Photo by James Patrick

The term “greenwashing” has been kicking around the business world lately.

In short, it means that a company is untruthful about its accomplishments or missions towards sustainability, ethics, or social responsibility. Whether the claims it makes are completely false, are in misalignment with its actions, or are actually doing more harm than good, greenwashing damages a company’s reputation and destroys customer trust and loyalty.

So, how can you do good for your community in an authentic way that people can trust? According to Victoria, BC-based fitness and running expert Yana Hempler, it’s a mix of true passion, following through on your word, and crafting a hook that media outlets will find irresistible.

When the pandemic hit, Yana was awestruck by the relentless work and dedication she saw carried out by healthcare staff.  “I admired the work of our doctors and nurses and how much they help people, so I wanted to show them that there are people in the community who value their contribution,” she says.

To do this, she created an initiative to run 30 marathons in 30 days to raise funds for her local healthcare network, the Victoria Hospitals Foundation. “The pandemic was like a marathon for them, so I decided to run marathons for multiple days in a row to raise funds for the hospital foundation so that they could purchase life-saving equipment,” she says. This cause had a reason to be even closer to her heart: Back in 2019, healthcare staff saved her best friend’s life. It was clear that Yana’s goal to give back had an undeniably strong purpose.

Yana’s hook practically wrote itself: “30 marathons in 30 days to raise funds for a local hospital.” Media outlets were champing at the bit to talk to her. “I contacted the media and told them what I was doing, where I was doing it, when I was doing it, and why I was doing it,” she says. “At the time, it was a fairly unusual initiative, which is why media professionals decided to open my email, particularly because I was doing it for a great local charity that I genuinely care about.”

In 2021, Yana Hempler ran 30 marathons in 30 days to raise funds for the Victoria Hospitals Foundation. Her initiative resulted in almost $100,000 in donations for the healthcare network.

But Yana didn’t rely solely on having a great hook – she’d also done her homework. “I developed relationships with the folks in the media by reading and watching their work to ensure that I was contacting the right journalist about the initiative,” she says.

At this point, donations started to snowball. “The initiative got a lot of local media coverage which inspired more people to donate, and also inspired some media folks to reach out to me for interviews,” she says. “So initially, I was the one who was contacting the media and following up, but towards the end, I had media reaching out to me.” Yana also posted daily shareable content on Instagram and Facebook, leading her audience to become even larger, which drove donations higher.

In the end, Yana raised nearly $100,000 for the Victoria Hospitals Foundation.

She says that while the initiative netted her personal benefits such as increased followers on social and new coaching clients, these gains pale in comparison to what her real mission was: “It’s important to note that I didn’t do it to benefit me. I genuinely wanted to help our hospitals and to show our healthcare heroes that there are people in the community who value their work,” she says.

So how can you get started on using your brand to build a better community? Yana says to come at it by being all heart. “Start by thinking about a cause that you are genuinely passionate about and that you care the most for,” she says. “Think about why you care for that cause, and be vocal about it when you decide to start an initiative. It must be something so important to you that your passion shines through every social media post that you do and every email that you send out to media professionals.”