Opinion: Creative fund-raisers generate corporate giving

I knew I shouldn’t have taken that call.

“Good afternoon, this is Eric,” I said.

“This is your parole officer,” the lady’s voice on the other end said. “Someone’s turned you in.”

“Great,” I thought. “How do I tell my wife, my mother, my boss?”

Ask for bail – that’s how. That’s just what I did while serving time for Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Telethon Executive Lock-Up on Aug. 29.

This was my first trip to the prison cell at Bass Pro Shops.

I was among 541 executives who gave their time and effort to help raise $202,000 in pledges for MDA’s Greater Ozarks Chapter. This was a precursor to the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.

MDA really has a clever way to orchestrate a fund-raiser. The Lock-Up uses a referral system, where each person who’s busted gives the name of a colleague for MDA to call on. One-by-one, executives rat each other out in the days leading up to the Lock-Up. More than 200 of these executives made their $500 bails.

Springfield Business Journal Inc. generously contributed nearly half of my bail, while co-workers selflessly pitched in another good chunk of change. Family members also helped out. I fell just shy of posting bail, but I was let go after serving my one-hour sentence on the phones.

During that time, I met some great professionals and caring community members. There was Ashley McBride of Great American Title, Trevor Croley of Croley Insurance, Belinda Harriman of Casper’s restaurant and Rebecca Weddle of Beimdiek Insurance. There are many recognizable names that made bail. Here’s a tenth of them, in alphabetical order, as a sampling: Steve Aduddle of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Brian Bass of Bass Litho Color, Ron Byerly of O’Reilly Auto Parts, Chip Cook of Loren Cook Co., Deanna Ford of Parkcrest Dental, Jay Gibbs of Springfield Trust Co., Stacey Hammit of Carnahan-White Fence, John Himmel of Commerce Bank, Jackie Johnson of Fleet Watch Online, Rich Kramer of Rich Kramer Construction, Brian Kubik of Buxton-Kubik-Dodd, Charles Mahaffey of Mahaffey Dentist Office, Mary Lou Martin of The Law Office of Mary Lou Martin, Stephanie Montgomery of Stenger Homes, Fred Palmerton of Palmerton & Parrish, Debbie Shantz of John Q. Hammons Hotels, Lance Smith of PJC Insurance, Brad Teague of Reliable Toyota and Brian Williams of Springfield Neurological Institute.

Corporate sponsors were Bass Pro Shops, Alltel and KOLR-10.

Good fund-raisers take creativity. Another I was recently involved in was Developmental Center of the Ozarks’ Wine Barrel Race, which precedes a downtown Wine Walk. Now, that’s clever.

SBJ Reporter Cory Smith joined me and several other media members in judging the Aug. 27 race for Most Team Spirit and Most Creative Barrel.

Restaurants partner with businesses to build a racing machine with a wine barrel as the central piece. Park Central Square serves as the race track.

While it’s all for charity, these groups take it seriously. The race came down to the defending champs, Trolley’s/Bates & Associates, and Maria’s/John Bradley Auto Shop.

The Trolley’s/Bates team again took the honors.

Most Creative Barrel went to Gilardi’s/Race Brothers’ horse and chariot, while Most Team Spirit went to Riad/Hagerman New Urbanism and its air-horn-equipped cheerleading squad.

The event was presented by Bank of America, Banta Foods and WineStyles.

Best Places to Work

Talking about creativity, SBJ’s creative minds have added another special editorial publication to our roster. Best Places to Work will be published Dec. 4, inserted in both SBJ and Joplin Tri-State Business.

This is no popularity contest that rewards ballot-box stuffers. There is a mathematical formula that sponsor Whitlock, Selim & Keehn LLP, CPAs will use in tabulating what companies are the Best Places to Work in southwest Missouri.

For instance, the question: “Do you offer a 401(k)?” would have three answers. A. To full-time employees. B. To part-time employees. C. Do not offer. Answer A has a three-point value, answer B has a two-point value and so on.

The questions are broken out into four categories: incentives, family-friendly policies/programs, people development and corporate culture.

Companies will be grouped into four sections: 5–24 employees, 25–100 employees, 101–299 employees and more than 300 employees.

The only way to become one of the Best Places to Work is to participate. Check this week’s poly-bagged issue for your company’s questionnaire. Surveys also can be downloaded and printed from sbj.net.

Remember, only one questionnaire can be completed per company. So strut your stuff and good luck.

Eric Olson is SBJ editor.[[In-content Ad]]