We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christopher Saribekian. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christopher below.

Alright, Christopher thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry? Any stories or anecdotes that illustrate why this matters?

When it comes to Philanthropy, true honest charitable giving and aid, Corporate America falls short of the purpose. Not all, but many organizations that contribute to various causes do it for a multitude of reasons. Many of which deceive the notion of why we chase these missions in the first place. Whether it be a tax deduction to help the bottom line, or the image of giving to make their organization appear bigger and better, the skewed mentality of why we support charity with millions of dollars every year is tarnishing the idea as a whole.

From a young age I was taught to be generous and kind. Growing up in the Chicagoland area, I was surrounded by a culture filled with diversity. My time in school included an education that involved volunteering in the community or helping with a telethon fundraiser. Fast forward to 2010 where I joined an organization that would drive cars across the country in an effort to fundraise for non-profits on a much larger scale. This would continue for almost a decade before I would visit Camp Sunshine and meet the children. Seeing them all that day would forever change my view on philanthropy. I knew at that exact moment this was something I wanted to continue. I wanted to make a difference and change the world for the better.

Less than a year later, Mayhem Racing Charities was founded. As we grew, I learned quickly how many people in society take for granted their health or abilities, their status, or their livelihood. While attempting to partner with other individuals or even businesses, the common theme of how their contribution benefits them stands out. The sole purpose of why we were having the discussion was to help others. Don’t get me wrong, I want to see your businesses succeed and grow. I am always more than happy to help anyone grow their business, But when the conversation is more about their company gains and not the benefit of their actions, you have to wonder what causes this. Why are we so focused on ourselves while pretending to care so much about others?

Corporate America needs to take a step back and realize its mistakes to change this mindset. Change it for the benefit of everyone else and not its bottom line. Because of this, Mayhem Racing Charities screens our sponsorships for those with similar charitable concepts and ideas. We search for authentic organizations supporting local causes and what they believe in, not the dollar amount or image it produces. It may take longer to get our message across or even to grow, but deep down we know it is pure and mission driven the entire way.

Christopher, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Mayhem Racing Charities is a non-profit organization in the Denver Metro area with the sole purpose of helping others within our community through various causes. We partner with local organizations to fund our day to day mission whether financially, through in-kind donations, or volunteering. We host automotive themed fundraisers at various venues such as car shows, parades, and car rallies. For those who have never seen or heard of a car rally, it is an event that takes a large number of vehicles and travels to multiple locations, sometimes within a city, or sometimes across the country or even internationally.

We partner with numerous organizations and businesses for each event to help offset costs and also generate additional funds for the recipient charity. We have multiple forms of sponsorship opportunities to best suit each organization and provide the best use of the funds to aid in our mission of helping others.

Our most well known event, ColoRETRO, an 80’s & 90’s Car Show, brings in cars of all styles while taking us back 30 and 40 years to a time filled with electronic pop music, red car interiors, hand-crank windows, neon colored clothes, weird candy, or tv shows lined with iconic cars. Held at Riverdale Ridge High School, the students volunteer to raise funds for their Theatre Program. With an iconic Costume Contest, it’s no surprise the Theatre Students take it seriously. They also bring in their personal cars to compete for trophies, and sell raffle tickets for the RAD’est of prizes!

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Mayhem Racing Charities is a passion project for me. I care deeply about its mission of helping others, and the success it carries forward in motivating volunteers. This was never a ‘career’ for me as I already work a full-time 80+hr/week job with another organization in the utility industry. However, as MRC has grown over the past three years, I now see myself wanting to pursue a full-time presence in the organization to further its role in society. The main milestone in doing so would be to secure enough funding through sponsorships to allow for a salary significant enough to resign from my current position. We all have bills to pay. That’s nothing new to anyone. But in that, I want to ensure MRC is established well enough and has a proper cashflow before I consider employment full-time. It is a challenge, and it may change overnight, but until then I believe in the cause more than my employment.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Networking, networking, networking.

I meet new people daily. I teach people daily about MRC. What we do, How it’s done. What it needs, But I build a relationship with those people. And when that relationship blossoms into a professional partnership, I surround it with loyalty. My consistent relationships manifest their own network of new clients & sponsors. Having another person vouch and set you up before an introduction is even made is critical. I attend events and involve myself in discussions to expand that network. And in that, it is exponential. 1 relationship becomes 5, and those 5 become 100. And it grows and grows. The best thing you can say to a person in this world is ‘Hello.’

Contact Info:

• Website: www.MayhemRacingCharities.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mayhemracingcharities/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mayhemracingcharities

Image Credits
no credits.