Not everybody is that stoked about the annual Salvador Dali impersonators that occur in November. Heck, I even judged the manager at Checkers for it yesterday.

Anyways, this is a deeper look into the original charity’s attempt to stay relevant.

The idea grew its first hairy roots in a 1999 Adelaide pub. Inspired by a few “bevvies” and a love for animals, the goal was to raise money for the RSPCA, with an original tagline of:

Growing whiskers for whiskers.

Things moved fast from there and it became a worldwide phenomenon by 2003, reports The Telegraph, the year in which a separate group founded the Movember Foundation charity, an organisation with the aim of raising money for prostate cancer. People seemed to like this initiative, and the money started flowing in:

The campaign has since raised more than £440m for research into men’s health issues, shifting its focus from prostate male cancer to male health in general

But what’s the consensus today? Are members of the male composition still growing moustaches in November? And if so, why? Let’s hear from the CEO of the Movember Foundation, Owen Sharp:

‘Movember has been a victim of its own success. When we started out – ten years ago in the UK – the act of growing facial hair was pretty unusual. Now it’s become commonplace.’

He seems pretty positive. However, he does admit to seeing the other end of the spectrum:

At the same time, he’s also aware that the movement’s momentum is slowing, squeezed by the emergence of other charity months such as Dry January, Stoptober and Decembeard.

Charity and volunteering journal, Third Sector, did the research and showed that Movember Europe’s income dropped by 60% from 2013 to 2015. Sharp explains that:

“It’s not so much a case of charity fatigue,” he continues.

“It’s more about there being so many more causes out there now. The UK and worldwide public continue to be incredibly generous, we just need to ensure that the reason why Movember matters most is still made clear.”

The foundation is launching two new innovations this year. First up is the ‘Move’ challenge with an aim of getting people to carry out physical activities to raise funds. Second is the ‘Host’ initiative, which entails events such as “barbecues and charity football tournaments” to be run by fundraisers.

With the campaign kicking off yesterday, The Telegraph gives us some more intel about the 12-hour “shave-a-thon” to shave 360 men:

That 360 figure represents every man who will die by suicide in the month of Movember. The mass shave also coincided with the release of a survey of 4,000 adults from Australia, Canada, UK and USA on the subject of “Life Without Men”

Nice work, guys, I might even consider getting rid of mine, because, after all, we at 2OV still believe it’s a very good cause to champion and think you should all get onboard this year again. Check out the official local campaign here.

[source:telegraph]