My fiancee is training for a marathon (26.2mi.) at the end of the month.  She joined Team In Training which is a great program that 1) helps people prepare for a marathon with coaches and a support community, and 2) is a non-profit org. that raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

So to cover the cost of training in combination with raising money for efforts to the Leukemia Society, Kristine, and other participants, have to raise $4,000 ea.  Yesterday, June 5th, was the last day to raise funds, so I sent out an email, a call for help, to about 280 friends.  These were friends from all parts of my life, from high school, to college, to IBM, to my tech & non-tech friends out here in San Francisco.

We needed to raise slightly more then $1,500 in 24 hours and we achieved that amazing goal, with a single day call for help - what the politicians like to call a 'money bomb'.  We raised a whopping 49.9% of all funds in the last 24 hours, that's pretty amazing to see how well people responded to a 'please help us for the last mile'

I asked that if 2/3 of all friends on the email just gave $10 each, we'd hit our goal, instead 1/6 gave more then three times as much.  Thank you!

Some stats:

• $1,846 raised in 24 hours
• Donations from 47 people, 17% of friends responded with a donation
  
• Avg. of $39.28 per donation
• 49.9% of all funds raised in the last 24 hours
• Min donation for the day: $10, Max: $350, and one donation that didn't have a round number at $26.22
  

So, just comparing to previous emails that went out over the past few months, people really showed their support when the last few hours were counting down.  It weighs in on our the decision to help out.  Just like saving your energy to sprint for that last mile in a race, there's a mental mindset that comes into play when you can see the goal ahead and need to kick it into gear.

I wanted to THANK everybody, the support was overwhelming and we greatly appreciate it.

http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/krissymo

^{Note: You may not see the full $4k in the link above as some are mailed in pledges or matching donations by companies.}