Giving back builds team morale, helps the community and creates a positive impact. Promo Marketing spoke to Keith Steiniger, president/owner of Proforma IDology Marketing Group, Lenexa, Kan., to learn about the Tour de Hope, an annual cycling event Steiniger helped start four years ago to raise money for local charities. The charity Tour de Hope has raised funds for the past three years is The Hope Center, a charter school in an underserved community.
Promo Marketing: What charity work are you involved in?
Keith Steiniger: Well, I’ve been involved, and always have tried to be involved, in different opportunities related to charities. A lot of times I get involved with things personally just to do them. One in particular that I think is interesting is I actually am a founding board member of a local cycling event [Tour de Hope] to raise money for a local charity. I’m a cyclist. I raise money. I got involved in cycling because of Team in Training. Team in Training is a fundraising organization for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. So, that’s how I got into cycling five years ago. I fell in love with it. A group of us decided that we could put on a local event to raise money for a local underserved charity. [That] was our objective. This year will be our fourth event.
PM: Do you pick a different charity every year?
KS: Initially, as a board, that was our goal. We found out the challenge around making decisions on [what] you were going to [support] was a little more difficult than we all wanted. And so, the first year we made a decision. The second year we made a decision. And then, at that point, it seems like the charity we chose, which happens to be The Hope Center, seems to have been our fit, and has been our fit for the last two years and is again our charity of choice this year.
PM: What exactly does The Hope Center do?
KS: The Hope Center basically is in an underserved community. It’s a charter school that has high school or teenage programs, but we specifically are focused around helping to provide funding for technology in the school, in grades 1 through 5 now.
PM: How does the fundraising work?
KS: There are a couple components to the fundraising aspects. One is the ride itself. Our goal, as a board, was to get enough sponsor involvement to pay for all the costs of the ride, and that all of the rider registration would go towards the charity. I can sit here and say that we have been successful in doing that every year. We’ve been able to find companies—and ourselves—to do some of the charity part, if you will, or the funding part so that we could do that. And every single year, starting off right around $10,000 our first year and I think we donated $12,500 last year, [we were able to accomplish that] out of just one event on a Sunday.
PM: Do you have any advice on how readers can give back in general?
KS: You can provide charities some of the resources they need at cost or at low margin, which will help them. You can volunteer. Time is money [for] a charity. If you want to get involved on a board, just be prepared that it takes more time and more effort. Sitting here today, I’m so glad I’ve done it, but it takes a lot more time than you perceive it takes. So, I’ll forewarn people that it takes a lot more time, but don’t be scared of that. At the end of the day it’s still very, very rewarding. And I think that’s the key. I think everybody is different in what they want to do. Some people are comfortable in writing checks. Do that. Every charity out there needs people [who] write checks. Every charity out there needs people [who] like to volunteer. Every charity out there needs someone to be on the board or to play a different role within that charitable organization. So, that’s really what you have to decide individually.
PM: How can readers get involved with the Tour de Hope or The Hope Center?
KS: You can go to www.tourdehope.org and volunteer if you’re in Kansas City by chance. You can go to [the site] and donate or register to ride if you’re in Kansas City. The money we raise goes to The Hope Center. You can go directly to The Hope Center and research them. Their site is www.hopecenterkc.org.
For inquiries and interest in the Tour de Hope or The Hope Center, please contact Keith Steiniger, president/owner of Proforma IDology Marketing Group, at [email protected].
Want to be considered for a future edition of Community Spotlight? Contact production editor Ashley Chiaradio at (215) 238-5288 or [email protected] for a list of questions and other details.
