Charity cyclists?

[downfader]

Anyone interested in helping me out with a blog post on charity cycling?

I've decided my blog should be a resource for interesting and informative cycling stuff. I have recently tried to compile info on helmets, some info on what cyclists contribute to society, and now I want to do one more specifically on the cycling charity fund raising phenomonomonom.. onom.



I went to JustGiving and asked their press office for some more info and they've very kindly given me some useful stats:

Hi Dan,

Thanks for your enquiry. Cycling events are definitely on the fundraising rise! I can give you some broad numbers that might help your story.

· Cycling all time has raised nearly £77 million on our site. That’s about 10% of all donations alltime. In 2010 cycling pages raised £20.6 million.

· 126,020 cycling pages have been created all time (c.6% of all pages).

· In 2007, we saw on average just over 900 cycling fundraising pages being created each month. In 2008, this rose to over 2000. In 2010, we saw an average of nearly 4500 cycling related fundraising pages being created each month. So it’s definitely on the rise....

· In 2010 39,084 cycling pages were created.

I think this is pretty good. It shows that cycling is considered a valid and useful resource. Whilst I still have my little jibe about the lack of imagination over LEJOG I do really feel inspired by this. So thanks to Martha Deery for helping me out.

So if anyone has done a charity ride would you consider helping me out? I need a couple of interesting stories, and some general advice I can put in my blog to help others.

Cheers if you can help, even if you cant I hope the above inspires you.

 

[ASC1951]

Well, it may be because I am a curmudgeonly old cockroach, but my immediate reaction to 'charity cycle rides' is "Why should I contribute to X's holiday?"

And that is not because I am uncharitable. My monthly donations go here http://www.karuna.org/ and http://www.kiva.org/. I have also set up a small charity of my own. I just have a rule never to put money towards anything where the donation-seeker is going along as well.

 

[HelenD123]

Well, it may be because I am a curmudgeonly old cockroach, but my immediate reaction to 'charity cycle rides' is "Why should I contribute to X's holiday?"

I did a charity ride from York to Amsterdam and back in aid of Marie Curie and paid all the costs myself. Every penny I raised went to the charity.

 

[buggi]

that's because you're a cyclist already so any long distance cycling is a holiday to you. for other people it can be hard work. i didn't find any of my charity rides to be a holiday. more like hard work. don't get me wrong, i loved every minute of it, but i pedalled all day and then flopped into a bed at the end of it. i didn't party like i was on holiday. and i feel like i earned every penny of my sponsorship.

 

[cheadle hulme]

Well, it may be because I am a curmudgeonly old cockroach, but my immediate reaction to 'charity cycle rides' is "Why should I contribute to X's holiday?"

And that is not because I am uncharitable. My monthly donations go here http://www.karuna.org/ and http://www.kiva.org/. I have also set up a small charity of my own. I just have a rule never to put money towards anything where the donation-seeker is going along as well.

Agreed I'm afraid. My local paper is full of people doing LeJog who happened to have 3 weeks holiday and then come around their local pubs looking for sponsorship.

My 2% goes to Oxfam and MSF, local guys get nothing I'm afraid (unless its a work colleague when I feel obliged)

 

[slowmotion]

So if anyone has done a charity ride would you consider helping me out? I need a couple of interesting stories, and some general advice I can put in my blog to help others.

The Martlets Friday Night Ride to the Coast is a charity ride. YouTube it and search for FNRttC with the search function on CC. Loads of information will spring forth.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

that's because you're a cyclist already so any long distance cycling is a holiday to you. for other people it can be hard work. i didn't find any of my charity rides to be a holiday. more like hard work. don't get me wrong, i loved every minute of it, but i pedalled all day and then flopped into a bed at the end of it. i didn't party like i was on holiday. and i feel like i earned every penny of my sponsorship.

If people like ASC think that a lot of these are holidays for people then he (I'm presuming it is a he) must have had some really sh*t holidays in his time.

It is a bit like someone I once knew who referred to the true story behind 'Touching The Void' as being one big holiday and the film as being akin to 'Holiday snaps'.

 

[ASC1951]

If people like ASC think that a lot of these are holidays for people then he (I'm presuming it is a he) must have had some really sh*t holidays in his time.

I have never had a shoot holiday in my life, MDB. You can always get something enjoyable , or at least useful, from just about any experience - even an overnight crawl down from a mountain in Crete with a broken ankle and not being able to get it pinned for a week.

If people want to enter or organise charity events, fine. It's better than not doing anything charitable. But I refuse to feel guilty for not sponsoring people to do stuff which is very often more for their benefit than the charity. I would rather support my chosen charities direct, which is what I do.

I'm sure we all agree that it is important to do something.

 

[TheBoyBilly]

I was going to do a London2Paris ride this year. Because folk might think they were sponsoring a jolly for me, I was up for paying the costs of the ride leaving all funds raised to go to charity. I was a bit hasty, because stuff needs doing at home that require my finances, so I will have to leave it until next year. For now, I will try to fit in some FNRttCs and help out those lovely people at Martlets.

Bill

 

[andy_funk]

I wonder if any of you might have any tips on how to go about raising money for a sponsored cycle, is Just Giving a good base for centralising your donations around? I'm planning on cycling from Doncaster to Snowdonia in the summer and then climbing Mount Snowdon. From reading the above posts i will make it clear that i am not an experienced cyclist and as I plan to do this in several days i will not consider it a holiday.
Cheers,
Andy

 

[StuAff]

If people like ASC think that a lot of these are holidays for people then he (I'm presuming it is a he) must have had some really sh*t holidays in his time.

It is a bit like someone I once knew who referred to the true story behind 'Touching The Void' as being one big holiday and the film as being akin to 'Holiday snaps'.

+1. Did Pedal to Paris, the Royal British Legion's annual ride, last year & have already signed up for this year's. It's a requirement to pay your own way for entry fees, all sponsorship must go to the charity alone. I didn't think it was a holiday, I took the preparation extremely seriously, let alone the cause. I might enjoy it a bit more this time, but it'll seem like a holiday after an eight-day LeJOG. And anyone who thinks that's a holiday is welcome to do my next 200k ride with me

 

[Fnaar]

I haven't done any charity ride, but I did the Great North Run for charity. It was hard going, but I really really enjoyed the preparation and the event, and handing money to the charity. What should I have done, run round with a grimace on my face? Why not simply accept that you're raising money for charity, AND you're having an enjoyable time too? Apart from the fact that everyone and their mother is raising money for charity, I can't see a problem, myself.

 

[vernon]

I wonder if any of you might have any tips on how to go about raising money for a sponsored cycle, is Just Giving a good base for centralising your donations around? I'm planning on cycling from Doncaster to Snowdonia in the summer and then climbing Mount Snowdon. From reading the above posts i will make it clear that i am not an experienced cyclist and as I plan to do this in several days i will not consider it a holiday.
Cheers,
Andy

It would be considered a holiday if the sponsorship also paid the expenses incurred.

 

[vernon]

+1. Did Pedal to Paris, the Royal British Legion's annual ride, last year & have already signed up for this year's. It's a requirement to pay your own way for entry fees, all sponsorship must go to the charity alone. I didn't think it was a holiday, I took the preparation extremely seriously, let alone the cause. I might enjoy it a bit more this time, but it'll seem like a holiday after an eight-day LeJOG. And anyone who thinks that's a holiday is welcome to do my next 200k ride with me

It all depends upon whether or not the expenses are paid for by the participant - in your case it was clearly a charitable act.

I have a colleague who fleeced strangers, friends and colleagues of £15,000 for a sponsored climb of Kilimanjaro undertaken by him and his wife. He was very cagey when asked how much went to the charity. I declined to organised a sponsored bike ride as a satellite fund raiser for him - I was even given a target amount to raise!


Good luck with your next ride.

 

[GM]

+2 I also did a London to Paris Charity ride last year, this was for the NAS. I paid all my own expenses and so did all the 30 other riders that took part. It's very rewarding to learn that we raised over £50,000 for the Charity, especially a Charity that's close to your heart. I certainly would not call it a holiday, but a memorable and enjoyable experience. Plus making new friends which is always a bonus.