[Closed] charity ride issue

Fairly typical of these events.

If you want to raise money for your own ride then there is nothing to stop you doing so. I wouldn't ride along with the "organised" group though - that's just taking the piss.

FWIW, I did a LeJog a few years back with Marie Curie Cancer Care. Minimum entry fee was £2,250 and around half of that went to the support costs and half to the charity itself. I was wary of asking folk to sponsor me knowing that only half went to Marie Curie so I paid all of the £2,250 myself and any sponsorship I got also went directly to Marie Curie. You can argue (with some validity) that I could have ridden the whole thing myself and given even more to the charity, but I don't know that I would have attempted such a thing on my own.

how is riding on a public road taking the piss--surely as long as i do not avail myself of any of the 'snacks/drinks- i am merely keeping company--it does make an arduous event bearable.

There will be many people doing the thing, i just object strongly to the making of money out of peoples good will- it means the lions share goes to the organisers and everyone feels good because they think they are helping a charity --when in fact they are helping a commercial company.

You asked "is that unreasonable?" so you already had your own doubts. I've given you my opinion.

how is riding on a public road taking the piss--surely as long as i do not avail myself of any of the 'snacks/drinks- i am merely keeping company--it does make an arduous event bearable.

Also you don't know how much of the £250 is for the support there could be a portion of that going to charity anyway, they might just want to make sure that for everyone doing it a decent amount goes to charity in case you don't do any fund raising.

Also how do you intend to make your own way back from South Wales to North Wales? It's a mere £90 return and 8hrs by train, probably more by taxi 🙂

The other one about parts and labour is fairly obvious, otherwise you could turn up with an utter heap of a bike and suddenly for £250 it's all shiny and new again.

Off on a slight tangent (very STW of me). I still haven't made my mind up on charity rides yet.
While I think it is great that the charity gets money raised for them I can't get over the
"I'm a cyclists, please sponsor me to go on the ride of a lifetime, it's for charity"

I would sooner sponsor them to do something they don't enjoy doing.
Or is it just me

Or donate your £150 to Marie Curie/Air Ambulance etc then rather than that event if you want company on a long road ride do the Audax event of your choice.

http://www.aukweb.net/events/

I'd find out how much is paid from your sponsorship to the organisers, decide if it it's decent value for what you recieve and then pay it yourself, ensuring that all money you can raise, goes to the charity.

Very dubious of charity rides, many seem to be money makin events for the organisers with only either a small or none of the ride fee going to the charity.

IanW - I've ridden the Etape Caledonia in the past but would never do so again as NONE of the entry fee now goes to the charity!

[i]There will be many people doing the thing, i just object strongly to the making of money out of peoples good will- it means the lions share goes to the organisers and everyone feels good because they think they are helping a charity --when in fact they are helping a commercial company. [/i]

Presumably you also think anyone who works for a charity should earn no more than Minimum Wage too?

br--how do you infer that?- its the 'organisers' cut -or in this case a majority of the money,

mikesmith -its not 8hrs by train and not £90 pound- well not yet anyhow- there is a good service that takes just over 4hours from llanelli- can get the price down to £23- £44 depending on the time of year ..i do use this service .

I am also dubious of charity events and the only ones I will look at supporting are ones where all the money goes to the charity.

I will not pay for my colleagues to climb Mt Kilimanjaro with a few hundred quid going to the token charity. If they want to do it, by all means do it and pay for it yourself. If you want to raise some money on top of that then that's fine.

When I started to doing longer distance road rides and sportives I would quite often have people say something along the lines of "100 miles? Bloody hell, you should of asked for sponsorship". I would never dream of doing that, I'm doing it for fun. As for charities getting some cash, it really depends on how its marketed and sold. I have no problems with organisers covering the costs of the event and the rest going to charity, but wouldn't want the to be making and tacking on a charity aspect to raise the levels of participation. If the event is there to make you money thats fine, but don't try and pretend its a charity fund-raising ride.

I'm highly suspicious of any organised charity ride.
[url= http://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2012/jun/20/charity-bike-ride ]The 'charity' bike ride where no money goes to charity[/url]

As others have said, ride an audax of your choice, make a donation to a charity of your choice.
No need to involve anyone else who wants to take a cut.

We did the etape Pennine in 2012, only because we were going to ride with a friend - Nick Stormonth. Unfortunately he died in September 2012, so we raised money for his charity [url= http://www.nico35.co.uk/Home.html ]nico35[/url] instead,

I have no problems with organisers covering the costs of the event and the rest going to charity,

The fact that there are so many commercial companies organising charity sporting events now tells me that plenty of people are making decent money out of it. That is fine if YOU are covering the cost of the event and 100% of the sponsorship goes to charity but that is not always the case.

There is also the conversation about how much of the money raised by charities goes to people who need it and how much get used up by large numbers of staff, red tape and waste but it may be best to leave that to its own thread

I foolishly thought you would get a train from the finish of the event (Saundersfoot 40+ miles away) not having intimate knowledge of Welsh railways I went for the stations closest to the start and finish.

I have no problem with people having a go if organisers are taking the piss with prices and charity contributions but most people have no idea what running an event entails. Most of the races I see include a huge amount of unpaid time, these guys are doing it for a job.

By the sounds of the setup for this one I'd expect them to need 2-3 drivers per vehicle, at least 2 mechanics etc. just due to the duration of the event. Add in time to plan and organise stuff, administer it all, deal with multiple police forces & councils for planning and permission. Provide support vehicles buy food etc. pay a couple of medics and hire you a coach to get you all back the money adds up. Again on something like this I'd be looking to keep the numbers down to avoid having a completely strung out line of riders across most of wales which would then double the number of support crew needed.

or the short version

They want either £250! to enter -you get some flapjack, fig rolls and energy gels,a 'support' vehicle--a repair vehicle--but if you use their staff you are charged for parts and labour . You get a coach to take you back to the start , oh and a shirt thing of some description.

Pay the £250 or find out how much is just for the event and pay that.

Try and organize a charity ride yourself or do it with a couple of mates. Try and rope in a mate or two to help with support and your on your way.raise as much interest with the local press and its amazing how it all comes together.
Last year 4 of us cycled the Southern Upland Way for Macmillan Cancer Support. It cost us a couple of nights b&b for us plus support,added to that there were fuel costs for the van. If you want to raise money badly enough you won't mind a few costs out of your own pocket.
We raised £2605 of which every penny went to Macmillan. It was physically the hardest thing I've ever done.

I have no problems with organisers covering the costs of the event and the rest going to charity,

I do, especially if you don't tell your friends/colleagues that some of their money is going to pay wages rather than going to the charity they thought they were sponsoring.

Sorry, what I meant was, there are some charity rides that are organised by charities as well as donating money to them. [url= http://www.gallowayrecyclesportive.co.uk/ ]This one for instance[/url] is organised by some people I know in a rotary club. After the food that needs to be bought and the dibbers are paid for the rest goes to specified charity, in this case [url= http://killiecancycle.webs.com/ ]KillieCanCycle[/url]. That seems fair enough to me.

As for sponsored rides if the entry fee goes towards the paying of staff, equipment etc and all of your donations go to the charity, I don't see a problem with that either.

There is also the conversation about how much of the money raised by charities goes to people who need it and how much get used up by large numbers of staff, red tape and waste but it may be best to leave that to its own thread

No, you crack on, lets have the discussion, how about we start by breaking down the critique:

large numbers of staff

- unless the charity's one that just makes grants to others (of which there's plenty), most of those staff are going to be the ones delivering the services that they exist for - or should MacMillan nurses work for free, in which case who's going to feed their kids?

red tape

The alternative being that, rather than operating legally, they should ignore it all because it's cheaper? Which "red tape" should be ignored?

Health and Safety legislation maybe? Since we're not going to be paying our staff, I guess the dead ones can be replaced cheaply, although the fines might cost a bit.

All that companies house / charity commission compliance stuff? Okay, we'll ditch that. Might get struck from the register of companies but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

HMRC stuff? Well, since we're not going to have paid staff anymore, I suppose we don't need the tax / NI work done now, and we don't have to worry about corporation tax if we don't have any non-purpose trading, but it would seem a shame to miss out on gift aid since it increases the value of the funds we raise.

I suppose we could not apply for the business rates exemptions, since it's a load of red tape. Means we'll pay a load of business rates on our premises that we'd otherwise have avoided, but never mind.

waste

Yes, what with charities struggling to deliver their missions with harder and harder to find funds, they're all really wasteful and inefficient. Other than dispensing with paid staff and avoiding all those red-tape things (many of which will either make or save money), what would you suggest?

These things have always annoyed me, like sponsored Parachute jumps or Walks along the great wall of china, essentially you are asking people to pay for your holiday. Look at the London Marathon the only way most people can run it is for a charity and for some they are doing it to raise money for the charity. But for many they are raising money for charity from you to pay for for them to experience the London marathon.

I ran the Mallorca Marathon for the Stroke association after my mum had a stroke but I didn't expect anyone to pay for my flights or my entry etc.

For me if you want to raise money for charity organise it yourself and give the money to a charity your happy how the money is spent. If you want to do a parachute jump, go on a cycle holiday or do a sportive just pay for it yourself.

Seems to me that the charity is a sub contractor if you like of the organisers main event--the sportive- the cost of the sportive is £250 -unbelievable amount for a days ride really--specially with economy of scale thrown in--i don't think they have done this 24 hr type ride before--the costs won't be anywhere near that amount--if you commit to 'raising' £400 and fail you become liable to the organisers for the full £250 !

I have done sponsored rides off my own back before--not a big issue , but as this was an organised event, that someone asked if i would be willing to do in aid of the charity, thats when i looked into the terms etc--seems that the organisers are seeking to make a coin, using the charity as a cover.

So you still haven't actually found out how much of the £250 goes to the charity or the organiser then. Still guessing.

If you can organise a sportive that doesn't go in a loop, runs for over 24hrs and has rolling support cheap then go for it you will make a killing 🙂

A good friend of mine has jist started working for a charity in the last 6 months. A very competitive salary. When I think about it I can deal with that as the work she does generates a hell of a lot more revenue for them. Bit the jollys and even things like a sports therapist comes in every week to give them all rub downs, as sitting at a desk all day is bad for their backs. How much raised money pays for all this. Im very wary of all charities and the way they're run

Remember, the "jollies and things" often come free/cheap [i]because[/i] they are a charity. Individuals and companies often provide goods and services as a way of helping out in a non-cash way.

it's a big leap for a lot of people but running a business or charity is about getting the most from the people you employ and the funds you spend. If you can do that with rub downs, fruit bowls or other "nice" things then go for it.

There was something from the states about start ups where they found having a shorter working week (4 days I think) was actually better for productivity. The least productive places I have worked in are the ones where time at the desk was praised and measured above return on investment. Anyway we digress, I'm waiting to sign up for Rudebwoy's charity ride for 57p

A good friend of mine has jist started working for a charity in the last 6 months. A very competitive salary. When I think about it I can deal with that as the work she does generates a hell of a lot more revenue for them.

Apart from the competitive salary bit I know that the revenue earning bit can be true. If we put the money we raise privately into going after public funds rather than directly using it on projects we can raise 4 or 5 times the initial amount. But for people who want their own particular pound to go directly to the project that doesn't go down well 🙁

mikeswmith-since neither the organisers or the charity have replied to my request for information regarding this issue of costs etc--i have to assume that the organisers are taking £250 per head--lets be conservative and say 100 people enter -thats 25k --you telling me its going to cost any where near that are you ? i would say a max of 5k would cover 2 coaches- a lorry for the bikes, 2 support vehicles , a minibus, and ten staff-oh the food costs are negligible since its only bars, and gels--any way -i am not intent on organising a 24 hr ride --i can just do one of them if i choose myself--its that this was brought to my attention via a friend who asked if i would do it --its only when i started looking that things don't add up !

update- the charity have informed me that anything over £200 goes to them -so in theory at least £50 from every entrant -so the organiser get £200 per head......