Using a sportive to raise money for charity?

Sign up on one of those online services like "just giving". Find a good cause and put together a good case

Yes - I think it's fine so long as its a proper challenge for you. I've done a few events like this. The trouble is that the challenge element gets harder and harder to meet.

So good I said it twice

Years ago, my colleagues would ask if I am raising money for charity on this weekend's ride (they know I'm a keen cyclist). It took several no's before it sunk in. That and asking if they were seeking sponsorship for walking the dog on Saturday.

A more practical answer, Ugo has already mentioned JustGiving, that's how most seem to manage it.

rhysyd wrote:

Ive been wanting to raise abit of money for a particular charity

What charity?

Not a big fan of all this charity palaver myself, however the OP question is legitimate and if he wants to raise money for charity by doing a sportive, that's his business, so refrain from posting just to add some pointless bitter comments. We have a rule about that, go and read it... and I mean it :evil:

When my wife ran the London Marathon for an MS charity she had a back story - terminally ill relative - she put in a lot of work knocking on the doors of local businesses (many have money / goods put aside for a good cause and the advertising it brings) getting raffles together, baking and selling cakes. It cost us a lot of money too - in the end she raised over £2000 which was a fantastic effort, to top it all she ran her first (and only) marathon, an amazing achievement. We haven't tried tapping up relatives or colleagues since; it is a big ask.

By all means try and raise money for a good cause, but it's hard work and expensive. If you can tack on an experience to make it seem worthwhile then great, as far as the people sponsoring you go it's the cause that's most important.

t4tomo wrote:

So good I said it twice

And that was a lot of typing to do twice )

I don't know the Cavendish event. If it raises money for a particular charity then I'd feel a little strange piggybacking their event to raise money for an alternative charity.

BrandonA wrote:

t4tomo wrote:

So good I said it twice

And that was a lot of typing to do twice )
.

Yeah like I really typed the same thing twice rather than hit submit twice on a slow internet connection,

A local cycling club runs a sportive and raises money for charity at the same time. It works this way...
The club has teamed up with a Lions Club. The Lions Club finds many of the 100 to 150 volunteers that are needed for an event with 600 riders taking part. A lot of the volunteers act as marshals protecting the riders at junctions along 100 miles of roads. In return for the volunteers giving up 6 hours or more of their Sunday and in all weathers, the cycle club adds around £5 to the entrance fee. The money goes to the Lions chosen charity, which is Handisport. This arrangement creates a Win-Win situation: the cyclists have their fun but all have to donate a modest sum which encourages handisport; the volunteers have the satisfaction of raising around £3000 for a worthwhile charity.

raising money for cycling challenges is difficult as people think that they used to cycle everywhere when they were kids. This means that they are not impressed by 100 miles. As an example people are far more impressed that I commute 20 miles each way.

Saying that when got a place on Ride 100 last year so many people asked if I was raising money that I chose one and set up a page.

I would echo what thomasmorris said above - if you feel the sportive will be a challenge for you, then why not try and raise some money for charity? Ignore the people who say its no big deal (unless you ride 100+miles every weekend anyway...). Your friends and family are the main people you're likely to get sponsorship from so they'll know you and know whether what you're doing is a challenge worthy of donating for or not.

Whether something is a 'challenge' or not is entirely dependant on the individual - a few years ago I ran a 10km and asked for sponsorship and raised over £1,000 for Sheffield Children's Hospital. For many runners, 10km isn't that far, for me, in 2015, 10km isn't a big challenge, but when I signed up to it in 2011 I was 4 stone over 'normal' weight and hadn't run more than 100metres in over 15years nor done any regular physical activity - running 10km WAS a big deal for me. Since then, I run and cycle regularly and would not expect people to sponsor me to that extent to do a 10km now. I do still do the odd run for charity but I just set up a JustGiving page, stick the link on Facebook and if anyone sponsors me, great, if they don't, they don't - I don't push it like I did that first 10km run (and as others have said, I fund the entry fees myself - the charity cause isn't a way of getting free entry into something I want to do anyway). I hope to run a half marathon for the first time this year, and I'll run that for charity. I also add a donation of my own to the cause - I sponsor myself if you like... Some have suggested just regularly donating to the charity yourself but there's no way I could afford to donate £1,000 to charity, even over several years.

So basically, if your sportive is a challenge for you, then see if you can get sponsored and raise a bit of money for charity - if no-one donates you've lost nothing. I'd rather sponsor someone for cycling 100+ miles than such things as this 'Movember' thing where people ask for sponsorship for not having a shave for a month??

And just a point about those who've mentioned JustGiving take a cut of the money - that is true, but when I discovered they do this, I discussed it with the charities I've raised money for and the amount JustGiving etc.. saves them in administration etc.. far outweighs the fee that these sites take and they told me that they would PREFER me to use sites such as these to raise money. Obviously if there are sites who do a similar job to JustGiving, but don't charge, or charge less, then that's worth looking at.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/giving/

take a small fee, but it is not for profit. Easy to donate to 2 charities at the same time, you can choose what percentage each charity gets of the money raised.