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Charity Holidays

by alansmurphy
Mon, Jan 08, 2018 13:04
12

I have an email from Diabetes UK about a sponsored bike ride to Paris, hmmm I have diabetes and I like cycling; click that link.

 

So for £49 I get ride leaders, GPX, mechanical support, ferry crossing, celebratory dinner in Paris, night in a hotel, transfer to tunnel and tunnel crossing, back to London. I mean that's a bargain...

 

Minimum sponsorship £1,450

 

Oh, so my family and friends are paying for my holiday and perhaps 60p in the pound goes to diabetes.

 

Boils my piss!

 

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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12 comments

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turboprannet | 6 years ago
0 likes

I have taken part in an event a few times which has a high entry (£600+) to cover costs and all sponsor money went to the charity. Much preferred.

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alansmurphy | 6 years ago
1 like

'Just Taking...'

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HowardR | 6 years ago
1 like

Not forgetting that 'Just Giving' take 5% of anything given......

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alansmurphy | 6 years ago
0 likes

Wow!

 

Again, if £61 is the cost and it's just advertised as an event then it wouldn't be a problem, market demand and all that. It seems Marie Curie throw a 100k at it to generate 260k which seems fair enough, if a little disengiuous (sp?) for IMG. But again, it's the lack of clarity, who is paying for or receiving what?

 

 

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andyp | 6 years ago
1 like

reminds me of this...

 

http://road.cc/content/blog/71344-etape-caledonia-where-does-money-go

 

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pruaga | 6 years ago
1 like

It's the same thing with charity entries to events like RideLondon or the London Marathon.

The event organisers could sell those places to paying customers, but they instead donate the places to charities.  Those charitites then sell them on to customers at inflated prices, but the customers get their friends/family to pay.

The charitable act is done by the organiser, not by the rider/runner.  They just get to do an event they want to do without having to face the ballot for an oversubscribed event.

<puts on my flak jacket>

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Jonathan Knight replied to pruaga | 6 years ago
1 like

pruaga wrote:

The event organisers could sell those places to paying customers, but they instead donate the places to charities.  

I willing to be corrected but I believe that charities have to pay for places in events like Ride London and they pay considerably more than Joe Public has to pay for a place.

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pruaga replied to Jonathan Knight | 6 years ago
0 likes

Jonathan Knight wrote:

pruaga wrote:

The event organisers could sell those places to paying customers, but they instead donate the places to charities.  

I willing to be corrected but I believe that charities have to pay for places in events like Ride London and they pay considerably more than Joe Public has to pay for a place.

 

That makes sense.  Basically the charities act as ticket resellers.

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alansmurphy | 6 years ago
1 like

Hi Dunc,

 

I'm moaning about the principle really. Our 'club' do the Manchester 100 for The Christie which we enjoy - I've partaken on single speed in the past and was due to do it on a Raleigh Chopper this year prior to fall and operation. Think over the years we are heading towards the £5k mark. We do a fair few sportives which I enjoy and are looking to expand the challenges this year potentially ticking off North Wests offerings of the Top 100 climbs or stealing a stage of TDY etc. We are also looking to set up a turbo at work and get the company to do something charitable.

 

It's just a few of these have caught my eye, I have 2 sons with autism and I myself have diabetes. There's some extra motivation to do something with the name on my back, raising the awareness as well as money and some of the challenges look good (think autism is LEJOG). It just really annoys me that these things exist where not only are the charities being manipulated/cheated but so are the general public when Tom from accounts asks for sponsorship...

 

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Dnnnnnn | 6 years ago
0 likes

What about organising something yourself - something you've always fancied doing perhaps, and which is a challenge (and sounds like it to others!). Designing the challenge is surely part of the fun?

I did a 300km city-to-city DIY one-dayer a few years back and raised about £2k. It sounded impressive/crazy to most people who thought that was far enough to drive in one day but it wasn't too difficult - started early, finished late, avoided hills (thus also raising the distance), kept the pace down, and the calorie intake up. Took a few leisurely breaks. And wore good shorts!

Perhaps rope in a few others, either to ride, or to act as support. They could help spread the word/charity net too. 

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alansmurphy | 6 years ago
0 likes

Absolutely, I was less focussed on the 'challenge' element of it. Any of these types of things that I'd be terrible at; parachuting, climbing everest etc. all would mean my sponsors aren't giving their hard earned to charity, they're part funding my fun. Hadn't considered the corporate company as well, makes it even worse.

 

I've seen some allow you to pay £500 (for example) instead of £50 and then have a much lower minimum donation which feels the way it should be. I do think on any justgiving pages etc. the charity or organisation it is linked to should give a % that actually finds its way to the charity. I do the Manchester 100 for The Christie which is £20/£30 to enter with many volunteers helping out and I presume some paid for junction crossing staff etc. The registration fee will cover the admin of the event so that sponsorship goes to the charity.

 

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graybags | 6 years ago
3 likes

I'm with you on this, although for non cyclists, the challenge is real, but for anyone active in the sport, yes, its a holiday ! What gets me is that in many cases it's not the charity doing the organising, so an event company creams some of the sponsorship off as well.

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