When I think of Event 360 lore, one of my very favorite traditions is the Thanksgiving Day email Event 360 co-founder Mike “Murph” Murphy sends to the whole company. Every year, I hole up by myself for a few minutes to escape the toasty kitchen, my extended family and turkey preparations, and spend a few, quiet minutes reading Murph’s recap of the year gone by.
In years past, Murph’s Thanksgiving Day email has examined current events and mused on cultural phenomenon. It has had multi-level analogies, advice, thoughts, family updates, quotes, song recommendations, and more. It is a tradition that somehow beautifully manifests the uniqueness of each year into a tangible record—one that is immortalized forever in Calibri, size 11 font, addressed to “All Company.”
Multiple times throughout this year, as each unprecedented challenge, hurdle, and triumph has occurred, I’ve thought to myself, “What will Murph’s 2020 email unpack?”
2020 has been an “unprecedented” year. I think I can safely speak for everyone when I say that we have experienced enough “unprecedented” to last for a long while. And though we are not yet at the end of this difficult tunnel we’ve collectively found ourselves in, there is a light at the end of it.
So, to you, the Event 360 family—past, present, and future—our clients, our peer-to-peer fundraising industry colleagues, and all those just generally doing GOOD out there: Thank you. This 2020 tunnel would have been the darkest of dark without you. You’ve brought us hope, a sense of community, innovation, and true gratitude for the way you’ve faced adversity in 2020.
So while this year’s setting for reading Murph’s Thanksgiving Day email will just be my couch with immediate family members from my household, I’ll quietly sneak upstairs to read Murph’s recap of the year gone by—one that I am sure will so articulately reflect the pain, sorrow, gratitude, and joy of 2020—a year unlike any other.
You could almost say it’s “unprecedented.”
Katie Zupancic Wymer (LinkedIn, Twitter) is the Senior Manager, Digital Marketing at Event 360. She manages digital marketing strategy, social media strategy, and sponsorship.
