Welcome to Momentum, a motorsports podcast powered by High Gear Success. I'm your host, Heather Wilson Schiltz Here we share the stories and strategies that keep the world of motorsports moving forward. Joining me today is Alissa Karas, Director of Ride for Kids at Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. So thanks so much for being here. Thank you Heather for having me. Yeah, so for our listeners that may not be familiar, can you give us a quick overview of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and its mission? Absolutely. The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, we are a national nonprofit dedicated to ending the devastation caused by a pediatric cancer diagnosis. And we do that through directly assisting families, whether that's financially or through resources and support webinars, peer-to-peer mentorship. We advocate, we do that locally, state, federal. at all levels to ensure that patient voices and those of their families are included in important decision making. And we invest in innovative research. So we know the research space when it comes to lots of different disease types is in a critical space and needs lots of support and pediatric brain tumors are one of those where we need to be making a bigger difference. And specifically for this podcast, people may be wondering, okay, so how does this charity tie into motorsports? And they have a segment or I guess a division of it called ride for kids. So can you explain a little bit about that? Absolutely. So our foundation, the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, and you'll probably hear me use the acronym PBTF just because it's a long title, was actually started in the motorcycle industry, which is something we're really proud of. our foundation was started in 1984 by a husband and wife out of the Atlanta area who were motorcyclists. One of their neighborhood children was diagnosed with a pediatric brain tumor. And as riders, they thought... let's get a group together, let's raise some money to support this family going through a really difficult time right now. And they raised a couple thousand dollars, which is fantastic. But eventually they recognized the need to have sort of a larger nonprofit umbrella where lots of things could happen under a 501c3 designation. So in 1991, it was when we became the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. And again, it all started in the powersports industry, which we're so, so proud of because now we are at 41 years of Ride for Kids, which is an incredible amount of time to have a charitable motorcycle component to your foundation. Yeah. So what role has the motorcycle community played in sustaining Ride for Kids over the years? What does that relationship looked like aside from just motorcyclists starting the charity? Yeah, so it has grown really from what I would call grassroots and that that grassroots effort has maintained in sort of the legacy of the program even today, but it has attracted a lot of interest from larger organizations in the industry. So we're very proud of, you know, some of our larger partners. We have Honda, have COMOTO we have Progressive as part of our organization who support us in really substantial ways, but it is everything from a club or an individual rider who believes in our mission all the way up to those large OEMs or large manufacturers that again believe in our mission and what we do and how we support children and their families. So there's a place for everybody at this table and the powersports industry in that 41 year time span has raised, I want to say it's over $70 million in support of pediatric brain tumor research and the families that we support, is incredible. So part of what my job is, Heather is really just celebrating that. Every time I get the opportunity to speak with someone in the industry, I'm so proud of what this community has done. And I think the people in this community should feel really proud of that because it doesn't go unnoticed and it just continues to thrive in this space. So charitable giving and motorsports events in general have kind of changed throughout time. Maybe some has, you know, a lot has stayed the same, but a lot has also changed. So when I came to know Ride for Kids, it was largely fundraising through local clubs that would host an event. And at those events, they would also take the kids that were experiencing this disease on a ride, like with the people that were attending that event. that kind of how it started and... Tell us how it's kind of maybe changing heading into the future. Yeah, I mean, the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation uh has, we have met so many new families and we continue to meet new families at Ride for Kids events and through our hospital partners. And while Ride for Kids continues to be a great experience for patient families to come out and get to know part of our community, we know that riding isn't for everybody, right? And sometimes that coming out to maybe a motorcycle event as your first entry point is, you know, can be a little bit intimidating, right? So, we really gear our events, Ride for Kids and other to just have something for everybody, right? It's an opportunity for someone who may not be familiar with the industry to oh get to sit on a bike and get a cool photo or meet and hear a story of a passionate rider or get to try a helmet on for the first time. So we really want it to be family friendly, family focused, and that has been at the core of what this program means and it continues to serve in that capacity. You know, we just got back from our super motocross round one in Charlotte where we were able to bring out some patient families with team Honda. And they got to sit on Joe Shimoda's bike and get pictures, which is absolutely fantastic. They got to go walk on the track and see what it's like out there on the dirt for these racers that are out there. So there's so many interesting entry points for families to get just a small glimpse of something that, you know, this community has a passion for. outside of just the right itself. Yeah. So for many of our listeners, maybe they run events or they ride local events. What are some best practices for integrating a charity component into a motorsports event? Maybe a club has been having events for a long time, but they haven't really added a charity component and why should they do that? I think it's great to be able to take something you're very passionate about and make a difference in doing that. So one of the great things about the Right for Kids brand with the longevity of its legacy, you know, 41 years, lots of people in the industry are fortunately familiar with what we do and the history of the program. And even if you are... you know, if you put a Ride for Kids sticker somewhere on your bike and you're out there riding, it's a conversation starter, right? People see that and they want to know what that is. You're out with your Ride for Kids t-shirt on. People want to know what that is. So even if, you know, the fundraising component is obviously very important to the work we do, it drives our mission and allows us to serve more families. But even just that mission awareness piece is something that in an existing event, right, you and your group can take that on to be able to spread the word about an important cause, something that is important to you, important to the community, and help tell others why they should support and give back in this way. always, uh you know, just checking the reputation. Obviously, we're very fortunate, again, to have 41 years of really outstanding history. But that's always a good first step. And then leaning into someone, you know, like myself at the nonprofit partner to be able to provide resources for you to uh amplify what you're doing. So we have some groups that host events that benefit our foundation. And I'm in a position where we have this incredible network of writers where I can help amplify what this club in Maryland is doing that is benefiting us because we have such a large network and we want to be able to do that. We want to be able to show the whole country, the whole world, what this industry is doing. Yeah, one of the trainings that I do in Fuel for Thought for motorsports event organizers is about generating positive PR and how they can add a charitable component or even just a community involvement component to their events. And I mean, they're doing a great thing for the community or the charity, but they're also generating positive feelings towards their organization as well in the local community, because sometimes motorcyclists aren't always received in the best way because of the images that media and movies and all those things give off over the years. So if you can be kind of bragging about the good that you're doing in the community, it can go a long way. And I find that a lot of my event organizers have been doing really great stuff and donating to charities and being involved in their local communities for years, but they've never told anybody about it. They might give the money, they might give the check, but they've never done a check presentation and take it a photo and send it to their local. newspaper or even posted it on their website. They might post it on social media, but that's really only reaching the audience that already follows them. And so in that workshop, we talk about being able to put together a press release and send that out to further reach the community and really let them know that motorcyclists are doing good in the community. Absolutely, that's fantastic and I'm so happy you have that resource for this community because we at the foundation, we want to brag about what this group is doing as well, what this community shares and brings to the various areas that they live in and support and this just gives us another opportunity to be able to do that. Yeah. And I feel like storytelling is such a critical component of this because there's so many people out there collecting money for various causes. And like you alluded to earlier, some charities are, um, it's not that they're more legit than others, but you have to take a look, at their ratings on sites like guide star. And I believe there's another one as well, but basically checking out like how much of your dollar is actually going towards that mission or how much of that dollar is going towards. admin expenses, people's salaries and stuff, which of course are needed in organizations. We need to pay people for their time, but you can take a look and kind of weigh, this the charity that's right for me and that I want to give to? But for somebody that's never fundraised before, what's the simplest way to get started? So again, I love your point there. very proud of uh lots of people check us out on Charity Navigator. That is one of the sources I think you were referencing as far as getting to know different nonprofit organizations, which is a fantastic way to kind of get an inside scoop as well on some of that breakdown of how much money is going to support mission and what is going to administrative costs, which we are very proud of to keep those very low. We are a national nonprofit. profit, but we have a relatively small staff that serves again the whole country. So when it comes to administrative costs, we keep those low, but really just again, I think the easiest way to get into fundraising is taking something that you're passionate about and finding a cause that you're passionate about and trying to merge those two things together. Right. So in this instance for motorcycling, I always say put your miles to mission. Right? So that's, that is our mission. That can be something else you're really passionate about. understand there's an incredible amount of causes out there that need time and attention. And I always feel incredibly honored when someone chooses to come to the pediatric brain tumor foundation and ride for kids. Because again, we, know there are so many things that people can be supporting out there. So taking something you're passionate about in this case, it's, could be motorcycling. you could be a long distance rider that wants to, um, plan a ride by yourself and get people to donate however many miles you ride. we're happy to set up sort fundraising resources and tools for somebody like that. You could be someone in a group that your club already has a Saturday ride once a month and you want to be able to ask your friends and family to be able to support a charitable component of that. We have resources to support in that space. just starting with the basics. If you weren't in this space, right, I would say if you like knitting, right, you can get somebody to sponsor you for doing that or cooking. It's really about taking what you love and your passion and finding a cause that tugs at your heart and finding a way to merge those together. But it doesn't have to be complicated, right? I think fundraising can be a little bit intimidating for people who've never gotten started. And that's where someone like a good nonprofit partner, you know, coming to our foundation and having those conversations with someone like myself. I'll be able to tell you, you know, there's certain logistics things that need to happen or that can happen, but we make it as easy as possible for someone to get started. You mentioned the longest is mileage and being able to have people donate to that cause. I was reading somewhere that there's a REVER million mile challenge. Is that tied in with ride for kids? Yes, so um again, we're very proud of our partnership with COMOTO. They're a really incredible brand in general and do lots of different activations and support a ride for kids. So, as one of the COMOTO family of brands has been partners of ours in the million mile challenge for the past several years. This is a two month long challenge in which we challenge Rever app users to track their miles under this challenge in the goal to reach a million miles. The past two years we have been utilizing in partnership with REVER the app to do some push notifications that talk, like I said, about putting your miles to mission and really use it, you know, not as a fundraising driver, but all these incredible users of the app to learn about what Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation is. how Ride for Kids plays into that and then how they are making a difference by simply tracking their miles in the app, right? They're doing something they love. They're using the REVER app anyway and they're making a difference at the same time. So yes, a million mile challenge. We love that. There can be a lot of different tools, software platforms and resources that can make fundraising easier. Of course, there's the good old, um you know, like, you know, somebody pays for an entry, the organizer collects the money and then they donate a lump sum. I mean, that's pretty plain and simple, but if they want some tools and resources to put behind it, is that something that rides for kids can assist with? Absolutely. So we have several internal fundraising platform opportunities and they're available, know, free of charge for all our fundraisers. So the one we use in the Ride for Kids space, it does allow for, you know, some social media integration. It's really meant to be user friendly. We've been using it for quite some time now. So again, that is something as simple as, you know, giving me a call saying, My club has a ride coming up on Saturday and we want a fundraising page to put out on our Facebook and our Instagram. Can you help me? I can get that done relatively quickly and provide you that resource and then you run with it, however works for you and your group. We talked about this a little bit too, going back to that personal storytelling element and how there are so many different charities out there and having your own fundraising site where it gives a bio about you and your sharing with your family and friends can kind of bring in that personal connection, especially if you're able to relate it back to a child that's experiencing this disease. So I just think about how When we humanize things, like when we put people's names and faces, it's a lot more effective than just saying like, Hey, donate to this cause or Hey, donate to this charity. So I think the more that people, when they're fundraising, no matter what the cause is, if they can add the human element to it, that emotional element, it's going to go a lot further. Absolutely, I couldn't agree more. there are, know, the statistics are gonna escape me at this point, of course, but there's a lot around that humanization element, right? And the increase that someone can see by changing their photo from a stock photo on a fundraising site, right? Like update your photo, adding a short blurb about yourself, even if you don't have that direct personal connection, because, you know, unfortunately, Pediatric brain tumors are a devastating disease, but a lot of times people come to us and this is maybe their first time being able to meet a child or someone in a family who's been affected directly. And just being able to share that something is important to you, right? You don't have to have a direct connection, but I love that tip Heather, because it really does make a difference when it comes to how it correlates to the fundraising dollars as well. Honda has been a big partner since the early nineties and they really are kind of like setting the benchmark for corporate giving in powersports. So can you talk about how other companies you mentioned, COMOTO too, can partner at a larger level and give their employees or just as a company in general, way, an avenue to give back to a cause that's also motorsports related with a ride for kids aspect. Absolutely. So I think there's a lot of um benefits on the corporate side for an organization of any size, right? So COMOTO, well, of course Honda, right? They've been with us for 34 years now, but COMOTO, I'm gonna go back to them for a minute. as I mentioned, they... activate in a couple different ways. One of them being the rubber million mile challenge. One of them is also through fundraising at their cycle gear and J&P cycle locations across the country. So they actually had their senior leadership team in their headquarters in Philly get together and put together fundraising packets that they mailed to all store locations that uh in order to activate their employees as well as their customer base. And then they also activate in an online give back day. So that was actually yesterday where they donate 10 % of proceeds up to $100,000 back to PBTF ride for kids through that online and in store shopping experience, which is really, really fantastic. So, you the benefits from a corporate side rate is that mission engagement, that team connectivity, right? We see a lot of team camaraderie around a tailored mission experience. we are able to connect with teams and be able to connect them with families and the why and the how, which is something I love to do. I love to be able to go into a company and say, this is what your employees are making happen, right? So that shared mission, that shared value is really just fantastic for team morale to just be rallied behind something. And that can start as simple as doing something in-house at a headquarters. COMOTO is really fun. do a bake sale at their headquarters in Philly for that group of people that are in the office. But then that sort of culture, it trickles out to those distribution centers, to those retail stores. ah But you don't have to start big to have a big impact. And that's really how we've seen things grow with COMOTO, with partners like Honda, and then... with our most recent partner, Added Progressive to the team, which we're really proud of. And that same mindset, right? It started as them supporting sort of one individual ride for kids event and that realization and conversation that they can have this huge impact across all events and for families everywhere. We've talked a lot about how event organizers can add a charitable component, but also just individual riders can also become involved and donate. So another company that I work with donated around the holidays, kind of as a year end gift, rather than giving the employees like gift cards, or, know, those random pizza parties that everybody likes to throw. And I got a little email from rides for kids saying that had happened. So that was pretty cool. That's awesome. I didn't know that. That's really fantastic. love a good pizza party as a remote worker, though I don't often get a pizza party. Um, we talked about how things are maybe changing a little bit from the traditional aspect of rides for kids. And I would say historically it's been, more heavily leaning towards road riders, but really like any motorcyclist, whether it's off road, whether it's a racing organizer, like we talked about the casual rider could get involved and you might have those kind of set programs and ideas, but I'm guessing that you'd be willing. to take on other ideas that people presented them as well, if they had this unique idea that they wanted to host an event or a meetup or some sort of giving and how would they go about doing that? Absolutely. Again, there is a place in Ride for Kids for everyone. And you're totally right, Heather, where the peak of this program, Ride for Kids, you know, those road riders, parade style rides at the peak of the program, somewhere around, I would say 2016, 2018, right? We had 40 plus of these traditional parade style rides happening across the country, right? But they were all in different markets. that's not necessarily the climate of riding anymore, right? It's relevant in some markets. We continue to have those events in some markets that we serve, but we need to be nimble and flexible and show up where riders want to be in order to, again, celebrate what they're doing and keep interest in sort of that charitable component. So absolutely, anyone interested in anything Ride for Kids related can absolutely reach out to me directly. Heather has my contact information. on our website. It's on RideForKids.org if you ever have any questions. But absolutely anything from an individual rider all the way through a large OEM manufacturer. There is a place for everyone and totally open to new and exciting things. I think that's what's gonna keep this program going for another 41 years. Yeah, I think something else that comes to mind for me is different, like incentives or recognition programs. So even maybe you're doing it as an event, maybe you're doing it as a club. What can you give that member in your club that raises the most money, as far as recognition or incentives? maybe it's, you know, some funny award, or maybe it's a free entry or a free membership for the following year. So I think incentives always kind of. motivate people. Absolutely, and that's great. I can't say I've ever thought of that at kind of the club level, right, from a membership perspective. But it's also right about that. Not everybody loves it, but some of that public recognition, right, amongst your peers, this group that you're very close with, that you went above and beyond to do something really great for your community. And it inspires others, right, to want to achieve that same kind of feeling and that same kind of recognition amongst your peers. So I love that. If you could leave our audience with the one takeaway about why charity matters in motorsports, what would you tell them? I would say, again, I think that my experience in working with this group, I've been at the foundation now for about three and a half years, having no prior experience in the motorcycling or powersports industry, that I have never met a more genuine or passionate group of individuals. There is so much good that this group wants to do and is already doing. To your point earlier, Heather, some of these groups have been doing charity components for so long, but they don't expect you know, the recognition. So it would just be if you have an interest in some type of charity to start those conversations. It never hurts to ask. There's lots of great causes out there, but let us recognize the important work that you're doing for your community. We need more advocates for all the good that's happening. So just reach out, start those conversations and know that we are so grateful for everything that the powersports and industry and the riding community does. And I always say in my work that I am going to get to say one day the riding community cured brain tumors and I feel very confident I'll get to say that someday. I love that. And you hit on a key piece in there too about many of these individuals not expecting recognition. And as a PR person, I have to remind them that like bragging isn't bad. You know, like we do need to tell the good stories that are happening out there. And especially in today's climate, like we want to be sharing more positive stories. And so yes, you may not want to draw attention to your organization because it feels like you're boasting, but really. We want motorcycling and powersports to be shared in a larger way and to have multiple stories shared online that we can point to and say like the motorcycle industry is doing positive things. And so I think that people are often shy about doing that or sometimes, you know, we get that negative attention. And if we try to go back and say, well, for the past 15 years, we've been doing this so well, it's almost like a little too late. for that. Like you have to be sharing the good news consistently over time. That way if one little negative thing comes about, you can kind of brush it off and be able to point back to all the good that you've done. So as a PR person, I definitely encourage everybody to uh kind of shout their achievements and donations and community involvement more. Absolutely, and there's so much good being done. uh And it may not have been sort of the way of the industry in the past, right? But as we move forward and the industry continues to change and evolve, I do think it'll be a key component, right? To keeping just that positive energy to inspire new riders to want to be a part of this community, which we know is a huge deal to keep the next generation interested in. why this is so important, right? It's something that you can be very passionate about as a career or a hobby, but it goes beyond just riding the motorcycle, right? It goes into changing lives. Yeah, absolutely. So if somebody wants to learn more about Ride for Kids and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, where should they go? So our website, Pediatric Brain Tremor Foundation, is curethekids.org. You can check out all our resources if you know someone in need of resources. So if you have someone in need of family, you can check out... our new patient area on there. Also with the research projects we invest in. Ride4kids.org is also a landing page where you can learn more about our program, the events that we do have going on. There is a webpage on there you can fill out or a form that will get your contact information directly to me. But also you can find my email address on that website. Feel free to reach out directly to me. Yeah, and I will be sure to include all those links in the show notes and I will also include the links to the generating positive PR training that I did for event organizers. So if that's something that you guys are interested in checking out, whether you've done charitable causes or not before with your events that we can always get started today. So. I want to check that out Heather. Yeah, thank you. Thanks to everybody for tuning into Momentum. This has been a production of High Gear Success. If you want to connect or recommend a guest, head to MomentumMotorsportsPodcast.com. Until next time, keep the momentum rolling.