The Most Successful Method for Raising Money for Research

The most successful fundraising activities we engage in are those that focus on our friends and family members. I know, I'm sounding like a broken record. Try to get used to it, because I don't plan on quitting. If we want a cure for myelin and nerve damage, we need more research, and if we want research focused on the damage caused by the neuroimmunologic disorders, we need to raise the money. No one else is doing this fundraising and no one else is going to do it.

If we are going to raise this money, the vast majority of it is going to come from you and from your friends and family members. Why? Because they are the only people in the universe who know about these conditions and they are really the only people who care!

I am not comfortable asking my family for money. I am less comfortable asking my friends for money. I am no different than you. But I have learned to do it, because I have come to accept that this is the only way I can make the difference for Pauline and the so many others of you who I have come to love and care about so deeply.

I have an idea which I think might make this easier for you to accomplish. I have written a letter and have posted it on our web site. You can find it from the 'donations' link under the title Fundraising Letter for Christmas Cards. I have included important information about TM and the neuroimmunologic disorders, about the TMA, and why it is important for the TMA to succeed in raising money for research. The letter is created in Word. Since most people have MSWord on their computers, I am encouraging you to personalize this letter. Please include information in this letter about how TM and the other neuroimmunologic conditions have impacted your lives, and why you need for this research to be done.

When you send your Christmas cards this year, and every year, please include a copy of this letter in your card. Just fold it and put it into the card; it won't cost you a penny more in postage, unless you are sending really fancy shmancy and heavy cards or your letter becomes a book. So, what's a little more postage? And, if you don't celebrate Christmas, you can include the letter with any regular correspondence you have with your family and friends. You can include it in all of the cards you send to people! Happy Birthday, Uncle Harold; and oh, by the way …. Or use the letter as a good excuse to communicate with your family and friends. Send all of them a letter to let them know how you are doing; and include this letter with your mailing.

Do it for yourselves and do it for the other children and adults in your community who need this research and the great hope that this research brings for all of us.