We are too small a group to organize a bureaucracy. Each person does what he or she feels competent to do. At the race itself, we depend upon the support of scores of friends, neighbors, and co-workers to serve as volunteers to register the runners, hand out water, set up food, and provide information about brain tumors. Delta Tau Delta, a national fraternity chapter at American University, has adopted The Brain Tumor Society as a charitable activity and provides the services of about 40 fraternity brothers on race day. Such an endeavor needs the generous support of major sponsors from the business world.
Fees paid by runners to enter the race cover only the cost of the race itself, including t-shirts.
The more runners you can attract, the more likely you are to attract sponsors. Other sponsors include Ben and Jerry s, 3M, and several other well-known enterprises, foundations, and generous individuals. We also depend upon gifts and coupons from generous merchants to be awarded at the race. These vary from expensive vacation opportunities, choice tickets to athletic events, or a dinner for two at a local restaurant. We are all aware of well-known entertainers, athletes and political leaders who humanize the reality of an illness by public acknowledgement.