For Sweet Charity

[vorsprung]

I started a bit of a flame fest on the guardian cycling blog thing..see the comments for this article about James Bowthorpe going around the world.  Which incidently I think is bloody incredible, averaging 100 miles a day for 18,000 miles

         Around the world in less than 194 days and 17 hours |
            Environment |
            guardian.co.uk
   

My question was

"cycling of this sort is how it is supposed to raise money for a charity" given that most people don't appreciate how easy or difficult it is.
I attracted lots of comments like "it's inspiring" or that Parkinsons Disease is terrible.  
Which doesn't really answer the question.  Is it inspiring to people really? And if so, why?  Why are cycling marathons considered an effective way to raise money?

Essentially when you do a sponsored event you are getting out the begging bowl and asking people to give.  You give time and effort to some project (in the case of James Bowthorpe around the world at record pace ) but the aim is to get money off people.  In a sense it is like a form of advertising.

Advertising is often amoral and focussed on holding market share for me-to products in a consumer society
Charity sponsored events are driven by a desire to redistribute wealth according to need

But both of them use a method of holding the interest of the consumer.  In the case of advertising it is repeated media like billboards or TV ads.  In the case of charity sponsored events it is a spectacle, a news item, a noteworthy event.  What I am saying is that how come that long distance cycling is not a popular sport or pass time, but for charities it is considered a noteable way of attracting interest to their cause?  Is it a sado masocistic thing where people can't think of a worse way to spend time and so respect a long distance cycle ride as a sacrifice of pain?

I have cycled a long way and read lots of stuff about long distance cycling.  So I appreciate James Bowthorpes acheivements.  But most people don't I would posit.  So why would they

 a) pay any attention to his amazing bit of cycling
 b) move on to the cause of Parkinson Disease
 c) give money to b) because of a)

Do they start to glaze over as soon as cycling is mentioned and so immediately jump on the associated charity?

To me this is one of the great mysteries of late capitialism

[teethgrinder]

I think it's just a method of advertising.
After all, a lot of charity events are ridiculously easy for most people to consider to be a challenge.

[rogerzilla]

Some of them are very much like a free holiday, being 30 miles a day round Cuba or whatever.  TRAT excepted, of course - that's rather a different prospect, with a real risk of failure and a lot of pain.

[Regulator]

I think it's just a method of advertising.
After all, a lot of charity events are ridiculously easy for most people to consider to be a challenge.

Some of them are very much like a free holiday, being 30 miles a day round Cuba or whatever.  TRAT excepted, of course - that's rather a different prospect, with a real risk of failure and a lot of pain.

The problem is that doing these rides aren't necessarily easy or "free".  The distances involved may be relatively short for an experienced cyclist - but the effort involved pre- and post-ride can be enormous.

Many of these rides, particularly the overseas ones, have significant 'entry' fees - sometimes running into hundreds of pounds - and you are expected to raise substantial amounts in sponsorship (often several thousand pounds).  If you don't raise the minimum sponsorship then you have to pay the full costs of the trip.

Basically, I don't see anything wrong with somebody using their hobby/sport to raise money for charity. 

[Wowbagger]

I think it was Road Runner who recently started a thread about a Christian Aid sponsored ride to Copenhagen in December to attend / lobby the UN Climate Change Conference. You had to stump up £99 enrolment fee, and then either commit to £1900 in sponsorship money or donate £875. I would have liked to have taken part but it was just too much.

[Martin]

I think it's just a method of advertising.
After all, a lot of charity events are ridiculously easy for most people to consider to be a challenge.

a lot of people on London-Brighton struggle a lot, many don't do any training whatever.

to them the sponsorship is a big incentive to enter and they enjoy doing it and the BHF gets some dosh; that's a win/win.  The free holiday ones are rather more suspicious.

I got fed up with asking people to sponsor me on it as it is as you say very easy and a fun day out for anyone who rides a bike regularly

I do remember riding through a village road that was "closed" with paper signs for some mega 1 mile charity run whilst doing a 600 a few years ago, fortunately nobody challenged us.

A Cow orker is riding to Paris next week; just for the fun of it. They looked into the official charity ride but realised they would never be able to get enough sponsorship together (£1300) at such short notice. I hope to supply them with coffee and cake before accompanying them down to Newhaven if I can get the day off.

and then either commit to £1900 in sponsorship money or donate £875.

ay there's the rub; of the £1900 sponsorship it looks like £875 will go into the cost of the trip, the charity would rather have half the sponsorship than none; I think chuggers work on the same principle. A lot of charities do give participants the option of stumping up the cost of the trip themsleves so that all the sponsorship goes to charity but £875 for a bike ride across the continent? we all know how over inflated that is; I do similar trips for less than a quarter of that amount.

[vorsprung]

The people who are working with James Bowthorpe claim that he is doing it to raise the profile of the Parkinsons Disease charity that he is interested in

I think in this particular case James Bowthorpe and his charity decided to do the record breaking circuit of the world on a bicycle to raise the profile of the charity.  Bowthorpe thought he could do it and the charity thought it would work as a publicity stunt.

The general question remains however, is Bowthorpe and his charity right?  Is this a cost effective way of publicising a charity?  Bowthorpes charity fund raising target was £1.8 Million.  He has nearly made it round the world and has raised £50,000 so far.

This particular case, which the charity describe as a "singular fundraising proposition" is different to the London-Brighton or even TRAT.  Clearly, as it is a world record attempt there is by definition no one who has performed this feat before.  So the kind of "charity fatigue" that Martin describes does not really apply to Bowthorpe.  My general points that people don't really appreciate long distance cycling in any meaningful way still hold, and could affect the way in which Bowthorpe and his charity get more exposure in the media.

[Jezza]

Our local practice nurse is embarking on a 'gruelling' bike ride in India to raise money. She's going to be covering a route of 150 miles over the course of 5 days.

While I consider her motives entirely laudible, I find it hard to muster the necessary enthusiasm at her awe-inspiring achievement.   

[Martin]

Our local practice nurse is embarking on a 'gruelling' bike ride in India to raise money. She's going to be covering a route of 150 miles over the course of 5 days.

While I consider her motives entirely laudible, I find it hard to muster the necessary enthusiasm at her awe-inspiring achievement.   

ask her how much of her own money she is stumping up and how much of the sponsorship goes to the charity

[Jezza]

Well she was going to be in India anyway, on holiday, and I'm pretty sure that whatever she raises will go straight to the charity in question - raising funds for the local surgery. Like I said, I don't doubt her integrity. I just think she might have set a slightly more ambitious goal for herself.

[cyclone]

Hmmm,
Was considering doing Bordeaux - Paris next year at Randonneur (BRM) lick for charity. My wife suffers from ME and 100% of money raised would go to the local ME support charity. Worthy endeavour or not - challenge being that as yet I've only done 200's....I'd like to read the forumites views on this....

[Regulator]

Well she was going to be in India anyway, on holiday, and I'm pretty sure that whatever she raises will go straight to the charity in question - raising funds for the local surgery. Like I said, I don't doubt her integrity. I just think she might have set a slightly more ambitious goal for herself.

Have you ever cycled in India?  Even 30 miles a day could be tough going - particularly if you're not a regular super cyclist.

[Regulator]

Hmmm,
Was considering doing Bordeaux - Paris next year at Randonneur (BRM) lick for charity. My wife suffers from ME and 100% of money raised would go to the local ME support charity. Worthy endeavour or not - challenge being that as yet I've only done 200's....I'd like to read the forumites views on this....

I'd say do it!

I must say that I find some of the views expressed on this thread rather disappointing and saddening.

[Martin]

Hmmm,
Was considering doing Bordeaux - Paris next year at Randonneur (BRM) lick for charity. My wife suffers from ME and 100% of money raised would go to the local ME support charity. Worthy endeavour or not - challenge being that as yet I've only done 200's....I'd like to read the forumites views on this....

I'd say it's an excellent idea and you should put a link up here. I don't think anybody here has any views against people doing bike rides for charity as such, just that people need to be aware of just how much of the donations go directly to the charity (in your case 100%, with justgiving etc it's now easier than ever to do small to medium fundraising this way)

It's a sad but unescapeable fact that a lot of charities' funds do go on publicity and admin as vorsprung says but that shouldn't deter people from doing it.

[vorsprung]

It's a sad but unescapeable fact that a lot of charities' funds do go on publicity and admin as vorsprung says but that shouldn't deter people from doing it.

There is a  "moral" point that people could (for example) get a free holiday as part of charitable donations.  Or that a lot of the money raised might go to a company who solely exist to organise these sorts of events.

I accept that these are problems with the system of "charity bike rides" but they aren't my main concern

What I don't understand and have the issue with is that a "bike ride" is considered a good way to raise awareness or something for a charity.  Why not a charity wallpapering marathon?  It's about as popular as bike riding

[Martin]

What I don't understand and have the issue with is that a "bike ride" is considered a good way to raise awareness or something for a charity.  Why not a charity wallpapering marathon?  It's about as popular as bike riding

because bike riding is perceived by many as hard; an ordeal, something we only put ourselves through for the good of our fellow man through sponsorship; no way would we do it otherwise

yes I know that's complete bolleaux too but charities make a lot of money that way.

There was a thread a few years back on urc about it which led to this link;

Thons Reconsidered--Are Charity Rides A Good Thing?

[Regulator]

Hmmm,
Was considering doing Bordeaux - Paris next year at Randonneur (BRM) lick for charity. My wife suffers from ME and 100% of money raised would go to the local ME support charity. Worthy endeavour or not - challenge being that as yet I've only done 200's....I'd like to read the forumites views on this....

I'd say it's an excellent idea and you should put a link up here. I don't think anybody here has any views against people doing bike rides for charity as such, just that people need to be aware of just how much of the donations go directly to the charity (in your case 100%, with justgiving etc it's now easier than ever to do small to medium fundraising this way)

It's a sad but unescapeable fact that a lot of charities' funds do go on publicity and admin as vorsprung says but that shouldn't deter people from doing it.

Except that this is a bit of an urban myth.

Most of the major charities involved in such activities actually have relatively little expenditure on publicity and admin.  It's something that the Charity Commission keeps a very close eye on and most of the major charities have a rate of less than 20% and many below 10%.

Some charities have higher overheads - but often this is because of the nature of the work that they do.

[Wowbagger]

When my daughter was working as an intern at Intelligent Giving, she told me that one fact she had unearthed was that charity skydives cost the NHS far more than they raise for charity. Do not sponsor charity skydivers | Intelligent Giving

[Regulator]

When my daughter was working as an intern at Intelligent Giving, she told me that one fact she had unearthed was that charity skydives cost the NHS far more than they raise for charity. Do not sponsor charity skydivers | Intelligent Giving

Sorry - but I'd like to see the evidence for such a claim.  The incidences of serious injury in parachuting or skydiving are extremely low.

Seems to me like spin...

[Greenbank]

Sorry - but I'd like to see the evidence for such a claim.

The page gives links to the research.

[Regulator]

Sorry - but I'd like to see the evidence for such a claim.

The page gives links to the research.

It gives a link to an abstract.  I'll have to wait under Mr R get home to be able to get the full paper and also see what subsequent criticism of the piece there was.

I find some of the figures quoted in the abstract odd - and at odds with figures produced by the British Parachute Association.

[teethgrinder]

The problem is that doing these rides aren't necessarily easy or "free".  The distances involved may be relatively short for an experienced cyclist - but the effort involved pre- and post-ride can be enormous.

Many of these rides, particularly the overseas ones, have significant 'entry' fees - sometimes running into hundreds of pounds - and you are expected to raise substantial amounts in sponsorship (often several thousand pounds).  If you don't raise the minimum sponsorship then you have to pay the full costs of the trip.

I realise that 30 miles can be very tough to someone not used to cycling, especially if they're pretty unfit and much more if they are on a BSO. But a lot of people do ride them without any trouble. A bit tiring but just a hard day rather than a challenge.
I'd never ride TRAT. It's at the top end of my relaxed holiday daily mileage and I don't like the route. Getting the sponsorship money would be the real challenge to me. I'd never raise that much and couldn't pay it myself. Much cheaper for me to just go cycling and check into YHs, B&Bs or Hotels. But if you have many rich and generous friends, then why not.
TRAT and rides like that are very good. They are a challenge to most people. I think for Charlotte, it was a pretty good ride, but I was very impressed that Liz managed it. I know how much she needed to improve to be able to do it and did have my doubts early in the year.
I had a punt at my local radio station to do my 2006 Triangle ride (over 2000 miles in 11 days or less) as a fund raising ride for charity. They were not interested. They were interested in a local Cancer Research ride of 12 miles though and still give it support. At worst, people finish that ride feeling a little bit tired. Well, you get one or two that are very tired, but one or two out of about 400 doesn't count as general.

Basically, I don't see anything wrong with somebody using their hobby/sport to raise money for charity. 

Neither do I. Like I said, it's just advertising. Nothing wrong with it. Does it have to be a challenge, hardship or a test?
It's all about touting for money.

[PaulR]

One of the things that really made me consider riding this year's TRAT (before sanity kicked back in) was the fact that the cost of running the event is met by a corporate sponsor.

When I did a Paris to London ride three years back, it was partly in memory of a friend's daughter, the first anniversary of whose death was the day we arrived at the hospital, but also to raise funds for the charity linked to the hospital.  I paid my own costs up front so I could say to friends, colleagues and relatives that I was not using their money to have a short cycling holiday.

[Martin]

[It's a sad but unescapeable fact that a lot of charities' funds do go on publicity and admin as vorsprung says but that shouldn't deter people from doing it.

Except that this is a bit of an urban myth.

Most of the major charities involved in such activities actually have relatively little expenditure on publicity and admin.  It's something that the Charity Commission keeps a very close eye on and most of the major charities have a rate of less than 20% and many below 10%.

Some charities have higher overheads - but often this is because of the nature of the work that they do.

OK I'll rephrase it,

a proportion of a charity's income goes on necessary expenditure like admin leaflets adverts etc. We are told that of the £31 IIRC entry fee for L2B none goes towards the charity directly but towards the cost of running the event; I would hope this isn't strictly true as the company that runs the ride is owned by BHF. But riders queue up every year to pay that £31 and a lot of money gets raised and everyone has a good time; where's the harm in that?

I'm actually very much in favour of all aspects of charity "anything" as long as it involves some sort of physical activity and / or mental effort ; I'm not Scrooge. The only thing I have issue with is able bodied participants creaming off some of the sponsorship for their own free holiday or jolly when they should be paying it themselves. Perhaps this is something the Charities' Commission to look into.

I would say none of the events described upthread comes under that category.

[mattc]

The only thing I have issue with is able bodied participants creaming off some of the sponsorship for their own free holiday or jolly when they should be paying it themselves. Perhaps this is something the Charities' Commission to look into.

Too right.

Part of me wonders how these things ever got off the ground in the first place without public outcry.