More Marathon Funds Should Go to Research

To the Editor:

I believe your article “Raising Funds Over the Long Run” (February 11) was off target, missing a key element — how much net fund raising actually occurred.

On the day of the Suzuki Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, the streets of San Diego were ablaze with Leukemia Society purple shirts. It was great publicity for the Leukemia Society of America. However, publicity doesn’t cure leukemia.

The real problem rests with the numbers. The money people raise for the Leukemia Society’s Team In Training is supposed to be earmarked for research. Unfortunately, the society will not disclose the marathon program’s finances, but when I reviewed the society’s expense statements in its annual reports from 1996 and 1997, it was evident that only a small percentage — about 25 per cent — actually goes toward research.

Because I have chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Leukemia Society research grants have a direct impact on my own survivability, and it’s an emotionally charged issue for me. Witnessing the publicity generated by Team In Training and the outstanding fund-raising success the Leukemia Society has enjoyed, it turns me inside out knowing that the money raised has only a minimal effect on leukemia research, partly because of runaway expenses. It strikes me that the Leukemia Society of America’s business interest and need to “feed the machine” has clouded its ability to match research allocations in lock step with its fund-raising results.

As a fund-raising professional, I know how hard it is to raise money and how hard-pressed we all are to maximize our organizations’ dollars. The Leukemia Society of America and all the other organizations using the event fund-raising strategy have found an outstanding pipeline to raise significant dollars. But a concerted effort to cut costs — such as not hiring expensive training coaches or paying for large numbers of employees to fly to far-off places to look over race sites — is needed to insure that dollars raised are maximized and the greatest percentage directed toward its intended target.

The foot soldiers raising the money shouldn’t have their efforts go for naught. Tireless efforts to cut costs are needed to insure that donors and those raising the funds can hold their heads high with confidence that their pennies, nickels, dimes, and dollars will really make a difference.

Jeffrey M. Berman
Chairman
Cancer Support Services
New York