（日本語版はこちら）
Ricardo Ernst is a professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He is also one of Room to Read’s most significant fundraisers for the Tokyo Marathon. An avid runner, he initially joined the marathon to complete the six Abbott World Marathon Majors. This led him to explore possible charity organizations to run for, and Room to Read captured his attention immediately as one that resonated with him. As a longtime professor, he strongly believes in the importance of education and teaching children to read. Professor Ernst officially joined our cause last year; he raised the donation equivalent to literacy education for 200 children for the 2024 marathon and is in the process of doing so again this year. We recently asked him to share his thoughts on his running and fundraising success.
How did you become so passionate about running?
I began running later in life after I moved to the United States from Venezuela and saw everyone around me going on runs. “Running is a challenge to yourself with yourself.” I slowly built my way up to trying out international marathons, and now I have run 19 marathons in total and have finished 5 of the 6 Abbott Marathons.
That’s great! Do you have any advice for those new to running/marathons?
Running is all mental and about endurance. You need to set personal targets and challenge yourself. My advice is to push yourself to go for the run in the moment. It’s so easy to put it off for another day, but you’ll come back from the run feeling great. To me, “running is an incredible personal reward.” It’s a great way of staying healthy and exploring new places and countries!
As one of our best fundraisers, can you discuss what your fundraising experience was like last year?
“First, I believe it is important to have…passion for what you do.” It was easy for me to write messages to people since I believe so deeply in using education to help people. And when I put the messages up on LinkedIn and Facebook, random people commented, and the money started pouring in. I knew a lot of people from teaching at Georgetown for 37 years; I taught more than 80,000 students! I then began targeting those I knew could donate larger amounts (by sharing more about my passion for what Room to Read does) and was able to convince more and more people.
Amazing! What do you see as the key tactics behind your success?
Conviction. “To convince, you need conviction.” You need to have passion for the cause, because your message needs to reach donors “in a very genuine way.” It’s also important to use media outlets. And then, you need to insist. Many people will claim they will support and not follow through, and you can’t let them off the hook. But instead of making the donors feel guilty, you should make them feel happy, so that “they are giving because they feel they’re doing something good…for the world.” Finally, it’s important to set a target. Having a clear goal both motivates you and makes it easier to convince others to contribute.
Although he only recently joined our organization last year, Professor Ernst is deeply committed. Hear about his passion for fundraising for Room to Read in his own words in the video below!
Interviewer:
Claire Ozeki is an undergraduate student at Georgetown University and an intern at Room to Read Japan.
Your donation to Ricardo Ernst’ page will be an investment in children’s futures. Thank you for your support!