Lessons learned from the #UglyChristmasSuit

Mission Accomplished

On Giving Tuesday, my buddy Tom Harness and I embarked on the #UglyChristmasSuit fundraiser. This is the first year I’ve participated, Tom has done it since 2014. The charity of choice for 2017 was Children’s Home & Aid. Since I’m a first timer with effort, here are some things I took away from the experience.

1. I was well-intended when I suggested we raise $7,500 instead of the usual $5,000. However, it added some extra time to the fundraiser as we didn’t wrap up until two days after Christmas. I feared we’d still be wearing the suits into 2018 as we’ve stated, the suits don’t come off until we hit our goal.
2. People are very generous. The last 24 hours or so of the fundraiser saw a huge boost in giving. Maybe those last minute donors were tired of seeing us in our suits. It was 31 days after all.
3. Doing a Facebook Live providing updates seems to garner donors more than just posting photos.

   

4. It takes more than I expected to embarrass my wife and kids. (Thanks guys for the support.)
5. Even after Christmas people are in the holiday spirit. I wore the suit to a couple of stores on Dec. 28 and people were still complimenting it.
6. People love the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
7. When I do this again next year (yes, I’m returning) I will get my family holiday needs taken care of earlier. Some days were a bit more stressful than others but that was due to poor planning on my part. Now that I have an idea of how all this works, I’m looking forward to 2018.

I want to thank everyone again who donated. If you did make a donation and we haven’t taken a picture together, please let me know. I can still put on the suit and do a photo opp. Or if you’re out of town, email me a pic and I’ll edit it accordingly. The funnier the better though. Thanks again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.