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MHT's Michelle Lang: Local tech execs tackle the Boston Marathon
Bill Schawbel has an ambitious plan for his 70th birthday — run the Boston Marathon and raise $70,000 for his favorite charity, Perkins School for the Blind.
The CEO and owner of The Schawbel Corp. has mailed a letter to 1,500 contacts worldwide and is about halfway to meeting his fundraising goal. Whatever he raises, he has committed to match dollar for dollar for a total of no less than $70,000.
Schawbel’s training goals are on an equally fast track. He started his pre-marathon routine in February, building up from a walk to a 12-mile walk-run to, more recently, a run-walk of the same distance.
“I am re-learning how to run, which is interesting,” said Schawbel, who last ran the marathon 20 years ago. “I will make it over the finish line if I have to crawl. When I make a commitment, I try to live up to that commitment.”
He is one of many local executives who are training to run in the April 19 Boston Marathon, committed to raising money on behalf of nonprofit organizations with missions that span the gamut from housing for the homeless to education. And this is a banner year for the city’s charity runners — the 20th anniversary of the Boston Marathon giving official numbers to participants who do not qualify for the race based on their running times, but rather on their vows to fundraise for particular nonprofit organizations.
With 24 official nonprofits on the marathon’s list and more than 1,300 runners gutting it out on their behalf — not to mention the runners who will raise money for nonprofits not officially recognized — race organizers say they expect this year to reach the $100 million mark in total donations raised by the marathon since 1989.
“I may never run a marathon again, but this has opened a whole new thing for me,” said Dave Barbato, 39, co-founder of Talent Retriever, which provides outsourced recruiting support for Boston-area companies. Barbato is chairman of the board for Housing Families Inc., and already has surpassed his $7,500 fundraising goal for the organization.
“When I’m running, the thing I think of is that I have two little girls,” he said. “I realize it must be difficult for a father who looks at his kids and thinks, ‘I just want to give them a home. I want to live in a community.’ That’s what drives me when I’m starting to feel some pain, starting to get tired. That’s what keeps me going.”
In a tough economy and an even tougher fundraising environment, nonprofit leaders’ commitment to the cause is what Mark Thirman, vice president of business development for Illume Software, believes tips the scale for donors who question where to invest their philanthropy dollars.
Thirman, who already has run 11 marathons, is not ashamed to share that he was the last person to cross the Boston Marathon finish line in 2005 — seven hours and one injury after he started the race. The point is, he finished.
“The marathon is a great way to demonstrate to potential donors that you’ve got skin in the game,” said Thirman, who is running on behalf of AccesSportAmerica and trying to raise between $5,000 and $10,000 for the organization. Thirman is on the board and has been involved with the organization since its start 15 years ago.
“As a 52-year-old startup executive, I’m throwing myself completely into this,” he said.
Running at the front end of the pack is veteran marathoner Nicole DeBlois, vice president of client relations at Boston Financial Data Services. She has run 26 marathons and is among the select number of runners who qualify for the Boston race based on their finish times in other marathons, but are running for charities nonetheless.
DeBlois, 32, is raising money for Boston Partners in Education and this marathon marks the first time she has entwined philanthropy into her pre-race preparation. Knowing she has to meet a financial mark as well as vying to meet a race time goal has heightened the pressure, she said, but in a good way.
“Raising the money adds another level. There’s another goal to reach on April 19,” said DeBlois. She has raised $1,500 so far and has committed to raise at least $2,000, adding, “And that’s where I definitely want to be when I cross the finish line.”
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