Pie-A-Board Member

By Amanda Roberge, Co-Executive Director

The return to an in-person Summer Leadership Retreat meant a return of the Board of Directors’ most successful fundraiser, Pie-a-Board-Member. Every year, the board commits to raising $2000 for our National Philanthropy. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is an organization that is near and dear to my heart so the fact we were able to hit the ground running and blow away our initial goal brings me so much joy.

Organizing a large-scale fundraiser takes a lot of behind-the-scenes action to pull it off! The first step was to make sure that we had enough volunteers to put their faces on the line and were willing to get pied if they “won,” which meant they had the most donations. Once we had our slate of board members willing to take one for the team, the next step was to prepare our social media for advertising the event! Direct donor campaigns rely heavily on word of mouth and asking folks directly to donate to your cause, so we worked closely with our social media team to make sure we had shareable posts! A big boost for my personal fundraising efforts was getting matching donations from both my work and mom’s work. (AFSP makes it easy to see if your workplace offers a match with their search tool!) It also helped that a lot of my friends and family were very excited for videos of me being pied (cough cough Jenn Shipp Jackson)!

The last step of setting up the fundraiser before the actual event was to pick up the supplies. I had picked up the pie tins earlier in the week, but I didn’t pick up the whipped cream until our ride down to Summer Leadership Retreat. In all honesty, it was probably the most fun I had in Walmart in a very long time: shopping with Rebecca and Jayley carrying 10 cans of whipped cream to the registers. We were on the tail end of some very funny looks. I don’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. Saturday night of Summer Leadership was the big event! We had seven of our board members get pied in the face with four of us taking multiple pies.

The main point of the fundraiser is to support our National Philanthropy, but that is only part of why we participate in willingly getting whipped cream smashed into our faces. The other reason? Sisterhood! As board members, we don’t always get to see each other and enjoy each other’s company as much as we would like as many of us live in different states. It also helps us build connections with our chapter leadership. We get to let our hair down and be silly with you all and not have to worry about the day-to-day operations for a little bit. By doing Pie-a-Board-Member, we are supporting a great cause and making memories for everyone involved, so let’s keep those pies coming!

Our original goal was $1250. We quickly surpassed that, so we pushed ourselves to reach $2500. In the end, we brought in $3146: 250% of our original goal! By asking friends and family, posting on social media, and seeking out matching workplace donations, we were able to raise more than we thought possible! By my side participating in this fundraiser were Courtney and Andrea (the second and third top fundraisers!), Rebecca, Robyn, Marysa, Lilia, Jayley, Hayley, Lauren, and Nicole H. Thank you to all our participants and donors, and until next year!

Want to see some videos of your board members getting a pie in the face for the AFSP? Check out this reel from @kappaplymouthstate