Are You Charity-Minded?

With the holiday season in full swing, fitness centers have moved into charity mode with food and toy drives for those in need. The spirit of the season motivates many to give, but what about when the season is over? Does your fitness center think about charities year-round, or are you too focused on profit?

To give fitness centers a larger purpose, Patricia Laus and The Atlantic Club , Manasquan and Red Bank, N.J., created Clubs for the Cure. The organization is challenging every fitness center in the U.S. to hold a fundraising event between January 1 and March 7, 2008, to support Augie’s Quest to cure ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease). The goal is to raise $3 million for Augie’s Quest by March 7.

Fundraising and charity drives not only raise money for a good cause, but they also motivate your members to exercise (as with races, group exercise challenges or other “active” events), and give your facility great publicity and a reputation as a charity-minded organization. No amount of “New Year’s Resolution” ads in your local paper can give you the type of publicity that comes with sponsoring a news-worthy event for an important cause.

So what are you waiting for? Make your own New Year’s Resolution to make your fitness center more charity-minded. It will benefit others, and may have the added bonus of helping your facility, too.