Movember 2015

[Zwartie]

FJers,


We're already more than half way through the month of November (or Movember) but i figure it's not too late to get the message out. I also figure that the majority of members in this forum align well with the target audience of this worthy cause. I'm doing my part this year by growing a moustache (not pretty!) for the month as well as committing to spending at least 30 minutes every day being physically active. I'll post some pics of my progress (mogress) shortly.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the Movember Cause but just as a refresher, here are some key points that may include a few things you didn't know:

Movember focuses on "changing the face of men's health". Men's health is a crisis....a sad statistic is that men die 6 years younger than women. 

Movember started in 2003 with 30 MoBros in Australia, there are now over 5 million MoBros and MoSistas to date.

Over $677 million raised worldwide since 2003, funding over 1,000 programs focusing on prostate cancer, testicular cancer, men's mental health and physical inactivity. Canada raised 24.1 million in 2014.

Prostate Cancer
1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lives.  That becomes 1 in 5 if they are African American or Caribbean decent.  Prostate cancer is 90% curable if caught early so it is important to get your yearly exam once you turn 40.  EARLY DETECTION IS THE KEY! It is also important to "know your number" which is a PSA test that gives you a baseline (raised psa # is a sign of a problem...not 100% accurate but a good line of defense)

Testicular Cancer
Most prevalent cancer in men ages 15-29.  Completely curable if caught early....again...EARLY DETECTION IS THE KEY! Important to talk to young men about monthly self checks!!

Mental Health
We need to erase the stigma, especially for men who are taught to be tough, and be strong that it is okay to talk about depression and mental illness.
1 in 10 men will experience major depression in their lives.
¾ of all suicides are men.  There are more suicide attempts by women, but men unfortunately are more successful at it.

Physical Inactivity
We've all heard...sitting is the new smoking.
Only 1 in 4 Canadian men met the exercise guidelines of 150 minutes of exercise per week.

What do our MoSistas Do?
Women are the ones men feel comfortable talking to (we hope)
Women are the ones who push to go to the doctor's (maybe even make the appointment)
Women are the ones who encourage men on their moustache growing journeys
We hope that if women become comfortable talking about prostates and testicles, it'll make it easier for men to do the same
Women raise money and spread awareness!

KEY POINTS
• GET YOUR YEARLY CHECK UP
• DON'T BE AFRAID TO TALK ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESS....LET'S ERASE THE STIGMA
• SELF CHECKS FOR TESTICULAR CANCER
• GET UP AND MOVE!
• SPREAD AWARENESS!  MONEY IS NICE BUT OUR FOCUS IS GETTING THE AWARENESS OUT THERE ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF YEARLY CHECK UPS AND DISCUSSIONS AROUND MEN'S HEALTH.

You can donate by:
Donating online at http://mobro.co/zwartie
-OR-
Writing a cheque to 'Movember Canada', referencing my registration ID: 672778 and mailing it to: Movember Canada, 119 Spadina Avenue, PO Box 65, Toronto, ON M5T 2T2

Thanks again for your support!


Please note that Movember is an international movement so you an also make a donation to the Movember movement in the country of your choosing. Go to www.movember.com and select your country.

[Zwartie]

Nov 1 - Clean Shaven on Day 1


Nov 9 - The awkward, just getting itchy phase


Nov 17 - I call this the Hipster Amish look

[FJmonkey]

You seem to be missing getting the fertilizer up top. Only the lower 40 is growing... Or is that cultivated and manscaped?

[Pat Conlon]

Thanks Ben for the public service announcement. A nobel cause.

Can you help me?

I have visited the Mobro website and reviewed the Finincial outline. I have several questions about how much of the donated money actually gets invested vs how much is siphoned off for salaries and overhead.
For example, are the Board members paid? Exactly where is the money spent? No generalities please.

In the USA 501(c)3 tax exempt charities are required to have this Finincial information compiled by a third party Certified Public Accountants (CPA) and provided to potential donors. I can find no evidence that Mobro has done this.

I'm not aware of Canadian laws regarding charities, perhaps this is not a requirement, but here in the States we have had our share of scams. Please understand I'm not implying that this is the case here.

Thank you

[edit] I found part of it: https://us.movember.com/about/money/
         Funding ratio of 17% , $20.1 million collected in 2014,
$3.5 million went to overhead of which $1.01 million went to salaries, no further specifics.
         No specifics on disbursements to organizations.

[Zwartie]

Pat,

Not a problem. I completely understand that there are many charities out there with extremely high administration costs. According to the Movember 2014 global annual report, for every dollar raised 13 cents are spent on fundraising costs and 4 cents on administration costs. 83 cents per dollar raised goes to funding men's health programs. you can download the financial reports from the following site: https://ca.movember.com/about/annual-report

What I also appreciate about Movember is that much of the money raised goes to fund local programs. One of my colleagues is on the board for the London, ON fundraising  team. I'll ask him for more supporting info and will post it tomorrow.

Zwartie

[Zwartie]

The rules state that the mustache cannot be connected to a beard or sideburns so yes, there is some manscaping going on. Last year I went with the classic handlebar mustache and it was uuuuugly! This isn't much better but then no one ever said fighting cancer is pretty.

You seem to be missing getting the fertilizer up top. Only the lower 40 is growing... Or is that cultivated and manscaped?

[Zwartie]

Pat,

Here's some additional information on where the money goes: https://ca.movember.com/report-cards

Let me know if you need anything else.

Zwartie

Pat,

Not a problem. I completely understand that there are many charities out there with extremely high administration costs. According to the Movember 2014 global annual report, for every dollar raised 13 cents are spent on fundraising costs and 4 cents on administration costs. 83 cents per dollar raised goes to funding men's health programs. you can download the financial reports from the following site: https://ca.movember.com/about/annual-report

What I also appreciate about Movember is that much of the money raised goes to fund local programs. One of my colleagues is on the board for the London, ON fundraising  team. I'll ask him for more supporting info and will post it tomorrow.

Zwartie

[Pat Conlon]

Thanks Ben, I saw that report card. They're general mission statements but no specifics.
For example: Who cashes the checks? For how much? For what specific research?

[Zwartie]

Great questions Pat. Let me look into that and I'll get back to you. in the mean time I thought I would post this picture of a "Movembeer".

Thanks Ben, I saw that report card. They're general mission statements but no specifics.
For example: Who cashes the checks? For how much? For what specific research?

[Troyskie]

G'day Ben,
Regardless of any donations, you've achieved the aim of the event, which is to raise awareness.
Well done.
Troyskie.

[Zwartie]

Pat,

You can get more info on where the money goes at https://us.movember.com/about/money

Should that not provide the answers you are looking for, at the bottom-right corner of the screen you an click on "Mo Team Live Chat" and ask a Movember representative your questions directly.

Zwartie

Thanks Ben, I saw that report card. They're general mission statements but no specifics.
For example: Who cashes the checks? For how much? For what specific research?

[Zwartie]

In case anyone is interested in learning about the humble beginnings of Movember and how it grew (pun intended) to the global movement that it is today:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yQvbKfEKLMI

Zwartie