November 13, 2011 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Movember, a nonprofit organization that seeks to raise money to curb prostate cancer and promote men’s health, strives to make it both easy and inexpensive to participate in its fund-raising efforts.
The organization, which has raised $174-million worldwide since it was founded in 2004, is gaining popularity in the United States. Its signature fund-raising effort encourages men to grow mustaches during November and hold competitions and parties that have lighthearted themes.
Unlike the athletic competitions many health charities run, which are expensive to manage and operate, Movember doesn’t have to spend much to ask its volunteers to grow their facial hair.
Movember also makes a point of training its volunteers to become strong fund raisers, offering them talking points and statistics and other tools and thanking them with parties that celebrate the money raised.
Annual Redesign
Movember’s marketing approach is quite different than those used by many charities. It doesn’t aim for a consistent image and message year after year.
Movember’s Web site, for example, gets an annual redesign, with new tag lines, logos, and visuals.
“It’s been part of our success to stay fresh and relevant,” says Adam Garone, co-founder of the group.
That keeps people interested, especially those who participate repeatedly, he says.
For example, last year the theme of Movember was a “Modern Gentleman,” a more urbane approach with a description of a mustache as a “coat of arms” on a man’s face. This year, it’s the “Country Gentleman,” whose images reflect the outdoors and men who craft their mustaches with pride: “Face grown and hand brushed” is the tag line.
‘They Make It So Easy’
Another reason that Movember is doing well in fund raising is that it has made a deliberate attempt to simplify the process, both for companies and for individuals who want to volunteer.
It has released applications through Facebook and mobile phones for people to register and get donations. Plus, it sends out wristbands, sashes, signs, contribution boxes, and other paraphernalia to volunteers in offices and elsewhere who want to hold fund-raising events.
“They made it so easy for an organization of our size to do it,” says Sheila Darcey, a director of program management at Sapient, a 10,000-employee consulting technology agency in Santa Monica, Calif.
Last year, 103 company employees raised $18,500 for Movember by asking their colleagues and friends for money, holding mimosa and milkshake drives, selling fake mustaches, and throwing office fund-raising parties.
Ms. Darcey herself got in on the act by auctioning to the highest bidder the chance to draw a mustache on her face with a felt pen; she also agreed to wear the artwork in a public place chosen by the donor. That offer drew $100, adding to the $400 she raised elsewhere.
“It was just fun,” she says. “I ended up wearing it at a sushi restaurant.”
