Entrepreneur inspired by impact of the polytechnic and a paperclip
What would you trade for a red lollipop? We’re not talking about a “three licks to the centre” Tootsie Pop. This one is fancy: an elegant, six-inch swirl in shades of scarlet and white.
Rob LeLacheur (Marketing ’94) hopes you’d trade something that’s worth roughly twice as much. And then he hopes that someone else will double up again for whatever the lollipop lands him, and so on, and so on.
That’s the essence of his fundraising campaign, launching on Feb. 24 in the style of the 2005 One Red Paperclip Project, where Canadian blogger Kyle McDonald traded up to a farmhouse. At the end of 55 days – a nod to LeLacheur’s content marketing company, Road 55 (Feb. 24 is also the 55th day of the year) – he’ll auction off, if not a farmhouse, whatever he’s managed to score.
That money will go to support NAIT scholarships for students. LeLacheur intends to run the campaign annually, a gesture in keeping with a history of community building.
LeLacheur is currently the volunteer chair of the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce and a mentor and coach for aspiring student businesspeople at NAIT’s Mawji Centre for New Venture and Student Entrepreneurship.
The Distinguished Alumni Award recipient has also given time to various economic development, arts and minor sports initiatives, and shared his expertise as part of program advisory committees for the polytechnic.
LeLacheur’s not bothered that there may be easier ways to raise money for a cause than bartering against the odds. We asked him how he’ll lick the challenge ahead, what sweet success may look like, and why he thinks community members will step up to make a deal.
techlifetoday: Why go this route for fundraising, modelled after the red paperclip?
Rob LeLacheur: Our team at Road 55 talked about different ways we might create an event to raise some money. We knew we couldn't do the bigger events, like a golf tournament, and we wanted to come up with something that was manageable as well as unique.
Why do you think it might appeal to people?
I feel it is different from other fundraising initiatives and one that feels very in line with Road 55. We like to create fun, engaging content and this feels like it will be a great fit, and something we can repeat each year. But it will be different each time as we're trading up with different people or businesses and different items.
How will it work?
I'm aiming to try to make eight to 10 trades over the 55-day campaign. So we will have to make a trade roughly every five to seven days, which seems like a good pace.
We'll be proactive, reaching out to people we know, and also reactive, open to everyone as we reveal each trade and encourage people to contact us if they want to trade for the item we have. There will be some negotiating, and there will be times where I'll get a lead on something someone would be willing to trade.
For each trade, we'll be doing our best to find something that increases the value at least two-fold – and obviously it has to be interesting and valuable.
For each trade, we'll be doing our best to find something that increases the value at least two-fold.
What kind of content will we see over the course of the campaign?
We'll post a video to our socials of us and the person or business that we're doing the trade with each week.
What is your goal?
We bought the lollipop for $15 so, if we double each time, it will be in the $4,000-to-$15,000 range. For this first year, I'm hoping to raise over $5,000.
How will you auction off the final item?
Connections, posts on social media, Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and so on – whatever we can do to sell it for the highest value so we can turn that into scholarship money.
What impact do you hope this has on students?
I'm sure we'll shape the scholarships more as we move forward but for now I’m hoping that it helps students reduce some of the investment needed for their diploma or degree. We want to do scholarships for the Media Communications and Production radio and television programs, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship.
What made you want to do this campaign now?
I’ve had the idea for a while and figured it was time to try to make it work. I've seen lots of businesses supporting NAIT and have always admired that. This was a way for us to start giving back.
NAIT is very important to me. My dad went to NAIT, I went to NAIT, two of my kids went there. It has helped shape a lot of who I am – from attending the school to my continued involvement.
Overall, how are you feeling about the prospect of this project?
I’m a little nervous about having to make the trades, but I'm committed to putting it out there, making the contacts, and doing all we can to promote it.
We want to have as much fun as we can with the campaign, and we’ll do all we can to give it the best chance of success.