Notes from a Team In Training Insider – Part I

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is dedicated to finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, and Hodgkin’s disease.  Its mission is also to improve the quality of life of patients and their families through education and support.  Since inception, the organization has given more than $483 million for blood cancer research, nearly all of which comes from contributions made to LLS’s fundraising campaigns.  Of the 66 Chapters nationwide and in Canada, the National Capitol Area Chapter (NCA) and the New York Chapter (NY) are two of the largest.

LLS was established in 1949.  Following the death of their 16 year old son, Robert, from leukemia, the de Villiers family started a fundraising and education organization in his name.  They were frustrated by the lack of effective treatments available for leukemia, a disease that carried a certain death sentence at that time.

The Robert Roesler de Villiers Foundation began with a tiny budget, only a few volunteers, and a daunting task: to cure a disease whose patients typically died within three months of diagnosis.  The Foundation’s annual report in 1955 reported the sad reality that leukemia was 100% fatal.  Driven by the belief that blood cancers were curable, the Foundation continued to grow, opening its first chapter in the New York City area.  It became a national organization in the 1960s and hasn’t stopped growing since.

LLS is now the world’s largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education, and patient services.  Major programs include: research, public and professional education, advocacy and community services and patient services. Revenue for the organization continues to increase rapidly. In 1993, LLS raised $34 million from donations. By 2005, LLS had nearly $210 million of revenue, over $204 million of which was from donations. $150 million of LLS’s 2005 revenue was spent on programs with an additional $55 million given as grants to individuals and organizations.  In 2006, LLS invested almost $62 million to support more than 480 researchers and projects in 15 countries on five continents.

The primary source of income for LLS is event fundraising, which it does with the help of over one million volunteers nationwide. Some of these events include:
▫    Light The Night – an evening walk through participating communities
▫    Man & Woman of the Year – a contest for participants to raise the most money
▫    School & Youth Programs – programs that educate school-age children
▫    Team In Training – the largest endurance event training program in the world
▫    Hike For Discovery – a training program for multi-day hikes
▫    Participant Mosaic – patients and survivors for sponsorship at events nationally
▫    Make Cures Happen: San Diego, San Francisco, Arizona – sponsored races
▫    Neighborhood Drive Campaign – fundraising through neighborhood events
▫    Golf Events – golf tournaments for charity
▫    American Bicycle Association Race For Life – distance bike rides
▫    Media Events – events for publicizing blood cancer research
Each of these events reaches out to different constituencies to raise money for LLS. Because the event list is so diverse, they are able to have many different people involved in LLS at various levels.  Often volunteers participate and fundraise for more than one event.

One of the fundraising arms of LLS is Team in Training (TNT), a program that provides training to complete endurance events like half and full marathons, triathlons, and century bike rides.   TNT began in 1988, when Bruce Cleland of New York decided to form a team to train for the New York City Marathon and raise money in support of his daughter Georgia, a leukemia survivor.  Cleland recruited 38 runners who raised more than $320,000.  This success lead to the creation of TNT, the world’s largest endurance sports training program.  Since then, more than 300,000 participants have raised more than $700 million for TNT.

Participants in the program receive personalized training from certified coaches; clinics on fundraising, nutrition, gear, and fitness; lodging, airfare, and race registration for the event; an online website for fundraising; and best of all, a supportive group of teammates who help with training and fundraising.  TNT has great success with recruiting, cultivating, and maintaining contact with their volunteers.  Through their integrated approach – training for an endurance event while saving lives and supporting their mission through fundraising – they cultivate a community of new, young philanthropists.  The program provides volunteers with effective fundraising tools for cause related organizations (and for other organizations as well). Through the program, TNT participants are taught to save lives, one mile at a time.  Although great strides have been and continue to be made, the statistics are still quite bleak: every five minutes someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer, and every ten minutes, someone loses their life to a blood cancer. 

Stay tuned for the second FLiP installment on TNT: learn about TNT’s strengths and weaknesses, how they turn their constituents into amazing fundraisers and donors, and get some honest feedback from people who have completed the program and from staff who know the program’s ins and outs.

Are you interested in joining the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program or learning more about the events that are offered in your area? Take a look at the TNT website, or email the Jason at the New York chapter or Carly at the National Capital Area chapter.