is it for charity?

danieldwashere

i notice alot of people do a long distance ride for a good cause, does my donation fund the trip first and then the charity?
it seems off limits to criticise anyone for such a noble pastime. but if there not paying for their adventure and probabably come from a fairly wealthy country/place/whatever, is it taking the piss?
is there a ethical grey area here?

i ask as a friend suggested this route for a very long trip we have been dreaming about....

CycloExplorer

I did a charity ride across the USA summer of 2000 and funded the ride 100% with my own money, and 100% of money donated went to my charity. Interesting question though. Will be interested in hearing how others do it.

vernonlevy

gregh1@gregntori.com wrote:

I did a charity ride across the USA summer of 2000 and funded the ride 100% with my own money, and 100% of money donated went to my charity. Interesting question though. Will be interested in hearing how others do it.

I've done LEJOG and JOGLE and I'm about to do a Channel to Med ride. In every case I've had money offered as sponsorship and/or been asked which charity I'm doing the rides for. I've declined to accept sponsorship/donations as they put me under obligation to the givers and affects the enjoyment of the ride.

If I were to do a sponsored ride I'd fund all of the running/operating costs out of my own pocket ensuring that 100% of donations went to the charity/charities. Why should I expect others to subsidise my holiday? it's a bit unfair to expect to partially fund a sponsored ride from the donations as I'm unwilling to subsidise others' holidays/sponsored rides.

I think it's totally wrong of companies to promote sponsored charity rides/activities when a not insubstantial amount is used to fund the trip itself. Participants with a conscience will pay the fee up front but I avoid contributing to such endeavours by donating directly to charity.

danieldwashere

i think i knew the answer when i posted....

just hoping their would be a round of ''no its fine everyone does it! your wearing nike trainers arnt you! get of that high hose on top of a ivory tower. any bit of good is still good! :twisted:

well back to saving my pennies.... 8)

Cunobelin

The confusion is that there are two types of ride.

There are those who as above, organise and fund a trip themselves and then sponsor money is raised separately.

The second type is the "Organised ride" where the charity organises the ride and charges a basic minimum sponsorship to cover these costs. This can vary as to whether it is a local ride or somewhere exotic such as Peru or Egypt.

In these cases the rider can again choose whether to pass this on or to contribute this sum.

daviddd

This topic has been discussed endlessly, but seems to me the point is often lost - even in these part funded 'organised' events a good deal of money is raised for the charity that wouldn't be otherwise - is that wrong?

Is it wrong to pay people to work for a charity in an administrative capacity? So why so wrong to pay 'fund raisers'? The charities are quite happy to engage in this kind of event - there's 100's of 'em. Presumably the people that donate know that there IS a personal element in it so what's the big deal? Millions is raised every year from this source and that can't be wrong.

There's a big thread on Thorn Tree forum at the mo about this and I have to say I'm fairly p****d off with the meanness and hypocricy of the majority of subscribers. Sounds as if they'd rather die before giving anything to charity!

I'm going to try and raise money for WaterAid whilst touring around Oz, and my thoughts are that it would be a shame NOT to raise a few quid whilst also enjoying myself. I have had no financial help myself with this though, although I wouldn't say no to some free gear if anyone wanted to sponsor me.

Cunobelin

I wasn't being judgemental - simply clarifying an issue.

People's charity attitude is a separate issue.

Personally I am quite clear. I have my own charities and donate to these. I do not donate to other causes.

peter_andrew

I have completed 1 of these rides for Guide dogs.
I raised a couple of hundred over the minimum.
I had to pay my own travel expenses to the Pyrenees. I had to give up my time to train and to raise the money.
I gave up a week of my time to do the ride.
Everyone seems to forget that people give up their own time to participate.
As guide dogs organised it, they were obviously happy at their return.
Remember that these organisations are happy to pay professional fund raisers these days.
Having said that, i do not think i can go around friends work colleagues again to fund me.
Peter

andystear

my sister in law is doing one soon

its a walk in new zealand
now she has raised 3800 pounds , and the cost of the trip is 2000 pounds
which comes out of the sponsership money
i think that more than half not going to charity is not great and the other issue i have
is there must be similar chalenges closer to home that would not cost so much in admin .
she actually sent an email around explaining how it wasnt a holiday for her and saying
that people in new zealand would not spend their holidays climbing mountains and staying in tents .
i almost emailed back saying oh yes they do !
i still gave her 50 pounds though