[Closed] You lot got any ideas for fund raising, bike related?

How about John O'groats to Landsend bike ride

Why not start trading cheap bike bits bought on here for significant mark-up on Ebay?

Ok - excuse me if I miss the point but why is this charity? What public good comes from it? Why should others pay for a holiday for you?

TJ beat me too it, they mention fieldwork but not the purpose of it or it's proposed outcome

i knew someone would say that haha john o groats lands end

ah here you go, hidden in their rather poor website

BSES collaborates with a range of scientific research institutions from universities and world-respected scientists; to in-country NGOs and conservation organisations. Recently these have included the Wildlife Conservation Society, the University of Stirling, Conservation International, The Institute of Physics and an involvement in the International Polar Year. By working with academic institutions on long term science programmes we can add value to the science we offer and enable our Young Explorers to make a real contribution. Our work has contributed to a number of academic publications

as you were

thanks....i knewsomebody wpuld do all that.. so anybody else got any ideas?

For sure mrmichealwright - but in value for money terms? Good experience for the people doing it and may even provide some data for researchers but its a very expensive way of getting that data.

indeed it is, I wholly object to using my money to fund people gallivanting off on the holiday of a lifetime for the purposes of raising money for charity or scientific research

up to others what they want to do with their own money though

anybody got any ideas though???? dont worry about money!

Give the lad a break - he was asking for idea's, not your money. I suppose it is just continueing todays trend of having a go at folk on the forums though.

no one?

There are a few grant-making trusts who may provide some support to individual people doing charitable activities. Suggest you go to a reference library as they will probably have various directories of grant-making trusts.

There are also a few databases of these trusts (Funderfinder and Grantfinder are two) - suggest approach your local CVS organisations (see www.navca.org.uk for details of your local one) who may have subscriptions to these databases.

I did something similar many years ago. I sold my possessions to raise money go on the trip.

TJ - just leave it now mate, you're not funny and come across as being a right tit.

Willy,
if you and your mate are any good at fixing bikes, you could set up stands in towns or trail centres, with info on your excursion and do bike repairs to raise the money for your trip?
Howzaaaat!

Matt

I suppose it is just continueing todays trend of having a go at folk on the forums though.

Or it's continuing another trend of trying to obtain free money.

Willy - you'd be better off working out how much cash you are prepared to put in - say £1,000 each - and then trying to raise the balance. It would show commitment on your part, and give confidence to those from who you are asking for money.

As a general principle, though, I think people are becoming a little tired of having to fund activities people would like to do anyway. If you told me you planning on doing something you truly hated (or had a phobia of), then I'd be more inclined to put my hand in my pocket than if you said "I love riding my bike. Will you give me money for riding my bike?".

Organise a freeride/fun day at your local dh track. Everyone who attends pays a tenner and brings some food/beer/ possible barbeque etc. Make it a light hearted mess about type affair.

My kids (four of them) have never left the UK. How about a whip round to contribute towards... oh no. hang on.

My dad did lots of fund raising for school minibuses and church roofs and stuff. Extended trips - riding a tandem with a blind bloke from Bradford on Avon to Bradford. Shorter stuff - riding back from Grimsby to Bradford with a fish on his bike.

He said "people will give you the same whether you do something epic, or ride down the road with a tin of peas on your head".

LEJOG (hate that) or whatever, pointless - and further waste of money (presuming you've pull expenses out of funds raised?)

How about riding one of the runs at Wharncliffe, naked. I'd give you £50 for that, even if it is for your holiday.

itchy - I ain't the only one who feels as I do - he is asking for tips on how to raise money - thats how I did it. £2000 raised by selling my possessions.

For once I have to agree with TJ. All too often we are asked to donate to a "good cause", which involves the recipient of our monies just going off on a holiday at our expense. I was asked to sponsor someone going on a bike ride across Jordan. They had to raise £2000, but the ride was free???

Most of these so called opportunities of a lifetime are little more than holidays, and I see no reason why the general public should pay for them. If it is genuinely educational, well we pay enough tax for skulesnospitals. If it's for genuine research then someone somewhere will be getting the benefit of the work, so they can pay.

If it's little more than a holiday then the tripper should get off their ar$es and earn the money, before they agree to go.

Get a job, save money, go on your holiday to the Arctic. It's how most people do it. Or sell all of your possessions like TJ did.

If anyone has any spare cash and wants to help some really unfortunate kids with cancer then you're welcome to donate to my CLIC24 fundraising. I can assure you that as I'll be riding it solo, no fun will be involved, in fact I expect it to hurt quite a lot 🙂

[url= http://www.justgiving.com/simondbarnes ]www.justgiving.com/simondbarnes[/url]

I can assure you that as I'll be riding it solo

Naked Solo, Simon?

Depends on the weather Brant 😉

While I agree it seems a bit unfair to ask for funding of your personal holiday (that has good outcomes) I have to say that it does a) contribute to the experience of the young people involved (assuming they are young people, not career-following adults!) and is often life-changing, and b) very few people bother to get off their arse and try to do such things - the fact that these places are available means that their input is needed and valued and often grants/bodies will match funding etc.I think its worth supporting and encouraging people to get off their arse and look for their ambitions, rather than sit in playing playstation all day and developing a smoking/drinking habit instead.

I personally wouldnt give as I'd like to do it myself and save for such things, but some people are not in a position to do so, £2K is a lot for a teenager to get hold of and they probably wont own enough possessions to sell second hand to make that back. Personally when I was that age I'd have had to work at least 2 years worth of summer holidays and sell all my possessions and bearly eat let alone pay rent to my parents to make that sort of spare cash.

Do a cycle tour of the UK doing stand up as you go, see:

http://road.cc/content/news/2430-dave-gorman-goes-pedal-powered-2009

record his gig, learn it on ipod as you ride, ride faster then dave gorman, cut hair short and grow beard,
turn up ahead of him and say you are dave gorman and you have a cyclist stalker do gig, take appearence fee and ride to next gig... they'll never know...

Nice one Willy by getting on the BSES exped. It is sure to be a great trip.

Just ignore the misers that have no imagination. Yes you could sell most of your possessions, but what would that leave you when you get back? Plus I assume part of the challenge is raising the cash - just selling stuff defeats the object in my opinion.

As 'ourmaninthenorth' said, work out what proportion of the money is paying for the trip, and what proportion you have raise for charity (i assume this is set by BSES). Try and pay for the trip yourself, but use fund-raising methods to gather money for the charities. It will help if you make it clear that the money people donate will be going to these charities, and is not just going to help you have a good time.

Give the guy a break. All the OP is asking for is ideas for fund raising which you can come up with whilst idling away at your desks, not (god forbid) dip in your pockets and offer any kind of financial assistance yourself. Whilst a lot of gap/year out projects have little tangible benefit for those involved and [b]are[/b] simply holidays which may not deserve to be funded by others, something like this would be tricky to get involved with, and the area is not that easy to get to unless you have money to burn. Although this area of the world is accessible, it does cost significant money to get there. Having worked in pretty much the exact location that this 'expedition' is concerned with, there are little options to access this environment unless you A) Have skills and know what you're doing, plus funding to get there. B) Have loads of cash and can pay for a guide. C) Get a place on a research trip or are are involved in military training in the area. Assuming the OP is a teenager, I'd imagine that A and B are out of the equation.

So, as for your question Willy, here are a few starters... ask BSES for all their tips. Use any contacts of friends/relatives/parents, write to local businesses asking for a small contribution £50(?) in return for a report/slideshow when you get back. If you're from a small community organise something in the area that local people can get involved in (ceilidh, film night, put some bands on...), again maybe offer them something tangible in return when you get back. Get your facebook mates to donate a fiver each for you to do something humiliating.

Be realistic about the amount you will raise- if you aim for say 60%, split it down into targets, so people can see just how much their contribution will make a difference. Publicise your efforts in local press. When organising things and requesting help do it as professionally as possible- no half-arsed letters etc. And you should get a job, or 3 and work like an idiot to make up the rest.

Finally, it's a fantastic part of the world to have the opportunity to go to, not especially extreme in any sense during the summer months, but pretty incredible all the same.

Good Luck.

cheers lads!! after a slow start and some miserly comments theres some good help in there!! keep it comin if anyone has any other ideas always welcome ot hear more.

Oh, you might think you'll need money for gear too, but you can probably borrow most things you don't already have (biking kit is pretty handy) for summer conditions over there. Ask local shops/manufacturers for damaged/test kit or sponsorship (montane? berghaus?) if there is anything outstanding. Don't expect the public to contribute to gear.

And if you were to make more than the allocated amount, consider where you'd donate it. A local thing to you, and something in Finnmark would make sense- not sure where though, if there is a community near the base that have any charitable things going on, or a local Sami initiative perhaps...?

posted my last post before i read yor crouch that sounds excellent! ill certianly give a lot of thosethings a go. the getting much of a full on job thing is kind of hard though as im at uni 5 days a week doing first yea architecture wich is quite demanding but i have applied for a few and am trying to get one yeah. im hoping to do some kind of marathon in april wich will be a good help i think and i think writing to trusts and companis would be cool, never thought of the writing to copanies and offering something like a slideshow etc.. thanks alot. btw i 18 so some things mentioned in peoples posts not quite possible:(

Make it clear to potential sponsors that you are covering all the trip expenses from your own pocket, that way they'll be more inclined to donate.