Houston's Fundraising Success Inspires Us All

A little while ago, I posted a brief entry about the October 28 Houston fundraising event featuring Marianne Williamson. Over 200 people attended a powerful dinner focusing on education, both global and domestic. Some powerhouse speakers were lined up for the evening, including RESULTS Executive Joanne Carter, RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund boardmember and noted author Marianne Williamson, and Houston Seeds of Hope Award winner Brandon Kimble (a local Teacher of the Year).

Houston has been amazing in their dogged determination to keep up their momentum since their last event with Professor Muhammad Yunus. They didn’t miss a beat, for they have raised $70,000 so far this year!  They even expanded their strategy by asking for sponsorships and having a woman whose life has been touched by our education issues share her story and make the evening’s giving “ask.” 

We are so grateful once again to our fabulous Houston volunteer partners for taking on this labor of love which has inspired their audience as well as all of
us at RESULTS.

Here are some thoughts about the event from one of the key event organizers, David Schubert:

All of us in Houston are celebrating our October  fundraiser with Marianne Williamson and reflecting on its success in raising over $70,000 for RESULTS. Even though this was our 12th fundraiser, we know that we don’t have all the fundraising secrets, and we continue to try new strategies for each event. The training and coaching from the RESULTS staff over the years was clearly evident as we planned in 2011. RESULTS long ago told us that, despite the common perceptions
about asking people for money, there are people who really enjoy and want to help with fundraising. We found one such person, Sandra Bell, through an outreach effort last February. After learning about our work, Sandra asked how we raise money. Wow, what a gift! Because of my RESULTS training, I was able to lay out a timetable and invite her to become a part of the fundraising team. We made sure to stay in touch with Sandra throughout the process, which paid off with
Sandra securing an in-kind donation from Whole Foods. Every guest at the fundraiser left with a reusable, colorful bag of goodies which included, among other treats, an organic milk chocolate bar. A brand new partner’s first action was to obtain a great gift to delight our guests! So no matter how big or small your fundraising event is, RESULTS is right: if you keep reaching out, people will come. They will be inspired by our powerful message and respond by sharing their
particular gifts with us.

Thanks for sharing, David! And thank you to the entire Houston team (and Austin members who drove 150 miles to help out) for your passion and hard work on this event.

P.S. If you haven’t seen it yet, here is the link featuring video of Marianne Williamson at the event.