Which is more important? Fundraising or The Olympics?
This seems about right
Have you heard about everything going wrong with the games in the UK this year?
Olympics corporate are just not making any friends at all. Behold:
- They are making their symbol illegal for anyone else to use,
- You can only link to their site if you have nice things to say
- They are getting people banned from Twitter
- They are putting surface-to-air missiles on top of East Londoner’s buildings, without their permission!
- They hate knitters
- They are having a fight over whether athletes will wear Nike or Adidas on the winning podium
- AAAAAND They are making it illegal to buy fries without fish?!?
Like Cory Doctrow says, what’s next? How low will the Olympics stoop for their corporate sponsors? At this rate, “…by 2020, the winning bid will include a promise to imprison all non-attendees for the duration of the games, and permanently tattoo sponsors’ logos on the faces and chests of all ticket-buyers.”
And now, of course, something I think is far more shameful,
The USA’s Strongest Woman lives on $400 a month because she can’t get sponsors, like the male Olympic weightlifters can.
Why is this?
Beauty double-standards much? Misogyny?
According to BoingBoing,
“Meet Sarah Robles. She can lift as much as 570 pounds. In last year’s weightlifting world championships, she bested every other American—both female and male. Sarah Robles is going to the Olympics in London this summer. But at home, in the United States, she lives on $400 a month.
Robles — whose rigorous training schedule leaves her little time for outside work — struggles to pay for food. It would be hard enough for the average person to live off the $400 a month she receives from U.S.A. Weightlifting, but it’s especially difficult for someone who consumes 3,000 to 4,000 calories a day, a goal she meets through several daily servings of grains, meats and vegetables, along with weekly pizza nights. She also gets discounted groceries from food banks and donations from her coach, family and friends — or, as Robles says, “prayers and pity.”
She’s not alone. Holley Mangold, the other American woman who’ll be doing Olympic weightlifting in the same division, works part-time for a BBQ restaurant and lives in a friend’s converted laundry room.”
So, which is more important, fundraising or the Olympics?
It’s a trick question. The answer is both. Holley and Sarah could potentially spend time fundraising for their careers. But they shouldn’t have to choose. They should be free to train for the Olympics, and their financial needs should be taken care of.
If they were male, they’d be assured magazine covers with hefty pricetags. Because of their gender, and the pernicious idea even at women’s fitness magazines that women have to be thin and frail-looking to be pretty, they don’t get asked.
Since we can’t FORCE magazines or health companies to pay them hefty premiums to promote their products, and we can’t tear down the beauty myth in a day, what could they do?
What would I do if I were Holley Mangold or Sarah Robles?
Obviously, if you’ve got to be training 10 hours a day, it’s hard to think about fundraising. What’s something they could do?
Well, if they could get friends or family to help, they could do several things.
They could partner with nonprofit fiscal sponsors and send out an appeal letter.
They could get friends or family to do a phone-a-thon for them to everyone they know, with talking points, and ask for help.
They could have their nonprofit fiscal sponsor throw a fundraising event, inviting all friends and family, and ask people there to give to the nonprofit, and have the nonprofit funnel money to them.
They could also get a big list of health companies from a women’s fitness magazine and go through the list, one by one, and ask them if they need a spokesperson who just happens to be the strongest person in the USA, according to the Olympics.
Olympic Torch goes out for athletes with no money
What do you think? What would YOU recommend?
July 19th, 2012 at 7:28 pm
I think there are lots of creative ways to fund these folks, like crowdfunding, I’ll have to think of others.
Re: the Olympics-It seems that the wrong kinds of compromises are being made. Check out what happened with the beer! And on a related note, the USOC didn’t get the athletes U.S.-made uniforms, but had no trouble using patriotism to offer a U.S.-made jacket to its donors: http://on.fb.me/LAXGKV
July 19th, 2012 at 9:52 pm
This is not what the Olympic spirit was all about when they started. This is pathetic, but it’s America now, isn’t it?
P.S. Good pic on the wall of Ronald McD…
July 22nd, 2012 at 2:42 am
Wow Paul speaking of crowdfunding, Someone helped Sarah Robles start an indiegogo campaign!
http://www.indiegogo.com/loveforanolympian?c=home
Guess what? of her $2,500 goal, she’s raised $17,500!!!
AW YEAH.
Fundraising. Tool for change! It happens!
Mazarine
July 22nd, 2012 at 2:44 am
Thanks for your compliment about the picture, the credit must go to boing boing. And actually, the Olympics are being held in london, they’re in control of the sponsorships, so it’s the UK, isn’t it?