Sponsor my broken spirit!

What a really tough week this one has been. Have we been running up Ben Nevis or grinding out 10 milers every night? No!, this week I've been on the marketing and PR trail trying to pin down sponsors, it's felt like I've been poking a lion with a stick. Having never asked for anything from anyone before it's a very odd feeling approaching people out the blue and firmly getting the email door shut in your face.

Complex, frustrating and impersonal. If people don't think we're scammers or spammers the answer is frighteningly similar from big business "unfortunately [that's corporate for BUT and you know what's coming after a but], although your event is great, we only give money to our own charity annually, sorry, good luck". My inbox can proudly announce that it holds 83 of this type of reply.

There have been one or two rude emails, faceless responses that more or less states please just sod off and play in a field. I sent a few draft's below was the final one I settled on. Some say I'm being too pushy others not so, either way here's my mailing, you decide.
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Hello
I know you must get lots of these emails and it might be a really 'BIG ASK' or not normally an area you could give us any support or exposure in, but please have a read and see what you think. We are a genuine UK event, all my/our contact details are included in this email.

We are a genuine and compact non-profit endurance event team, our beneficiary charities are;

• Help for Heroes
• Children with Leukaemia
• National Association of Crohn's & Colitis Disease
• Skill Force Development Charity

If you would like to speak to our contacts at the above charities we can happily forward you their details to confirm our event. We will be in their newsletters and on their sites shortly. I know sponsoring the whole event is possibly very unrealistic but there are many areas you could support us on a much simpler level.

[I'll not start pulling on the old heart strings, but each of the charities is personal to us and were not picked at random]. All funds
donated will be listed on our site, all equipment and gifts donated will be sold off in an auction format one week after the event, even our boots if they hold together!

Our event is called UKEVERESTCHALLENGE.COM and we plan to cover TEN of N.Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England's most rugged, highest and maybe one or two more dangerous peaks. In a mad dash of blisters and energetic fundraising over a very short four or five day period in August'09. If we meet the criteria we could also bag a possible Guinness Record for this type of event.

Simply we are two normal guys with big hearts trying to push ourselves hard and change our lives to deliver a unique and difficult challenge. We hope you will consider your business to support our national event.

I know a lot of companies make honorable and sizable charity donations every year, sadly smaller grass roots fundraising events such as ours get sidelined quickly, as we are more 'out the box' or thought of as novelty. I hope you can see some way passed this.

It would be a great boost if your company would open talks with us, regards the many marketing, advertising and equipment event sponsorship opportunities that exist. Our fundraising journey has only just got underway last week so it is a prime time to help us in the start up stages. If you think you would like to be associated with us in any way and help us achieve a successful event for our four charities, please get in touch.

It doesn't have to be financial at all, even if you can't support us on a purely business level maybe you could on a personal, even a donation of £1 is fantastic, it all adds up. We need exposure in newsletters - in shop windows - on notice boards, equipment provisions, printing of stationary/leaflets or maybe an old item of stock to auction, advice, contacts & leads, bit of promo, utilising your company's skills for us, the list is endless.

Transforming our bodies in to running, scrambling and hiking endurance machines in only ten months time is a daily challenge all on its own [I've lost 2 stone in two months as it is!!]. Plus learning all the ups and downs of the charity fundraising sector, so if you have the skills or can offer support, please drop me an email - and lets talk.

Sorry the email was so long but you only get one chance to get over what we are doing before someone clicks delete. Thank you for your time, and reading this far. You have NOT been added to any mailing lists.

All the very best

Darren Edwards - UKEC'09 - Team Member
My personal mobile: 07XXXXXXXXX
ukeverestchallenge.com
ukeverestchallenge.blogspot.com