Ep. 107: Peer-to-Peer Fundraising: Your Path to Winning Big feat. The Kyle Pease Foundation
EPISODE 107
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising: Your Path to Winning Big feat. The Kyle Pease Foundation
About the Episode:
The Kyle Pease Foundation has been on my radar for a very long time as a Georgia native and as someone who notices when a nonprofit is just doing it right. Because of this, I’m so excited to have Zach Watson, the Operations Manager at the Kyle Pease Foundation with me today on the podcast. The purpose of the Kyle Pease Foundation (KPF) is to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities through sports and beyond. Throughout our conversation, Zach shares the incredible work they do to empower individuals with disabilities through endurance sports, offering opportunities from 5Ks to Ironman Triathlons. Zach also highlights the sense of community and inclusivity the foundation fosters and why this is the core of all of their programming success. This conversation was a powerful testament to the transformative power of sports and community.
Topics:
The dynamic between brothers Brent and Kyle Pease as executive directors and co-workers especially as the business has grown nationwide
The events that the Kyle Pease foundation is known for and how they’ve introduced more inclusivity to sports, fundraising, and more
How Zach’s own lived experience has changed since he’s become The Operations Manager at the Kyle Pease Foundation and become really immersed in the mission
More about the foundation’s ambassador program and how they’ve grown it to be the successful peer fundraiser program that it is today
Underscoring the importance of partnerships (and the middle person) to connecting your community with your organization
The retention plan that the foundation uses in order to ensure continued involvement from athletes, partners, and ambassadors
How the foundation is supporting individuals with disabilities after they graduate and what’s coming up as far as events and campaigns
Zach’s advice for anyone who is looking to get into the athletic event fundraising space
Think you’ve reached out to “everyone” in your network? Out of ideas to get noticed and get funded? Generate leads for your nonprofit or social impact business: https://www.splendidcourses.com/prospect
Christina’s Favorite Takeaways:
“I think it was just the overwhelming part of just seeing that many bodies out there wanting the same thing as that event.” – Zach
“We don't have it all figured out yet. But as we're continuing to grow, the community is definitely building.” – Zach
“Developing partnerships is essential to scaling.” – Christina
“That's part of the thing that we figured out is if we can keep and keep people happy, we can figure out how to continually get them involved and potentially grow their involvement as well.” – Zach
“You again, have really cracked the code of getting people involved, it's still mission forward.” – Christina
“What you need to do first off is figure out what you're trying to accomplish, you need to know what the goal is.” – Zach
“Nothing goes perfectly, you have to be able to pivot, you have to be able to figure out where the opportunities are that you can pivot or you may need to within your planning.” – Zach
“Success is not a straight line, especially when you're doing events. So let it be imperfect.” – Christina
“This mountain does not define me and neither does the finish.”
About Zach and The Kyle Pease Foundation:
Zach Watson is the The Operations Manager at the Kyle Pease Foundation. The purpose of the Kyle Pease Foundation (KPF) is to create awareness and raise funds to promote success for persons with disabilities by assisting them to meet their individual needs through sports.
Connect with the foundation:
Episode Resources:
FREE Resources from Splendid Consulting:
How to Work with Christina and Splendid Consulting:
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Christina Edwards 00:00
Welcome to the podcast. Seth Watson. I am so excited. So the Kyle Peace Foundation you don't know, but has been on my radar. For many, many years. I've been on your email list for many years, and I've been watching what you've been doing. And then as we were just saying, in the greenroom, I had a neighbor become one of your appear fundraisers. So you guys have been on my radar, and then we're at a plywood event. And I'm like, you gotta come on the podcast. So we're gonna dig into the work you do. But let's start with tell us about us. Tell tell us about you. And tell us about the work you do at the COL Peace Foundation.
Zach Watson 00:38
Perfect, Christina, thank you for having me. This is honor. This is probably one of the first few podcasts I've been on. So it's nice to kind of change up a little bit more behind the scenes guys. So being on the cameras a little bit different for me, so but it's been nice. So thank you for having me. My name is Zack Watson Operations Manager for the copies foundation here in Atlanta, Georgia. The foundation was started in 2011 to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities through sports with a focus in endurance sports, from a 5k all the way up to an Ironman Triathlon. So we've got to do a wider range of events. And so we provide these opportunities for these athletes in these families to come and participate. Not only just in a in a race, but it's also it gives them opportunities to create community to find new friends. For a lot of our individuals and families that come from all over Metro Atlanta, we have a big faction in Douglas County, just outside of Metro Atlanta, and then a very big inner city community as well, that we've built as well as we've continued to grow from 2011 on. Yeah,
Christina Edwards 01:37
we were just talking about how you really you said across 14 Different states over 120 individuals serve so like you really have gone national at this point more beyond just just the city of Atlanta. Yeah. Just
Zach Watson 01:50
like Brian Carl's book, it's also called Beyond the finish. So what's where we've kind of grown is trying to do more stuff. And just the event itself, it's creating that bond and that community from from the volunteers and our ambassador team program that we have with some of our major bigger volunteers, to our Athlete Program and just kind of continue to grow that as well.
Christina Edwards 02:10
So we're gonna dig into ambassadors. But before we do, I want to talk just a bit about written Kyle, like, tell me about them. And for our listeners who don't know, like, tell us like there's a magic between the two of them. So it tells us
Zach Watson 02:22
it's very interesting to see we actually did a ride with them yesterday as their training for the Ironman World Championships in October. We did about a three hour ride with them yesterday, and I was doing some filming and some kind of trailing behind them up in north Georgia and Cartersville area. So their dynamic is very interesting. They're brothers, they're about three to four year age difference. Brent's older than cow. And so that's an interesting dynamic to kind of see as just brothers but also to see it as coworkers and executive director to the chief inspirational officer as Carl's tag and job title is here with the cow peas foundation. But the the relationships really fun to see sometimes where it's like they're just jabbing each other in the office sometimes like typical brothers do. And then sometimes it's like, alright, well, we can work together. And it's really cool to see them I'd have not since I've been here, and that would have been March of 2020 22. So a little over three, two and a half years now, that have been with the cowpeas Foundation, there's only a handful of events I've seen them actually do together. As we've grown, the the amount of events that they get an opportunity to do is not as much just with timing and things like that. And being the executive director Brent's all over the place trying to create opportunities for everybody and Kyle's doing speaking engagements, that's kind of more of what they do together is more on the speaking engagement side and not as much the events this year is a little bit different with them doing Kona and going back to Hawaii for the World Championships. So we've had a lot of more training events and actual smaller running events, they did the Publix half back in February together. So that was the first time they've done Publix and probably close to five, six years, just because Kyle's had a good relationship with a handful of people that like to run with him for that event. So they've kind of made that that switch off in that trade. But it's been really, really cool to see. I would say Brent as a boss has probably been one of the best co worker boss situations. Because we are such a small team. We have to work together on a lot of different projects. And so seeing that and work us working together has been really, really neat. And then just relationship with me and Kyle has been great because we spend a lot of time together whether it's me picking him up for Marta, or we take Marta downtown, there's some times he likes to be Hey, let's go get lunch downtown and we'll just ride Marta so like he likes to show me like what Marta is like. For those that are not local to Marta. Marta is the public transit station system. here in Atlanta, that's really popular for missing the blowing up of the Georgia, the Georgia Dome. Not
Christina Edwards 05:08
parking in front of it. That's right. Yep.
Zach Watson 05:10
Great story. Kyle likes to always talk about that one, because he was like, Yeah, I should have been on that bus that day. Yeah. So it's been great working with them.
Christina Edwards 05:20
So what prompted this conversation and why you are on my radar was just seeing your ambassador program, seeing your peer to peer fundraising program. It seems like it is a rocking and rolling and you've really created a name for yourself in these different tournaments. What's the right word tournaments? That's not the right word. What's the word? Events? Yeah.
Zach Watson 05:43
fundraising events is how we've coined them.
Christina Edwards 05:45
Yeah. Tell us about that. So tell us about what they are, how they're different. And they've really taken a lot of a lot of momentum and popularity. A
Zach Watson 05:55
lot of a lot of these events specifically, like the public's Atlanta half marathon is our quote unquote, marquee event that we do every year. That fundraiser between individuals, fundraising and major donations and sponsorships that come in through that last this past year, we raised close to $180,000 for that event, just in itself. So which means on a lot of different other opportunities that funds are local events and covering a lot of costs there. Because we don't ask for anybody to fundraise for a local 5k comparatively most of our fundraising events or your your larger, longer distance events. Like I said, the public's Atlanta half marathon, the Peachtree road race here in Atlanta, which is huge for those that are listening, who are just 10k in the world.
Christina Edwards 06:38
It is the Peachtree road race is you just can't be in Atlanta and without knowing about this road race. So what is your involvement because this road race exists? So what it has, like tell us how the involvement of that?
Zach Watson 06:53
Yeah, so a lot of it has come through our really big partnership with the Atlanta track club. They have been very inclusive, since prior to COVID, when a lot of inclusion conversations and a lot of things coming up right around 2018 2019. And as things were continuing to grow. That partnership before I got here had already been strengthened but we're continuing to grow that connection with with the Atlanta Track Club. Like I said, with their major longer distance events the half's that Peachtree road race, we do a handful, probably three to five events a year with the track club, that they are more than welcoming and accommodating for us. So we're really appreciative of the partnership and collaboration that we have with them. So back to the the other events, we do the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC, that's a major fundraiser in the fall we try to do. So with a lot of these fundraising events, we try to make it a community but between the volunteer fundraiser or teammate as what we've coined them here recently as because it is a team atmosphere, we want to make sure everybody feels included not just the athlete, but the teammate and the volunteer that spending their time and their hard earned money to come and participate and get that athlete across the finish line because that's a part of it, too. So everybody needs to feel part of the community. And so
Christina Edwards 08:14
say more about that. So there's the athlete who you're saying is physically running. Yeah.
Zach Watson 08:20
So and then there's the athlete would be quote unquote, the in the in chair athlete. Oh, got it. Okay, in the chair. And then our teammates are the ones that are pushing and forming. Okay, this volunteer. So we've tried to change the terminology to make it a little more inclusive. So that that way that everybody feels kind of part of the team and feel like 100% doing part doing doing the work.
Christina Edwards 08:40
How has I read a little bit from one of your fundraising pages? So you told your story a little bit there. But how has your just own lived experience change now being involved with this organization of understanding the importance of inclusivity? Understanding disability? Probably you didn't know what you didn't know. Unless, right? Yeah. So tell us about,
Zach Watson 09:02
you're so immersed into your own life, you don't pay attention to certain things like now as I as often I'm out and about now, I'm more cognizant of what a wheelchair ramp is on a sidewalk and how the cutout is comparative to I did five years ago, I didn't pay attention to that stuff. Because I wasn't around it didn't think about it. It wasn't within my immediate community. But now that's one thing that I pay attention to constantly when I'm out walking or running around, like, hey, like that's not right. Like that needs to be fixed or Hey, like that somebody can get hurt that way. Like, things like that, that I'm more cognizant of and paying attention to just in my daily everyday kind of going out and about. But yeah, so my story is a little bit different. I was in the process of looking for a new job I had come to Atlanta had been in this had been in a role for about six, eight months, and was just looking for a change and kind of just found the opportunity online and was interviewing with Britton Cowell and they were saying hey, come to Publix come to Publix come to Publix, but they didn't tell me what the distance was. They just said Publix. They're like, hey, starts it. We need you down there at 5am and Centennial Park. Yep. At this Sunday morning. I was like, alright, I'll be there. I'll come help out. Whatever you need me to do. Like, I'm happy to help. So it's 40 degrees and raining, miserable Sunday morning in February. I'm in a rain suit. And I have to go to my other job once I get done with this. So I have a polo and khaki shorts on and tennis shoes on. So I'm standing around and we had some volunteers from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Either get sick or not show up that morning, I forget what actually happened. And so they asked me, Hey, can you run? And I go, Yeah, I guess so. I'm thinking, Alright, maybe this is like what 10k Like, I can figure that out. And so I get to the start line in the Start corral with all of our teams. There's a group of four girls from children's health care, that are sitting next to me and rain suits, and everything. And they go and I look to my left, and I go, Hey, how long is this race by chance? And they go, Oh, it's a half marathon. I go, Yep, I'm gonna need some help. So I start like walking around like, Hey, can you split off somebody? Can you help me walk? Luckily, a guy that was supposed to be pushing this, this kid showed up like five minutes before the start. So we're, it's me and this guy named Javier. We get through the start line, we're moving really fast, way too fast than I needed to be because I had not been running or training has never are in my life. And so we get to about mile four or five, I start slowing down. We need to walk run, walk run, we get to mile seven, going right on the I guess that's the northern part, go into Piedmont Park, on the back over there to come run through the park at that part of the course. They've changed a little bit this this past year. But we get to there. I was like, Hey, man, like, I need to walk for a good while. So you keep pushing. Like, if I catch you, I catch you. If not, I'll see you at the finish line. Just get him across the finish line. That's all that matters at the end of the day. And so we made it through and I looked like I had sea legs. When I walked back to the staging branch looking for me. I was like, Hey, man, can I help? He was like, Nah, man, we got it. You did? You're good. I promise. I always say that I ran a half marathon to get my job. Because at that point, Brent couldn't tell me no. 100%
Christina Edwards 12:24
Yeah. And what did it feel like to? So like, you woke up that morning thinking probably I'm just going to help out, right? And then you actually run
Zach Watson 12:34
marathons, I'm gonna be done like 10 o'clock, like, I can go home and grab a grab early lunch, then go to work that afternoon. So
Christina Edwards 12:42
you were like, literally immersed in the mission. Right? Going through that. And at the end, what was that like for you to experience the race, the mission? And yeah, tell us about that.
Zach Watson 12:54
I think it was just the overwhelming part of just seeing that many bodies out there wanting the same thing as that event. I mean, that year, I think we had 45 individuals in wheelchairs participating. So this past year, and this past February, we had 64. So we've had we've gone back to that pre COVID growth. Yeah, participation. But I think just seeing that many people just wanting to be inclusive and giving somebody an opportunity that otherwise would not be having that opportunity would not be out in the rain and being able to participate that morning or being able to do things that they didn't think were possible. Yeah, for them. And so giving them that opportunity in that hope.
Christina Edwards 13:41
Very cool. So talk to us about the ambassador program that the the rise and success of your peer fundraisers. Yeah, walk us through
Zach Watson 13:51
your sure our ambassador program, the way it was started originally was called the Kpf race team. And so these are your big time runners, big time triathletes that believe in the mission and want to support it and want to move it forward. that want to come and do all either do all the races or want to get the word out. So we have ambassadors we have had not as much this year. In years past we've had some that are in Utah, we've had one lady that lives in Louisiana, Florida, all kinds of places all over the country that either find us on social media and say I want to get involved, but I can't really come and participate as much How do I how do I plant the flag here in my local area. And so acid her program essentially is they have a fundraising minimum they they meet and there are a certain amount of stipulations and things that they get from that whether like we provide them a try kit triathlon outfit that they get from one of our brands called our own way apparel that they help support us and get get get all of our triathlon gear ready to go every year so we have our marketing and branding team that kind of creates those every year. You're, that's a little bit different. So that way that everybody feels like if they come back then they get something new or there's a reason to come back and feel like they're, they're being supported there. And they don't have to fundraise for some of the other fundraising events like the public's one and a half marathon that's kind of included in their fundraising. So they get to participate in the biggest event of the year, even if they're coming in from out of town. Most of our ambassadors either know somebody that lives here in Atlanta, that will be able to stay or we can figure out in terms of combinations when they come in from out of town as well. Yeah, like that. So it's, it's become more of a community based, like they go and train together, like they'll go ride the silver comet, out on the west side of town, or they'll go ride the gaps up in north Georgia. Most of our people that are in the ambassador program are pretty decent or big time triathletes, that's kind of the main focus for that group as they also come and participate in one of the triathlon events that we do that's out in Carrollton at John Tanner State Park, through the tribal Park series that we do so that way that people that see Brian cow do triathlons, they want to see they want to try it out, and they want to see it. So like our our entryway for those that want to do triathlons, Iron Man's and things like that.
Christina Edwards 16:17
So a couple of things here that I want to touch on. One is you've used the word community. And you've also talked about community through this, it's like, oh, well, they'll train together, oh, well, they'll come here. And if they're not from Atlanta for this week, there, usually we can make sure they have a place to stay. Those are like, huge community building little pieces, and even just that they're getting like the TRICARE each time. So they're even getting that like, I'm with them brand, right, that reciprocity. And I would imagine almost this, like, recruiting happens through that or referral happens through that where it's like, before you know it so and so is recruited like three more people, because they had they were just talking about it come train with us can be a part of that. So is that what you're seeing? Because that's as you're talking, that's what I'm like imagining. And
Zach Watson 17:05
so you get a lot of people that find that find the group and the community part, we're still working out a lot of the kinks and trying to be open and give people opportunities to weather, if they're more focused on the volunteering and coming and running with us. That's great. Yep. And more on focusing on planning the flag bigger events for themselves. That's also great. So it's getting the name out one way or the other. And so trying to build both sides of that community. So that it's all kind of encompassing together. It's something that we're still working out, we don't have it all figured out yet. But as we're continuing to grow, the community is definitely building, I would say another good partnership for us to help recruit is also the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, a lot of our athletes are in that eight to 21 year old range. So they're still able to go to children's health care and get services and be seen by doctors. And so doctors or PTS or OTS are nurses say, Oh, you have you heard about the Cal Peace Foundation, I've run with them at Publix, or I've done this or I've done that, like with them like, this would be good for you good for your kid to participate. So it's a big recruiting part, being in partnership with it with children's health care. Okay,
Christina Edwards 18:17
partnerships, partnerships, partnerships. So I'm just going to underscore that for everybody listening, that is the power of partnerships there is just to have, like you said, a doctor, a physical therapist, somebody who is the middle person between right to say, do you know about this organization? So developing those partnerships is essential to scaling. So I love that you said that? Yes. I want to talk a bit about retention. So retention in two ways. Let's talk about retention first, within your ambassador, so how do we keep people happy and coming back and not one and done?
Zach Watson 18:52
Yeah, you know, that's a that's a challenge that we're working through right now. As we're trying to build that opportunity to find different things for them to feel like they're either their money that they're paying for or the the time that they're spending is working for them. And so they obviously know at the end of the day, the mission is for the individuals in the wheelchair and in chair. So like the end of the day, that's the main focus, but also they need to feel like they're getting something out of it too. And so providing them opportunities for community building themselves. Like, we'll have like figured out a happy hour situation on Publix weekend, because the events on Sunday would do a dinner on Saturday night. So like a Friday evening, we'll do try to do a happy hour with the ambassador program participants and so that that way that they're building together, they're working together, they're hanging out. And so everybody's work schedule in life is also very crazy. As you can imagine a triathletes life is kind of all over the place trying to get everything together. So trying to build that community and try to communicate is is a challenge, but it's something that we're We're working through and figuring it out as we go. There's definitely some some points where where we've done very well with, like I said, the happy hours and trying to do bike rides and trying to do things like that, whether it's physical activity or not. We also have an end of your athletes celebration that the ambassador program kind of puts on for our interior athletes and their families. And so that's kind of part of that team building that they they feel like they're doing something more as well. So they want to be more involved, they want to do this, they want to do that, like they give us suggestions. Because they want to be involved, and they want to do things. So we try to make it happen as best as we can with the budgets that we have. Yeah, we're definitely we're definitely open to hearing and growing as we as we learn from them as well, because they definitely give us feedback when we need it.
Christina Edwards 20:47
I love it. I love it. I love that that's also top of mind is that you're keenly aware of like, how do we build off of the people in our community today and tomorrow? Like, what are those next steps? As far as retention goes, because right now I can like you have so many peer fundraisers going right now. So just so other people can get a sense of it. Like I poked around and did some detective work, I went onto your fundraising tools page. And there's lots of peer fundraisers going on for different events, which just makes my heart happy. Because I love that you're not saying how do we fundraise alone? How do I you know, you're not dialing for dollars, right? So we're going we're spreading out with it with influence and advocates and ambassadors. Now, inevitably, with these peer fundraisers, we have a lot of donations that come in from all sorts of places from people's friends, family, coworkers, aunts, friends of friends, what is retention? What is your retention plan? How does that look for those newbies that come in your world?
Zach Watson 21:47
Yeah, I think it's just showing them where their money's going. Definitely, I think the biggest thing that we've seen in recent donorship and participation is people want to see what, what the impact is people want to see impact. They don't want to just hear about it, they want to see it. And so trying to show them like, everybody's on the social media stuff. So everybody wants to see the videos, everybody wants to see that. Some people want to see the numbers. And it's also based on your demographics, age range, all that. All that stuff that everybody needs to know, in terms of our development side, on the back end, we need to know all right, well, we've got an individual from North Carolina that doesn't come to any events, but he donates $1,000 A year why? So we figured out alright, well he donates to this one person, that's his nephew or niece or something like that. There's a lot of those, we have that donate based on a person. And so that's part of the thing that we figured out is if we can keep and keep people happy, we can figure out how to continually get them involved and potentially grow their involvement as well, whether it's not just financial, but it's also volunteering, coming and getting some getting a business involved getting their partner that they went to college with that owns a law firm in Atlanta, or if they know somebody that owns a restaurant chain that's in Alabama, or something that can donate their time, or their product, or whatever it is, things like that, that we're continuously trying to figure out and grow. On the retention side. It's an ebb and flow. It depends on the year, bigger years that we have, we do have higher retention. And sometimes we have a lot of drop off on some years, just based on the events that we have. One event that we do have based off of this year was our first year going was the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend in Orlando. So the first year we were a charity partner. That is something that the numbers are not necessarily going to change, the individuals will probably change just based on Disney's just a hard ticket to get. So the people we get just kind of changes, just based on who finds us on online. That yeah, major events like that, like whether it's Boston or New York, or Walt Disney World, like some of those bigger, bigger, longer. Yeah, they're kind of ebb and flow. This
Christina Edwards 24:10
is an interesting kind of, it's almost like you, you have to forecast it out of like, we may see lower retention numbers with some of these bigger named events. And I'm like, Oh, my gosh, all day, every day, do those because it's such a great piece for visibility overall, for your brand for endorsement to say, you know, we were a partner with Walt Disney World. We were a partner here. It helps you get into more rooms. And so it's strategic is what I'm saying. Even though the cost may be a little bit lower on like the retention numbers that you'd like to see. Yeah. Am I Am I
Zach Watson 24:45
yeah, we definitely you're right on the ball. Right on the ball. Yeah. Okay.
Christina Edwards 24:48
Cool. All right. So I love what we're talking about with retention. I want to talk a little bit more about future focus. Yeah, so like, what's next? We are at the time of recording. We're not Wait in the trenches of year end fundraising, like what is like what is your end look like for you? And then like what's next cast a vision? Yeah,
Zach Watson 25:08
this this next six months are huge for us. We have a huge campaign, like I mentioned earlier about Brett and Kyle going back to Kona, Hawaii, we have a huge capital campaign going on right now for the inclusive employment program that was started about four or five years ago, that provides opportunities of jobs for the inclusive employees, which is an individual with disabilities, that can range from somebody that has intellectual disabilities, physical or both these jobs that work within the cowpeas foundation from I have one individual that worked with me in the operations department, we have one that works in donorship. We have one that works in marketing, we have one and athlete recruitment and retention. And then we also have Carl that leads that kind of program. And then this year was the first year we branched out to another job or another individual company called Fire Protection Services here in Atlanta, and state of Georgia, that hired an inclusive employee through the Cal Peace Foundation. And that's kind of where we've seen growth as well, as everybody needs something to do once they finish school. Like we've seen a lot of individuals that finish schooling and things like that, there's not a lot for them. Like they lose a lot of services when they're out of school. So trying to find them a job is definitely something very important for them. It's also meaningful work, to give them something where they see the passion, they see that it's important for them, because it's something that has changed their life. So it's continually changing somebody else's as well. We
Christina Edwards 26:36
have a lot of organizations, a lot of consultants and just community members who listen to the podcast that either serve adults with intellectual or physical disabilities, and it drops off a cliff, what you have accessibility to after that, you know, school at school. Ah, yeah. And so I love that this is something you're putting front and center as a program, I want to understand it a little bit more. Is the program like placement, like what does the program do? Is it helping them find a job? Or is it more like skill building
Zach Watson 27:09
or building and it's currently placing within the copies Foundation, as we have at the moment, as we continue to build it out? I think the way that we're moving forward is placement within other companies like, like I said, with fire protection services, which is a good friend of ours within the foundation, Adam Heiser. So that is one individual that's he took the deep dive with Brent and us to be like, hey, I want to I want to do something that means something, I want to do something that is going to change somebody's life. And so Josh Porter, which is the individual that works with Adam over car production services started back in in the January, beginning of February. So a little over six months, give or take are right around there, when he's been there. So that's something that seen him you can see the growth that he's gotten for either more confidence, the ability to get out because he lives in inner city, Atlanta and having to go work in Marietta. So that's like that. So like being able to just travel but get out of your, your local community. And I think seeing the world a little bit differently than yours is something that we try to provide as well.
Christina Edwards 28:11
I love it. I mean, it's, it's, it is something and I'm seeing there's, whether it's a for profit or nonprofit there are these opportunities of just like, oh, we need more of this. We need more of that for sure. So I love that you're investing in that and putting that program forward. Alright, so that's a big that's, that's big for year end. It sounds like it's you and tell us tell us like what else like what's on for next year. You said Kona Hawaii. That's happening this year, though. Yeah, so
Zach Watson 28:40
that's October. So it's right before Halloween Ironman World Championships for those that are listening that are not Ironman triathletes, that is a 2.4 mile swim. That's 112 mile bike and a marathon run to cap it off.
Christina Edwards 28:54
Amazing. So cool. So I follow Jesse Itzler. Like you probably don't
Zach Watson 29:00
really not too long ago. So this is he. Yeah,
Christina Edwards 29:03
he is just He's Mr. Sara Blakely. I often say to my audience, so he's just so funny and he's just tell it like it is and I feel like he wakes up every day naturally with like 10 pots of coffee. So
Zach Watson 29:17
he's very high energy Energizer Bunny. Yes.
Christina Edwards 29:21
But I have watched him compete and it's it's fascinating it's absolutely fascinating to watch him compete and all these different crazy races so yeah, I mean that's so
Zach Watson 29:32
cool. Yeah, the the event I did he's part co founder of as to 9029 Okay,
Christina Edwards 29:37
that's his Okay, got it. Tell us about that event because that was cool.
Zach Watson 29:41
It was it was definitely the most physically and mentally challenging event I've ever done in my my endurance career, which is very short, but that's definitely something that was very interesting to train for to figure out mentally and to actually go do it. I did it in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which is, if you've never been would highly recommend I understand why the cost of living is out so outrageous out there now because everybody wants to live out there. It's beautiful. Yes, yeah. So it was it was a it was a great time it was 19 a sense of the Snow King mountain and 36 hours, which is a 1.1 mile hike. So
Christina Edwards 30:15
it was so this is the version everyone that my neighbor did, but he did in Vermont, or some believe so, okay, so you're just huffing it up a mountain and down and huffing it up and I'm gonna say it laymen's down, you
Zach Watson 30:30
take the snow, you take the ski lift down. So I have his down, which is nice. But
Christina Edwards 30:35
I think it was like pouring rain. It was really rough conditions. It was and he different from what we've been talking about. So he wasn't involved in working with one of your athletes who is a wheelchair user, but he was fundraising for this. So like, this is another example of like fundraising in the wild, where maybe you're doing some other event or competition or something like that. And you and your team? He fundraised, I think yeah, Devin
Zach Watson 31:02
is the head coach. He's one of the main coaches for 299, which created the comp, the opportunity for us to be kind of input as a, hey, we've got a certain amount of injuries that we can allot for the copies. So y'all can sell those at whatever the fundraising number you want to set for. These are the costs that we have for it. And this is what we the copies foundation would pay for this year in itself at this event, all across all of the events is going to raise about $300,000 for the for the foundation. So we're sitting about two to 25 to 50. Right now. So we're on the homestretch for that amazing. So it's looking good. So the big numbers coming forward for sure.
Christina Edwards 31:44
What would you say to another organization or even a board member or somebody listening? who's like, I want to do what they're doing? How do we get? How do we break into this style of Ambassador fundraising, where it's, maybe it is physically event driven, but maybe it's not, maybe it's just something else, because you again, have really cracked the code of getting people involved, it's still mission forward. And yet they get to do something for your mission where it's, you know, physical, I think
Zach Watson 32:15
what you need to do first off is figure out what you're trying to accomplish, you need to know what the what the goal is, whether it's alright, we need to raise $5,000. And we need to do it by next week, or whatever, whatever you need to do. Figure out a game plan of, alright, well, we've got this amount, we've got to get to by the end of the year, we've got an idea for an event, whether it's plywood does a big auction, there's different things like that you can get board members, you can get big fundraisers or big thing or big funders that can donate their time, their services, their businesses, services, things like that, and you can auction it off. That's what's plywood I've seen has done. There's other opportunities, if you can get in with these major races. Like that, that's a very popular opportunity. Local 5k 10k stuff that you can see. And especially in Atlanta, that happens every other weekend or more, that there's a there's a local 5k supporting some, some fundraiser some somebody something, for the most part. So different things like that, and just finding what, what your group is looking for. And so it doesn't always have to be event based. That's a great opportunity and a segue to get people involved. But that's not the only way. I've worked with some people through like you mentioned, we met at plywood place through the Chick fil A cohort program. And so with that, there was one individual she does focused on artwork, and so they do an art show. And so they sell the artwork from the kids that within their program that they serve. So they help fund what they do different things like that. So it just depends on what the group does, what they're trying to accomplish, and just kind of where they're kind of going. So at least make that game plan. Make that kind of path to where you see yourself going and just be prepared that it's not going to go the way that you plan. Anyway, what exactly yeah, you would think Oh, plans foolproof, like it's going to be perfect. No, I've worked in events long enough that nothing goes perfectly you have to be able to pivot, you have to be able to figure out where are the opportunities that you can pivot or you may need to within your planning. So just things like that. So
Christina Edwards 34:29
you heard it here, million dollar plus organizations, success is not a straight line, especially when you're doing events. So let it be imperfect is what I'm hearing. I'm also hearing that you want to meet people where they are. So don't make a bunch of artists who aren't really interested into marathons, run a marathon, right? Have an art show, I think really understanding what your goal is. So that is really, really important. I'm glad that you said that piece. Yeah, so good. Anything else that you wanted to share before we wrap up.
Zach Watson 35:02
I think just if anybody wants to get in, participate with us, we'd love to have you and you don't have to be an athlete. You do not have to run sub 30 minute five K's to come participate with us, anybody that wants to come help out, and you don't have to be a runner, we take volunteers to come help unload the truck and get me get my team going on the logistic side. So if you ever want to get participate, we'd love to have anybody. I love
Christina Edwards 35:25
that. Yes. And thank you for saying that, as somebody who's a very happy run Walker, that's good to hear. Yeah, there's a place for everybody. And I can tell in just an understanding and knowing your organization, if you're like, I'm, I've, I'm new to, you know, this inclusivity space. But I'm curious, and I want to get involved like this is the place this is a great entry point. Yeah. Awesome. Well, we ask everybody on the podcast to share what is one thought that you'd like to think on purpose? So for me, it's just a guide, put post a mantra and affirmation? Would you share yours with our audience? Yeah,
Zach Watson 36:02
I think something that kind of going back to the event I was talking about I had Jackson Hole was, this mountain does not define me. And neither does neither does the finish. And so it's going beyond that. And so kind of when I was going through those mental strains of, hey, I've got six more hikes to do. And this amount of timeframe, I need to keep moving, I need to get going, I need to drink water, I need to drink electrolytes I need to eat, I need to sit down, I need to do this. And I went back to hey, this mountain does not define me, neither does the finish. And so I got to the finish, it doesn't define me because there's so much more that I found that within myself through that event, and through that challenge. And I would advise others to say that you're more capable than you actually think you are. You're you you can go farther, you can do more, you can find that extra oomph you can find it, you have to be willing to dig deep. And that's kind of part of what I would say is one of my most recent mantras, Doc,
Christina Edwards 37:06
that is, I love it. It's perfect. It's it's really a pillar of what we talked about on the podcast, which is it's not the destination, right? You want to enjoy the journey. And so it's like, that's the piece right? And just that that positive self talk. You know, we didn't even get into that too much today. But we talk a lot about mindset. And you cannot do any of this. If you're not talking yourself through it right of like going how many times up and down that mountain was it 19 hole boy, like that self talk cannot sound like this is hard. This is impossible. This is like right, what that self talk is you just gave us a little bit of a taste of it. So thank you for that, of course. All right, where can everyone follow? Get involved with your organization?
Zach Watson 37:49
Best Places, we're on all social medias, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, X, whatever you want to call it. The call Peace Foundation. Just search us. You can find us at the Cal peace foundation.org as well. We have all kinds of things for you to get participated in. If you want to hang out, we'd love to have you set up a call. I'd love to talk to you as well. Yeah. Yeah.
Christina Edwards 38:09
Give them a follow on Instagram because you were talking about social proof earlier and yeah, your videos are great and your content is excellent. And no wonder that community is right there. Thank you for coming on today. This was such a great conversation.
Zach Watson 38:21
Thank you for having me.