Celebs, Runs & Treks

The Sun this week was busily telling us that Denise Van Outen is in training to take part in a ‘seven-day hike along Peru's Inca Trail’. It’s a fundraising trek, on which she’ll be joined by Fearne Cotton in support of Breast Cancer Care.

A great piece of coverage for the charity.

However this reminded me of a wider issue I’ve seen in charities.

Not many people get married on their first date (although I’m sure someone will find me an example). So why do many fundraisers think that they can get someone to run a marathon or take part in a trek when they have no knowledge or experience of each other?

I imagine the conversation might go something like this:

Charity: Hello, you’re a famous celebrity

Celebrity: I am, but who are you?

Charity: Well you’ve never heard of us. You don’t know anything about our work and as far as I know you’ve got no known affinity with our cause.

Celebrity: So why are you talking to me?

Charity: Well you being famous and all, we thought you were bound to want to spend six months doing some really hard training, run 26 and a bit miles, talk to lots of media about us and….if you could manage to raise lots of money at the same time that would be fabulous.

Celebrity: HANGS UP

OK, OK, so I exaggerate but that is basically what’s being asked. Running a marathon or taking part in a trek is a huge commitment because of the time involved, not just in terms of the event but also in terms of the training. It’s not the same as providing a quote and a photo.

Working with celebrities is all about building and developing relationships. To go back to my dating analogy it’s about wooing and courtship. Many celebrities very generously do take part in running events and treks generating both money and publicity for great causes. Just look at the coverage of the London Marathon and the Great North Run. Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research and Marie Curie, to name but two, regularly have large numbers of celebrity runners.

However these are almost always people with whom they’ve had long relationships. Denise & Fearne will be making their Peruvian trek for a charity with which they have been involved for a number of years. Therefore the key is to start small and build up to such large requests. It’s clear that Breast Cancer Care have stewarded these relationships well.

…..oh and don’t assume they’ll raise lots of money. I know of one celebrity who did absolutely no fundraising for their chosen charity but did raise the profile by being interviewed on TV. At another charity one actor raised just a few hundred pounds, but again generated publicity.