London Ride 100 for £5!

LiamUni

The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 bike ride is an event like no other. Starting in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park you’ll cycle 100 miles through London and into Surrey’s stunning countryside on nothing but closed roads. This year's event takes place on 2 August.

You can signup to take part in the event now for just £5 with Unicef UK! Registration for the event closes on 10 May; make sure you don't miss out!

http://www.unicef.org.uk/Get-Involved/challenge-events/cycle/ride-london-surrey-100/

surrey_commuter

LiamUni wrote:

The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 bike ride is an event like no other. Starting in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park you’ll cycle 100 miles through London and into Surrey’s stunning countryside on nothing but closed roads. This year's event takes place on 2 August.

You can signup to take part in the event now for just £5 with Unicef UK! Registration for the event closes on 10 May; make sure you don't miss out!

http://www.unicef.org.uk/Get-Involved/challenge-events/cycle/ride-london-surrey-100/

call me a cynic but that looks more like £605

Tjgoodhew

So if i pay £5 and fail to raise any money what happens ?

Bobbinogs

mmm, some interesting Ts & Cs there:

I pledge to raise at least £600 for UNICEF's work with children by 2 September 2015. I agree to have raised at least 80% of this target by race day to be able to take part in the event. I agree to pay a non-refundable £5 registration fee. The £600 I pledge to raise is in addition to my £5 registration fee. In the unlikely event that the event is cancelled, I agree to send all my sponsorship to UNICEF UK

So, you need to have raised £480 before you ride and commit to sending it even if the event is cancelled. I just wonder how one goes about raising money for an event they haven't done yet (and, no, I am not looking for ideas to get out there chugging). Corporate charities, got to love 'em.

apreading

Its all like this these days. If I do an event with minimum sponsorship, I always donate that amount myself before asking anyone else for money - no way should they pay for me to have fun/go on holiday.

Thats why when I did London 2 Paris, I chose to go with a company that would let you pay for the whole thing and not have a minimum sponsorship.

In my kids school, they are doing a trip to Borneo, to 'help the locals'. I think the kids have to raise something like £3,000. I am quite sure that it would help the locals more if the £3,000 were sent to an aid charity instead of using it to send a spotty teenager over there to loaf around for a week or two...!

willy b

It's actually very easy to raise the money. I did this event last year and raised over £450.

People just want the chance to donate, and providing you have some mates, work colleagues and family they'll all likely donate.

t4tomo

That depends in whether it's seen as a one off or whether your doing it 2 or 3 times a year, and how many others in your workplace are doing similar things.

Bobbinogs

The problem with a lot of these corporate charities is the enormous amount of money raised that just gets spent keeping the corporate wheels turning...all those marketing experts based in London want to be paid top whack, same goes for the execs at the top and the money that gets spent on adverts/promotional material/events and all that guff. I seem to recall even the royal toadie Harry complained about the landmine charity funding its chief exec's children being sent to public school. Tad rich coming from Harry given who paid his bills but he had a point.

sherer

t4tomo wrote:

That depends in whether it's seen as a one off or whether your doing it 2 or 3 times a year, and how many others in your workplace are doing similar things.

exactly I tried doing L2B every year but I couldn't keep asking the same circle of people all the time.

Did this last 2 years and second year I hardly raised anything as everyone was fed up with me asking for money all the time

apreading

Only so many times you can ask people for money, especially when they know you enjoy doing the event and it isnt really that hard for you.

Not only that but everyone who sponsors you expects you to sponsor them on their run/cycle/abseil/bake etc and you cant really not do that so it costs you a fortune anyway!

Anonymous

^ Exactly.

Self sponsorship is the best way for these type of things.
If you want to do the event that bad (and you did not get a ballot place) just pick a charity you like (Unicef would be way down my list) and pay for it yourself. Cuts out all the cr4p.
When you are asked by someone else for money for them to do something fun (or people knocking on your door/on street/cold calling) you just tell them your charity budget is maxed out.
If they whinge ask them if they have given more to charity than you this year.

If people cared about anyone/thing they would give their money/time without a bike ride or holiday to the Himalayas/New York being involved!

964cup

NSPCC always have places; I rode for them last year and the year before. They ask, IIRC, for a lower minimum fundraise, and it's a good cause. I did four events for them last year, and raised a little under £3k, so there is willingness to give to the right cause. As with other posters, I always contribute the minimum fundraise myself to separate charity from junket.

buckmulligan

Speaking to a German colleague at work, it was clear that doing sporting events "for charity" wasn't really a common thing, people did them because they wanted to. I wonder how long this funding model can go on for in the UK. I immediately give short shrift to most requests unless it's a very personal cause that I feel would benefit from my donation. Perhaps that's because I'm always cynical about these big events like the London Marathon, simply because so much of the donations goes towards costs rather than ending up with the charity. I believe gold bond spots in the Marathon are around £300 each, plus the organisation costs that go towards actually getting those spots for the charity, plus the freebies that they give out to their runners, I'd be surprised if the charity sees 50% of the fundraising total after costs.