INSPIRATION
America’s Resilient Generosity
What COVID Can’t Take from Us
10 years ago, I embarked on my first mustache-growing extravaganza as part of the Movember Foundation’s efforts to raise money to reduce the number of men dying prematurely by 25% by 2030.
While I raised but a measly $120 that year, the die was cast. I was fascinated by the fact that my friends and coworkers had donated to something so important, with so relatively little effort on my part. Plus I came away with a damn fine looking mustache, if I do say so myself.
For 2020, my tenth straight year taking part in Movember, I set a somewhat cautious fundraising goal of $1,500. While this was almost $400 less than I raised in 2019 I justified it by looking at the financial landscape and the impact coronavirus has had on the country and decided it was best to be conservative.
As I have now come to realize though, the one thing the coronavirus fiasco has not tempered is our generosity. Had I seen it in advance, a May 2020 study by the IUPUI Women’s Philanthropy Institute would have proven this out. It showed that during the initial months of the pandemic 56% of U.S. households engaged in charitable activity in response to the crisis.
Of particular note were the younger generations who gave indirectly in droves, for example by continuing to pay for services they were actually no longer receiving.
I currently sit at $3,650 raised as a result of this year’s ‘stache. That’s 143% over my goal, in the middle of a global pandemic. Clearly I will be setting a higher bar in 2021.
I have found myself many times recently looking for positives in what has otherwise been an exceedingly difficult year to find them. My family, friends, and coworkers opening their wallets to help me smash my fundraising goal is not only a positive, but proof that American generosity is the most resilient in the world.
Arguably the virus has raged an even more savage war on our collective mental states than it has on our physical well being. So it’s fitting that one of the Foundation’s primary areas of focus is men’s mental health. It’s easy to argue that this money is more important this year than ever before.
