Charity Rides and Raising Sponsorship

Suffolkwheels

Hi all,

I'm new to cycling and events. I did a 60 mile charity ride this weekend and loved it. I'm keen to do the Essex 100 and other various events coming up. However, I extracted sponsorship from family/friends/colleagues for yesterday's event and I doubt I'll get any more from them for the next couple of events, being so close together.

Do you all raise sponsorship for every charity event? Do you just pay the entry fee? Or do you pay the entry fee plus the minimum sponsorship target yourself (e.g. the Essex 100 is £25 entry + £25 min. sponsorship target)?

Don't get me wrong, I'm really keen to support charities as much as possible, but I'm concerned about not getting enough from people and not being able to afford to front it all myself, in which case I'll just do one or two events a year and do solo rides for the rest of the time.

I just ask as there seemed to be quite a few people at the event yesterday who just showed up, paid their entrance and did the ride.

danowat

I've done plenty of charity events (both running and cycling) where I've just paid the entry fee and chucked a little of my own money in the pot for the charity, I've only ever asked for sponsership once, and its not something I'd do again, unless it was for something worthy (IMO) like Lejog or something.

I wouldn't enter an event with a minimum sponser target personally though.

If you want to pay the entry fee, turn up and ride, do it, no need to feel bad about it IMO.

Edit, I was going to do the Essex 100, but was put off by the minimum sponsership thing.

pdstsp

^ what he said. If you enter a few of these events you'll find yourself asking for sponsorship every few weeks. If the event is collecting for a specific charity I always lob in a few quid at the start - there's always a bucket. I think if I was doing some major challenge I would like to use that as a means of supporting one of my favourite charities.

Suffolkwheels

Thanks for your thought guys, appreciate it

pneumatic

I don't ask for sponsorship; cycling is my hobby and long distances don't look to my friends and family like a challenge; just a way of enjoying myself. It would be like asking people to sponsor me for drinking beer! :idea:

When I do charity events, I pay the entry fee and then add a contribution to the cause.

The only problem I have with this is that, because I have to give my contact details for the tax-free donation, I now get tons of mail from all sorts of causes who presumably think I am going to become a regular donor. This is a waste of their resources and it is often quite hard to find out how to stop it coming.