creativepart

So, there's a big charity ride coming up weekend after this and I think it would be fun to ride. It's only $50 to register and hey, it's for a good cause.

So, I sign up and get the email which says, "You can't participate unless you garner another $250 in donations."

Huh?

So, I check and turns out there was some boiler plate terms I had to agree to, only a couple lines of which were showing and heck I know about the hold harmless legal stuff so, you guessed it, I didn't bother to read it.

In the email welcome me to the ride they included the WHOLE thing and even HIGHLIGHTED the $250 part in yellow.

So, now what do I do? Cough up another $250 for a good charity and ride. Or, let them keep my $50 and not show up?

VA_Esquire

....or have friends/family members/etc. donate to the cause.

Seattle Forrest

If you can't or won't get friends and family and coworkers to donate the other $250, in your shoes, I would probably show up and unofficially join the ride. With an eye patch.

kbro1986

1. don't use your $250
2. $50 is enough
3. call or e-mail someone in charge and explain what happened
4. ask if you can still ride
5. if they say no, then don't show up

lesson learned.

-or-

ask for refund

NathanC

Typical of most charity rides in Australia.

Email your workplace, family and friends and you will have $250 before you know it.

wkg

You paid $50. Good. You did a lot more than most people.

They're doing a charity event on a public road. It's not like you're doing anything illegal if you choose to go ride the same route on a public road at the same time this charity event is going on.

JaceK

Cheese, just pony up the 250, it is even a tax break as a charitable contribution.
You had enough interest to sign up for the cause, support it.

kbro1986

oh....BS

no way should he cough up the 250. that's outrageous.

DScott

wtf, over?

I made the mistake of getting on the American Diabetes Assoc mailing list. Holy crap, do they send a lot of stuff. And they call and ask for money. A lot.

Do not want.

Crappymonkey

They may say you need to raise the extra $250 but it's unlikely that they will enforce it. Last year I did the Ride for Heart here in Toronto and it was a similar situation. I asked an official at the ride about it and they told me it was "strongly encouraged" but if you can't get the extra donations they won't stop you from riding. All my friends are broke or unemployed and I only work with one other person so donations can be hard to come by

Commodus

Well, it's a charity ride. I thought they were all like that.

I thought that was kinda the point.

2manybikes

Just do the ride anyway. They may even give you a t shirt. If a lot of riders show up it won't mater what you do.

This is what charity rides do. Possibly all of them. They have minimum donation levels.

kbro1986

if u ride, i'm calling the cops

znomit

I'm calling the militant members of the charity who want to spend the 250 on god knows what.

CFXMarauder

Just got done riding the MS150 here in Jax and If you dont have all your donations($200) you have to sign a "Promise to pay" that gives them access to you bank account and permission to withdraw the needed amount..

eippo1

Yah, the OP is supposed to now raise the money, not pay for it himself. Didn't they give you a bunch of fundraising tools, like email templates etc? The idea is that 1000 people fundraising for a cause is way more effective than a few that are tied to the nonprofit.

KoNP

lots of places are doing that now

i did a 5k at yankee stadium this year and they forced you to raise 150 bucks

mynameistaken

ride it anyway... you may not get a t shirt but who cares.

LemondFanForeve

In that case.....PASS

Commodus

I'm surprised so many people are saying to ride it anyway.

I think that would be totally lacking in class.

js1221

If you signed up for the MS 150 you will not be able to pick up your packet, number or t-shirt without either paying the money or signing a promise to pay and provide your bank information. If you do not pay then they will not let you officially sign up/ride next year either. I have ridden it the last three years but I decided not to this year. When the ride went to Corpus Christi from San Antonio it was definitely a good ride but since it because a San Antonio/New Braunfels/San Antonio trip it has lost it's luster, at least for me.

idc

Frankly, I avoid charity rides for this exact reason. Not to get too political or offend anyone, but they're not really "charity" when there are minimum donation amounts in the hundreds (thousands for some rides).

prathmann

I'd consider it totally lacking in class for a charity organization to refuse a refund to anyone who signed up and didn't notice their additional donation requirement buried within a long waiver agreement (yes it does appear in there twice and also at the bottom of the payment page, but I can see how it could be missed).

So if I were the OP I'd start by contacting the organization running the event and seeing if they would issue a refund. If payment was made by credit card it might also be possible to get the charge reversed through the credit card company. But if neither approach worked then I wouldn't feel too bad about trying to join the ride.

coldehammer

The $50 usually just covers the organizers the initial cost of running the event. The $250 actually goes to the fundraising recipient.

If you do ride, you prob. will not be able to register and get dirty looks if using the support stations. You could always put the $250 upfront and just go around to co-workers, friends and family saying you did this great ride and that you still need $$ left to contribute. Next time I guess you should read the fine print (almost all charity events are like this so beware; swimming, running, cycling, walking, etc).

Commodus

I'm happy that I've never been in the situation in my life where I had to go to extraordinary attempts to avoid donating $50 to charity.

I mean, really.