Kicking Asphalt
Team Hendryx (1st in Ultra/Mixed/Master’s and 6th overall) here and here

Most importantly, while in Clearwater at the starting line and Daytona Beach at the finish line, we were able to collect donations for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Florida. Florida was a great inaugural race, and we’re excited to see this race grow into something spectacular. Unfortunately, Tom Bassano, the runner who was going to make the 191-mile trek solo, ran into some injuries just past the halfway point and wasn’t able to finish the race. Next year, Tom plans to take up the race again to help us help Ragnar help kids in Florida. Each year, as the races grow larger and people become more familiar with the charitable component of Ragnar, the donations and the race’s impact on the communities’ children becomes even more significant, so we are excited already for 2009!

There were many questions about the Ragnar/Operation Kids relationship, which was great, since our official standing as their charitable partner is so new. Some of the questions and answers:

How do Operation Kids and Ragnar work together?
Operation Kids is Ragnar’s official national charitable partner – we help Ragnar find deserving, effective charities and projects focusing on youth health and fitness in the cities/states through which the Ragnar Relays run.

Our belief is that it is critically important to know where your donations are going and for what they will be used. We help Ragnar ensure that their donations and the donations of their runners are put to good use and make a solid, measurable impact on local youth health and fitness.

Where does the money go?
100% of the charitable proceeds from the race – raised by runners, volunteers and others – goes to the race’s designated charity (in this case, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Florida). All of the money stays locally to benefit youth health and fitness programs.

How is the money raised?
Teams have the option of raising money for the charity, giving individual donations and/or “buying” their volunteers. Teams have the option of paying to have us arrange their volunteers for them. Approximately half the fee is used to have a staffing agency fill the volunteer position. The rest is a donation toward the locally benefitted charity. If the charity fills the spot, they receive 100% of the volunteer placement fee as a charitable donation.

Did you run the race? Have you ever run a Ragnar relay? If so, leave a comment and let us know!

Overall, it was a wonderful event. We are excited to help Ragnar find deserving charities nationwide, as well as excited to see the passion of the runners, volunteers and support staff that make these events so worthwhile!