Miss out on RideLondon place? Ride for Tommy's and raise money for charity

gb901 wrote:

Charities today are a massive industry...not to say a con!

I remember a conversation I had with a youngish chap in his latre 20s who had been a police officer for about 3 years. He confided to me that hed gone straight from uni into the charity sector before his change in career and that he was only just earning a commensurate amount as when he left the charity!

There needs to be a serious investigation into charities running and administration costs.

I don't see anything wrong with charities employing people and those people being paid a good wage. If they restricted themselves to people who can afford to work for free or are prepared to work for less than the going rate for whatever it is they do then they'd be fishing in a small pond I think, and they need good staff as much as any other organisation does.
But there could be more transparency about how much of the money raised actually goes to the when getting involved with events like this.

No investigation needed. Read their annual report and visit Guidestar's website. Then visit the Charity Commission's website if you have any concerns.

The charitable word is quite transparent compared to the private (banks) sector.

80sMatchbox wrote:

Serious question....how do these charities work out how much you have to commit to raising?
My guess is what they think they can get away with. Fair play to them, they have more experience than me at raising money, but I can't ask friends to pay for my hobby.

They're not really funding your hobby though are they, you're just asking them to contribute to a charity, which is really up to them to decide - their choice. I think that's how charity works. You give or you don't give.

fatsimonstan wrote:

80sMatchbox wrote:

Serious question....how do these charities work out how much you have to commit to raising?
My guess is what they think they can get away with. Fair play to them, they have more experience than me at raising money, but I can't ask friends to pay for my hobby.

They're not really funding your hobby though are they, you're just asking them to contribute to a charity, which is really up to them to decide - their choice. I think that's how charity works. You give or you don't give.

In a way, they are "funding your hobby" in that if they didn't give the charity money *on your behalf*, you wouldn't be able to go and ride the event.

On the other hand; it's for a good cause, no-one is making you give the money, there is the ballot to enter the event so charity places aren't *forced* and as long as people don't take the piss and enter dozens of these things a year, I normally chuck 'em a few quid.

edit: for some reason I can't make italics work

racyrich wrote:

It costs the charity £650 to enter a £45 event? It needs to have a word with itself.

I think you might have misunderstood how this works. you raise money for the charity, you get a guaranteed place. they don't then pay all the money to ridelondon. they keep it, to do good stuff with. or most of it.

Dave Atkinson wrote:

racyrich wrote:

It costs the charity £650 to enter a £45 event? It needs to have a word with itself.

I think you might have misunderstood how this works. you raise money for the charity, you get a guaranteed place. they don't then pay all the money to ridelondon. they keep it, to do good stuff with. or most of it.

in basic terms yes, but from first hand experience, but having the 'charity' send debit collectors and letters threatening legal action when you fall slightly short of the target is not a nice experience at all, not to mention how many places get set aside for charities that don't get taken up, taking places away from others in the ballot. I cant remember the figure from last year, but I recall it was in the thousands.

Last year I donated my failed fee to a charity, didn't get in, then got a phone call from said charity asking if I would ride for them, I nearly would have if they didn't hit me with the £50 registration fee I had to pay, on top of what I had already given them, and then the minimum collection, which would have been impossible to raise being that I live in one of the most deprived areas in the NW, people just don't have any money right now, and what they do have they dont want it used to fatten charity CEX wallets

So send me to the pits of hell, I dont care, but I will never do anything for charity ever again

Dave Atkinson wrote:

racyrich wrote:

It costs the charity £650 to enter a £45 event? It needs to have a word with itself.

I think you might have misunderstood how this works. you raise money for the charity, you get a guaranteed place. they don't then pay all the money to ridelondon. they keep it, to do good stuff with. or most of it.

I know how it works thanks. The article says ' you'd need to commit to raising a minimum of £650 in sponsorship to cover the charity's costs'

If it means 'we'd like a minimum donation of £650, from which we'll pay your entry fee and have £600 left over for our charitable work' then fine. But the charity most certainly does not have £650 in 'costs' (or if it does it should close immediately).

racyrich wrote:

Dave Atkinson wrote:

racyrich wrote:

It costs the charity £650 to enter a £45 event? It needs to have a word with itself.

I think you might have misunderstood how this works. you raise money for the charity, you get a guaranteed place. they don't then pay all the money to ridelondon. they keep it, to do good stuff with. or most of it.

I know how it works thanks. The article says ' you'd need to commit to raising a minimum of £650 in sponsorship to cover the charity's costs'

If it means 'we'd like a minimum donation of £650, from which we'll pay your entry fee and have £600 left over for our charitable work' then fine. But the charity most certainly does not have £650 in 'costs' (or if it does it should close immediately).

Surely it's difficult to know what the charities' costs are? (I'm talking generally, not just about Tommys.) Certainly more than the event entry fee. These charities are in a perverse "arms race" to get people to ride for them. So they take out adverts on cycling websites and magazines, also in the Metro/Evening Standard to fill the places. Then they offer you a jersey, a post-event tent with recovery drinks, etc to entice you. Then there is the cost of using 'justgiving' or whatever platform they use to take the payment from all of the donors their riders can persuade.

I agree, it probably doesn't "cost" £650 - they need to make money even if they don't fill all their slots and the people that do sign up raise the minimum. But it is too simplistic to say it only costs them the entry fee.