Baldly going where no climber has gone before

WWF

By WWF-Canada co-op student, Mike Terry 
Well, hair, we had a good run – but, sadly, it is time for us to part (pun very much intended).

Mike cutting hair

Not long after starting at WWF in January as a co-op student, I decided to join the WWF ‘Climb-it Smart’ CN Tower Climb team. And by ‘I decided’, I mean a colleague asked my boss if I could climb, and together they decided I would (thanks for that, Steph).
I was hesitant, to say the least. Having never climbed before, the fundraising requirement of $250 seemed a worthy opponent – and then they told me that WWF was challenging its employee climbers to raise $1000, not the ‘bare minimum’ of $250!
I didn’t start fundraising right away. There were still 6 weeks until the climb and I didn’t have a strategy – how was I going to convince people to give me $1000?
That’s when it hit me – I was thinking about it all wrong. It’s not about asking people to give me money – it’s about asking people to invest financially in the future of our planet. And, if you like having a planet as much as I do (living in outer-space never seemed like my thing), you’ll probably agree it’s in all of our best interest to invest. Sponsoring WWF climbers is just one way of investing.
So, to answer my earlier question to myself, how do you convince people to give you $1000? Well, you show them what the money is for – and then you find a way to show them how much the cause means to you. In my case, that meant two things – upping my fundraising goal to $1200, and declaring I would shave my head if I hit it.
12 emails, 2 Facebook postings, 1 LinkedIn posting, and 6 weeks of shameless self-promotion later, I’m extremely happy to report that I have surpassed my fundraising goal of $1200. I literally never thought this day would come – so, if you’re thinking of climbing, and haven’t registered because you’re worried you can’t fundraise, stop. Put faith in the cause; put faith in yourself; and put faith in the people in your life. When they see you care about something, they’ll want to support you.
Lastly, special thanks to my hair. We’ve grown a lot together over the years (over the ears?), and life just won’t be the same without you – but, just so we’re clear, I am counting on you to come back. Soon.
Want to climb? Register today for the team challenge (April 25 after work) or the Public Climb (April 27)!
Can’t climb? Sponsor me and help me reach my stretch goal of $1500!