3 Degrees of Separation: The InvestorVillage—Rett Syndrome Wall Street Challenge
There's no reason any of you would know this, but back in 2012 Hannah Varbel's family tried to jumpstart a private fundraiser on their daughter's behalf through a website set up to facilitate that very sort of self-help. The stated goal was to raise $1000. As you can see by clicking this link, they got to $275 before things fizzled out. What moved me to tears was when I saw that $200 of the raise came from Hannah's own mother, Sarah! Through no fault of their own, the word just didn't get out and Hannah's story didn't get the traction it deserved.
So this past week, as I watched the grassroots fund-raising effort on behalf of little Hannah Varbel take seed in the most unlikely of places - an investor celebration in Las Vegas - I started to think about the larger InvestorVillage community and the unique place I occupy as founder of the website and I asked myself what more could I do to help out in this worthy cause and truly pay it forward?
And as I kicked this around in my head, it occurred to me that while the InvestorVillage community may be relatively small, it is populated with some of the smartest, most resourceful and most generous people on the planet. I know this to be true because I have met hundreds of you since launching this service over 9 years ago and have been impressed over and over again with the quality and caliber of so many wonderful people.
What I find extraordinary in all of this is that thanks to the diligent efforts of the Varbels' neighbor "Rob Cos," a group of investors, most of whom only know each other online and virtually none of whom had ever even heard of Hannah Varbel before, have come together and already helped to raise a significant amount of money, shattering Hannah's parents' expectations from 3 years ago. That's right. I have confirmation from the Rett Syndrome Foundation that in excess of $12,000 has already been raised over the past 48 hours in Hannah's name and I have heard "unofficially" that we are on track to surpass $25,000! (Personally I believe the number will be substantially higher before this is all said and done.) The "givers" at InvestorVillage should be very proud of yourselves!
So I guess the question now is, Where do we go from here? Beyond the $50 and $500 donations flowing in from this core group of exceptional people, I challenge everyone reading this message to see just how influential you really are. Forget "6 degrees of separation." Let's try 3.
The formula is very simple: Hannah > You > Mystery Influencer.
Who is the most influential person you know? Is it your local religious leader? Is it someone at your local paper or TV station? Is it a blogger with a large readership? Someone on Facebook with lots of friends or someone on Twitter with lots of followers? Is it Kevin Bacon? Ellen DeGeneres? Oprah Winfrey?
When I was a kid, I had a soccer coach who always told our team, "If you can juggle the ball 2 times in a row, you can do it 200 times." And I firmly believe his lesson can be applied to anything we try in this life. So, if we have already helped raise perhaps as much as $25,000 for the Rett Syndrome Foundation, then I have to believe with a little more creativity and collective effort we can help raise $5,000,000. Why not? That's barely a drop in the Wall Street bucket. So no matter how crazy it might sound to you now, reach out to that one influential person you know, send them a link to Rettsyndrome.org, or to Rob's video appeal, and ask them if they might be willing to share Hannah's story with the people in their respective networks.
And wherever this effort takes Hannah's story, whether it's to the national media and $5 million, or whether it turns out that it has already run its course, I will report back and let you all know how we did. I'm optimistic that this group can keep Hannah's "soccer ball" in the air at least 200 times!
Thanks again for the wonderful spirit of community and generosity I have already witnessed in response to Hannah's story. Sincerely, Blue, IV Founder & Chief Community Advocate
PLEASE SHARE THIS: I encourage anyone reading this message to copy and share it on their own personal or corporate blogs, websites, Facebook pages, email lists, or wherever and however they would like to reach the widest audience possible. Thanks in advance!