Fundraising

[ny biker]

For rides that don't have a fundraising minimum, are people who don't raise much looked down on?

No one outside of the organization running the fundraiser will know how much you raised unless you tell them.

I usually raise the bare minimum for charity rides. No one gives me any grief for it. They're happy for anything you can bring in.

[shootingstar]

Perhaps for motivation long-term on cycling, you might be better off to keep a cycling diary that logs mileage each time you bike per day. The total mileage can really cumulate!

[Karma007]

I'm fundraising for the LIVESTRONG ride right now, and feel your pain. I've hit up my Facebooker's, parents, and anyone else I've ever bought a school fundraiser from. Tomorrow I'll be bringing in goodies to work- not for sale, but more as a bribe. Little by little.....

[Jen12]

It's slightly frustrating, isn't it? I'm fundraising for Team in Training and I sent out 89 messages between emails and Facebook. Nine of them have donated and three more said "soon." It's interesting that the people I thought I could count on the most haven't responded at all, and some people who I never expected to contribute (including some people from this forum who I've never even met) have made very generous contributions. You just can never tell.

I'm pretty sure the key is to be persistent, and a whole lot of creativity doesn't hurt either! Good luck!

[Crankin]

People don't respond because they may be constantly getting hit up for $. For example, DH is director of a division of 210 people or so across the world. They are a pretty fit bunch; if he gave to just one of them, he would have to give to all. He gets at least one e mail a day for money from people he works with. So, he doesn't give to anyone.
This is why I don't do charity rides, except for the kind that just have a registration fee with no obligation to raise more. The only one I did with huge fund raising commitments was paid for by DH's employer. I just can't ask people for money. I *do* give a contribution to the few people that have asked me over the years... maybe 3?
The whole thing about raising money to ride 50 or 100 miles leaves me uncomfortable. I am not sure why, as I do choose to give to various charities on my own.

[indysteel]

Some people will give simply because they care about you and want to support you. Most everybody else needs to feel a personal connection of some kind to the cause itself. Your job as a fundraiser is to make it personal for them. Are you riding on behalf of a loved one or friend? Is there somebody in your mutual circle personally affected by the disease or issue? Can you help them see the need in their own community or lives?

[aronan]

The whole thing about raising money to ride 50 or 100 miles leaves me uncomfortable. I am not sure why, as I do choose to give to various charities on my own.

Maybe because you feel like people are asking for money in exchange for receiving training and recreation/trips for themselves as well as for whatever cause they are asking you to contribute to? I know I have felt like that about Team in Training for years, as I got asked for contribusion again and again by a friend who use the program to train for rides and races both near and far.

Yet this year I joined the program myself, because I wanted to get in better shape and it seemed like a great training program. I also have a close friend with cancer, so it seemed like a good cause to put time into. I dealt with the conflict (or what feels like a conflict to me), by stating to everyone up-front that I was donating the 25% of the minimum fund-raising amount that went to cover the groups administrative and fund-raising costs. That made it easier for me to ask for others to contribute to the rest of my fund-raising goal.

It still felt funny to be connecting the two. I have fund-raised in the past, but not by saying that I was riding or doing something else in exhcange for the fund-raising. But I loved the training and the group, and I was succesful in raising $3000 for a good cause, so I will probably do it again.

[Jen12]

Maybe because you feel like people are asking for money in exchange for receiving training and recreation/trips for themselves as well as for whatever cause they are asking you to contribute to? I know I have felt like that about Team in Training for years, as I got asked for contribusion again and again by a friend who use the program to train for rides and races both near and far.

Yet this year I joined the program myself, because I wanted to get in better shape and it seemed like a great training program. I also have a close friend with cancer, so it seemed like a good cause to put time into. I dealt with the conflict (or what feels like a conflict to me), by stating to everyone up-front that I was donating the 25% of the minimum fund-raising amount that went to cover the groups administrative and fund-raising costs. That made it easier for me to ask for others to contribute to the rest of my fund-raising goal.

I did something similar when going to Hawaii to run a marathon with the American Stroke Association a few years ago. I'd hit a wall in fundraising and, I figured it would cost me X dollars to go to Hawaii if I was going without them, so I just covered it myself. It seemed fair.

TnT now has an option where you can choose to cover your own travel. I like that. I also opted for a local event to avoid the appearance that I was getting some kind of vacation for free.

I can't say that I feel any type of conflict about it, though. If I was hired by a charity to do fundraising, I'd be collecting a salary. Instead of a paycheck, the charity trains people for endurance events, and they benefit both financially and by getting their name out there.

I wonder what the re-up percentage is with TnT. I know it's pretty high. Once you've trained for your first endurance event, you really can do the next one on your own, so I really believe people who go back do it because of a belief in the cause, even if their original focus happened to be on their own training needs.

[ny biker]

Maybe because you feel like people are asking for money in exchange for receiving training and recreation/trips for themselves as well as for whatever cause they are asking you to contribute to? I know I have felt like that about Team in Training for years, as I got asked for contribusion again and again by a friend who use the program to train for rides and races both near and far.

Yet this year I joined the program myself, because I wanted to get in better shape and it seemed like a great training program. I also have a close friend with cancer, so it seemed like a good cause to put time into. I dealt with the conflict (or what feels like a conflict to me), by stating to everyone up-front that I was donating the 25% of the minimum fund-raising amount that went to cover the groups administrative and fund-raising costs. That made it easier for me to ask for others to contribute to the rest of my fund-raising goal.

It still felt funny to be connecting the two. I have fund-raised in the past, but not by saying that I was riding or doing something else in exhcange for the fund-raising. But I loved the training and the group, and I was succesful in raising $3000 for a good cause, so I will probably do it again.

I don't do fundraising rides for the training. I'll be riding my bike anyway. I do the fundraisers to make something good out of it, so it's not purely self-indulgent.

I worked my butt off to do 5 consecutive Livestrong rides. Planned my entire year around all of them, sacrificed my social life so I could train, experienced lots of stress trying to get ready for them. My life would have been a lot easier if I had not done them.