It’s official! Al Gore at the Leukemia Cup

In July 10’s ‘Lectronic Latitude, we posted the exciting news that former Vice President Al Gore had accepted Tom Perkins’ invitation to be the keynote speaker for this fall’s Leukemia Cup Regatta, hosted by San Francisco YC on September 19-20. Unfortunately, Gore’s office hadn’t given approval for the news to be released at that point, and when a former VP says "Take it down!", by golly, you take it down.

So now we’re happy to re-announce that Gore — who is also an environmental activist, author and Nobel Peace Prize winner — will be speaking at a VIP reception and dinner at San Francisco YC on September 19. The event is ‘invitation only’, with seats reserved for sponsors and top fundraisers who contribute or raise $1,000. Organizers are understandably expecting the talk to be a sell-out.

The San Francisco event is just one of 38 Leukemia Cup Regattas across the country — but it’s the one that rakes in the most donations. Last year, more than $663,000 was raised, beating out the next closest event by $371,000. Of course, competition shouldn’t be the primary goal when fundraising — but we are taking about racers here, and the end result is more money for a good cause.