Katie Sims
SO it’s that time of year again. Men around the world have been growing moustaches. We’re three-quarters of the way through November and a moustache is now finally present on most of my friends. I love Movember. I love facial hair. I’m a Mo Sista for sure. I haven’t shaved my legs in about a month.
And what? I only shave my legs if people are going to see them. It’s winter so they’re hidden away nicely. I’m saving a fortune on razors, which in turn I’m donating to my Mo Bros in Pamplona.
But what’s Movember all about? Adam Garone is the creator of this innovative way to raise money. It has changed the face of fundraising. In this talk on Ted Talks, the self-proclaimed “moustache farmer” tells us how the idea came about in that traditional Aussie way, over a few beers late in 2003. He tells us how he first grew his mo to relive the seventies before that “ironic hipster moustache movement” made it cool again. People were shocked, appalled, parents covered their children’s eyes, girlfriends despaired, but the courage of manliness pulled them through.
Changing the face of men’s health
Garone and his friends knew this amount of fun had to be repeated and promoted.
He looked into men’s health charities to see they could raise money for their furry top lips. He realised there was a real gap in awareness for prostate cancer, as prevalent in men as breast cancer in women, and knew this was the cause that deserved some moustache motivation. And what a transformation! By 2006 the campaign had raised 1.2 million dollars in Australia.
Their strength as Mo Bros led them to take some risks, find investments and after many cold-calls to CEOs and lots of patience, the movement spread throughout Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Canada.
In 2011, our world was full of moustached males who raised almost 100 million euros for prostate cancer charities. 854, 288 people took part in Movember worldwide.
Fundraising is often synonymous with those heart-wrenching photos of poor helpless children, someone shaking a bucket or carol singing (yuck!) Adam Garone shows us that a creative fundraising idea can come from a group of mates who had a bit of fun, who inspired a neighbourhood, and then a city. The city inspired a region, the region a nation, and from there comes global domination and all for an incredible cause and showing off some incredible facial hair on the way.
Here are a few hairy faces from Pamplona. If you laugh, you have to donate. If you don’t laugh, you have to donate because at least that’ll make you smile. You can donate to the Pamplona Mo Bros here. Look them up on facebook here.
