dstrong 

I am targeting 7 or 8 charity rides this year as motivation to boost my mileage and give me goals to work towards. I choose rides that have entry fees but no fundraising requirements...cuz that's what I do.

Today I got an e-mail from Active.com for something they call a "Schwaggle", that offers me the opportunity to sign up for this $30 event for $18.

While I'm all for saving money, it seems like it defeats the purpose of the event by discounting it 2 months previously. Maybe they're trying to encourage early registration but it just doesn't seem right.

sdgrannygear

active is the ticketmaster of endurance activities. they probably lowered their ridiculous surcharge/convenience fee for the charity.

datlas 

I am pretty cynical about charity rides. I suspect precious little goes to the targeted group. Most likely goes to administration, advertising, etc.

Velo Vol 

If you want to donate to an organization, why not do so directly?

Seattle Forrest

Someone had to.

mmamalyga

My girlfriend works in the fundraising dept. of a major hospital in Toronto and they have looked into alot of companies that put on these events and similar ones. The amount they charge to take part does not usually go to the charity and if any of it does, it's very little. The money goes towards logistics, vehicle rentals to transport belongings from start to finish, A/V, support, food, etc, and of course profit. Most of the money raised goes to the charity but not always all of it does. Some of it goes back to the organizers as part of payment (when initial registration cost does not cover all costs)

Many charities do these events not strictly for the $$ but also for exposure, attaining future donors and raising awareness. They do raise a ton of money but while it may be a goal of the event, it's not always the main one.

In this case, I can assume that the organizer is taking a hit on their fixed costs or profit and the money you are saving would not actually be going to the charity anyway.

KoNP

Most of those charity rides are not meant to actually fund research but rather get the name of the charity out there

Its like the livestrong foundation most of their fundraising go to awareness.

pallen

A lot of the local events I've been to are put on by volunteers with most support costs donated by local organizations and clubs. I expect in most of those, a good bit of the money goes toward the charity. Although, often the "charities" are things like the local Lions club or the police and fire fighters associations, etc. Either way, I dont care much, I enjoy getting the opportunity to ride in areas I normally wouldnt with the streets blocked off with a bunch of friends.

dstrong 

I'm not doing the ride so I can donate to the charity...I'm doing it so I can do a supported ride in an unfamiliar area and maybe ride with some nice people. I think it's a good value to spend $30 for being able to ride on somewhat protected roads and have places with food and water every 10 - 15 miles. The fact that some money goes to charity is great but the logic of discounting the ride just seems counter intuitive to me. Are they going to get more riders because they lower the price?

rmr1923

i've seen similar pre-registration deals for charity rides i'm looking into. standard entry fee for one of them is $40 per person, but if you register by a certain date they cut it to $20 i believe, PLUS you get a free jersey if you register early enough to get the $20 entry fee. they claim the money is going to a drought relief fund for Houston area parks.

X-LinkedRider

The way groupon makes money is selling so many and having less than 50% of he people actually use it. This would be similar. Just hoping people will pay registration and not show up. If they do, no loss.

deyendznyr

I'm pretty sure Groupon gets the money whether or not you use the groupon.

Looigi

Charity starts at home. I prefer rides that provide me the best value regardless of where the money goes.

Seattle Forrest

I'm almost certain they can't simply pocket this money and whistle all the way to the bank.

pallen

I think the idea is the more people they can get signed up in advance, the better and they are willing to offer a financial incentive to get you to sign up early because if you mess around and wait til the last minute, you might decide not to do the event. If you sign up and pay early, they have your money no matter what.

John_V 

I signed up with my cycling team last month for a charity ride benefiting an animal shelter in the Tampa Bay area where Active.com was handling the registration. We all registered early and it was $25.00. If you registered this month, it goes up to $40.00. What's even stranger is that this charity has no minimum fund raising amount like most of the other charity rides I do. Someone told me that the people working the event are all volunteers and the food and stuff for the SAG stations was donated by a local grocery chain. Even still, that doesn't seem like a lot of money that will be going to the animal shelter. The ride is Feb 18th.

johnny99

If you want to go on a charity bike ride, look for one that uses volunteers so that most of the money raised actually goes back to the charity. Most of the bigger events (with big mandatory fees) are produced by professionals or companies who pocket most of the money. Volunteer run events are usually smaller local events and you may know some of the volunteers personally.

X-LinkedRider

This is what I was trying to say... Think it came out backwards.

rdtompki

You're fortunate to be able to do any sort of organized ride for $30 or $40. In California you would be hit with $55+.

seanthebear

ftfy

X-LinkedRider

Because you can't bribe cancer...

KoNP

lol

no but you can research cures....

pallen

Livestrong doesnt claim to support cancer research, there's a lot of people already raising a lot of money for that. Livestrong wanted to step in and find ways to provide direct support to people going through treatment and those trying to get their lives together after. You can read on the website what their mission is - its about supporting cancer survivors and their families and connecting people with resources. Part of that is awareness because they want people to know and get connected with the resources out there that can help. They do exactly what they say they do.
https://www.livestrong.org/What-We-Do...rms-Priorities

Some examples of how they are trying to accomplish those priorities
https://www.livestrong.org/What-We-Do...s-Partnerships