Third in a mini-series of year-end best practices from NPOs we know.

Earlier this year Melissa ran the New York City Marathon and raised money for the Achilles Track Club.  I made a small donation to her page and received a thank-you letter this week from Achilles.  This is what it said:

Thank you very much for your contribution to Achilles through Melissa’s fundraising page.  It is very much appreciated.  Your support will help us to run one of the following programs chosen by Melissa.

The first is our Freedom Team.  We currently have 360 recently disabled veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan on the team.  They train and participate in races; thirty recently competed in the NYC Marathon.  Team members use wheelchairs or crutches and artificial legs to complete the distance.  Crossing the finish line brings them an amazing sense of achievement.

The second is Achilles Kids.  Over 3,500 disabled children in 144 schools are introduced to running.  Their objective is to complete a total of at least 26.2 miles, a marathon distance, during the school term.

The third is the New York City Marathon.  Over 210 disabled athletes participated in the NYC Marathon on November 2nd, 2008.  Many are in handcrank wheelchairs.  Others are blind, and several are running on artificial legs.  There are also Achilles members with disabilities such as traumatic brain injury, heart transplants, and multiple sclerosis.

Your support helps make it possible for these athletes to compete.  

As always, it was nice to receive a “thank-you” from this NPO.  But I didn’t know much about the Achilles Track Club when I decided to make a donation.  I originally donated to Melissa’s fundraising page because I thought it was great that she was running the NYC Marathon for a charity and wanted to support her.  

After reading this letter, however, I have a much better concept of the inspiring work that Achilles does.  The letter quickly and effectively communicated the impact my donation has on their programming, and in turn, the impact their programming has on the community. In fact, I’m so impressed by their work, I think I will donate to them in the future.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Fundraising News, Marathon Fundraising Tips, Nonprofit fundraising events, Tips & Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.