JOGLE - Sept 2014

[MARKE020272]

Myself and 2 cousins (and 1 wife, support vehicle) will be doing the JOGLE in Sept (8th-20th) and really need some advice on places to stay each night. Ideally, we'll need accommodation for cousin + wife, and myself and cousin (both male). As we are doing this for my cousins charity (daughter with CF, Annaschallenges) we are looking for the cheapest possible for each night to maximize the charity proceeds. Any advice for places to stay at the following locations (or nearby) would be much appreciate

Brora
Fort Augustus
Benderloch (Oban)
Tarbert
New Galloway
Keswick
Westhoughton (Wigan)
Shrewsbury
Chepstow
Minehead
Bude
Redruth

If you are also feeling exceptionally generous, please sponsor me at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RobertMarke (sorry, if you don't ask).

Thanks in advance.

 

[vernon]

To maximise the charity proceeds, pay for the expenses out of your own pocket. I think that it's unreasonable to expect the donors to pay for your jolly no matter how well intentioned.

 

[robgul]

To maximise the charity proceeds, pay for the expenses out of your own pocket. I think that it's unreasonable to expect the donors to pay for your jolly no matter how well intentioned.

Have to say I agree - the whole cost of the trip should be borne by the participants . .. you wouldn't expect the charity to pay for your holidays ... would you?

Every penny that is donated by whatever means should be given to the charity (and wherever possible by a method that has Gift Aid that increases the value to the charity by 25%)

This topic is an old chestnut vis-a-vis "overseas challenges" ... the packages offered by the organisers sometimes blur the lines with expenses ... as my sig (and avatar) show we are a big fundraising group for Macmillan (c£100,000 in 2013 - c£430,000 since we started in 200%) BUT we ONLY refer to money raised as that amount actually paid to Macmillan - for example the costs of the MacRide Tour rides we run are paid for by the entrants who then have a commitment to raise a specific amount..

Rob

 

[MikeG]

Join AirBnB. You'll find old-fashioned B&B prices there, not the extortionate amount normally charged these days. You might also find that some of the cheap hotel chains are a lot cheaper than B&B's.

You do know that if you don't have panniers that your journey doesn't count, don't you?

 

[MARKE020272]

Sorry, maybe I should have written the original post better. We're not expecting those who are donating to pay for the trip. We're raising money for the operational costs through car boot sales, ebay, etc. Also hoping to get a corporate sponsor. Out of this pot we'll pay for the B&B's, etc but the less we pay then the more of the pot we'll have left that will be given to the charity. Hope that's clearer.

 

[KneesUp]

To maximise the charity proceeds, pay for the expenses out of your own pocket. I think that it's unreasonable to expect the donors to pay for your jolly no matter how well intentioned.

And what if, for example, someone has the time to do a ride that will raise money for charity, but does not have the means to pay for their accommodation? (Not suggesting that is or isn't the case for the OP by the way.)

If you can't afford the B&Bs it's best for the charity to get no money at all? Is fundraising in this way something that only the reasonably affluent should undertake?

 

[vernon]

And what if, for example, someone has the time to do a ride that will raise money for charity, but does not have the means to pay for their accommodation? (Not suggesting that is or isn't the case for the OP by the way.)

If you can't afford the B&Bs it's best for the charity to get no money at all? Is fundraising in this way something that only the reasonably affluent should undertake?

Charity fundraising should be a selfless activity. A colleague of mine and his wife raised four thousand pounds for charity. They also raised eight thousand pounds for their equipment and expenses. They tried to recruit me to organise a sponsored bike ride with all of the proceeds going towards their fundraising. I politely declined.

 

[KneesUp]

Charity fundraising should be a selfless activity. A colleague of mine and his wife raised four thousand pounds for charity. They also raised eight thousand pounds for their equipment and expenses. They tried to recruit me to organise a sponsored bike ride with all of the proceeds going towards their fundraising. I politely declined.

I don't think you answered my question. What if you can afford the time to raise the money, but not cover the expenses? Should you not raise any money?

Isn't it about maximising funds for the charity, so if using some of the sponsorship money for cheap B&Bs means that the charity gets more money they if the event didn't take place at all, is that not ok? Or are you really saying that if you can't afford 10 days off work and 10 nights in hotels then it's unreasonable to ask someone for a few quid for your charity?

(That's not to say it doesn't sound like your colleague rather overspent on expenses)

 

[vernon]

I don't think you answered my question. What if you can afford the time to raise the money, but not cover the expenses? Should you not raise any money?

Isn't it about maximising funds for the charity, so if using some of the sponsorship money for cheap B&Bs means that the charity gets more money they if the event didn't take place at all, is that not ok? Or are you really saying that if you can't afford 10 days off work and 10 nights in hotels then it's unreasonable to ask someone for a few quid for your charity?

(That's not to say it doesn't sound like your colleague rather overspent on expenses)

If you can't afford ten days off work and ten nights in hotels then you shouldn't be asking other people to pay for it. I can not make my point any clearer.

FWIW. I did LEJOG and refused to fundraise despite entreaties from friends and colleagues to do so. My one and only sponsored bike rise took two days to gather £500 worth of pledges, it was a seventy mile ride all expenses paid by me, and it took several months to get all the money in. For my LEJOG ride I simply asked all putative sponsors to miss out the middle man and give to charity directly they didn't need me as an excuse to part with their money.

I don't think that fundraisers should be parasitic with sponsors' generosity.

As for my colleague - his sponsored activity was climbing Kilimanjaro. There was a lot of kit to buy, hotel accommodation and air fares to pay for. He was economical with the truth when describing the disbursement of the sponsorship money. He had the holiday of a life time and his sponsors were taken for the ride of their life.

 

[KneesUp]

I understand your point, but you are not responding to my point:

Assumption: I can ride LeJog but cannot afford the accommodation

Plan A - I do not do LeJog
Plan B - I use a percentage of the money raised to pay for accommodation and do the ride

In plan A, the charity receives nothing. In plan B, the charity receives a few thousand pounds.

You can only be opposed to plan B if you assume that the money spend on accommodation and the money raised would otherwise all find it's way to the charity, which is a ludicrous assumption. No-one is thinking "well, I have £50 to give to Charity X, and I shall give it to whomsoever is doing the most efficient fund-raising" are they?

Or, of course, you can be opposed to plan B if you're a bit cheesed off that your colleague got to climb Kilimanjaro for a good cause?

 

[vernon]

I understand your point, but you are not responding to my point:

Assumption: I can ride LeJog but cannot afford the accommodation

Plan A - I do not do LeJog
Plan B - I use a percentage of the money raised to pay for accommodation and do the ride

I don't think that I can make my opinion any clearer. If you can't afford the accommodation don't do the ride.

 

[vernon]

[QUOTE 3054524, member: 30090"]...and let the opportunity to raise a few quid for a charity and complete a bike ride go amiss?[/QUOTE]

OK then I'll offer two options

A) Publicise the ride as a charity fundraising event without mentioning the fact that some of the fund raising will be paying for hotel accommodation for four people for ten nights.

B) Publicise the ride as a charity fundraising event that will also fund ten night's worth of accommodation for the for participants.

Question one. Which option is the most dishonest?
Question two. Which option is the most ethical?
Question three. Which option will raise the least money?

 

[KneesUp]

Question three. Which option will raise the least money?

Not doing the ride at all - which is what you're proposing.

 

[vernon]

Not doing the ride at all - which is what you're proposing.

That wasn't one of the listed options.

I have no objection to any fundraisers making the total cost of their proposed expenses prominent in any promotional material. The potential sponsors can then make an informed choice about whether or not to sponsor the activity.

I think that is a suitable compromise.

 

[KneesUp]

I think the OP did, though - in fact the OP said that the accommodation is to be paid for via other fund raising separate from the sponsorship and whatever is left over from that fund raising will be added to the sponsorship, hence the request for advice on finding it as cheaply as possible. Sorry I can't be of any assistance on that score, OP.

Not that it stopped you wading in with your size 10s on

How do you get along with the often seen statement 'All profits go to charity'