Podagrower

Tour de Cure was my first organized cycling event and finding discussion of it here is why I signed up for it. This year, somebody decided that it was time to raise the fundraising minimum by $75.00 for our local event and the response has been unfavorable. Our club's team has gone from 40+ members for the last several years, raising over $15K for the last three years to....5 members raising $4K. The event is a little over a month away, this time last year we had raised over $15K and finished with over $20K. This year we have almost $4K in donations and I will be astonished if we make it to $5K. Bigger problem is, those totals include the club's $3K donation. We're already committed to this year, but there's no way the club can justify a $3K donation for a ride that 5 people take advantage of.

TLDR: At what fundraising level is a charity ride too costly?

indyfabz

You left out a crucial piece of information: What is the minimum a participant must raise?

Bassmanbob

If you are talking about the Lake Nona Tour de Cure, it went up by $50, not $75. Last year the minimum was $200, and this year it is $250. Fortunately it has not had an effect on my team. We doubled the size of our team this year from 15 to 31 and have almost doubled our fundraising dollars. I must admit that I put far more work into recruiting this year than in previous years. I do think (although it hasn't been mentioned) that the increase caused two people to drop out.

I wasn't happy with the increase, but some of the cancer rides require well over $1,000 to ride.

sdmc530

This is easy, don't ride it. I quit doing pay for charity rides with a minimum long ago. I never had an issue writing a check for a nice donation but when they start to say you need to make us XXX amount of dollars to ride that I wasn't willing to pay myself I just stopped participating. We had the same issue with our local MS ride. They raised the minimum one year by a very large amount, over $100 and that year the numbers dropped in 1/2. After that it was never organized again. I think that's what they wanted in the end however. Anyways just don't. I hated the notion of begging people for money so if I wanted to ride it I paid.

A club supporting its riders is AWESOME but I suggest you support an appropriate amount per rider instead of a bulk donation of X dollars.

rm -rf

A local charity ride switched from about $40-$50 to (I think) about $200-$300.
A lot fewer riders, but they actually raised more money. It'll be interesting to see if they raise similar amounts in following years.

CAT7RDR

I am sure one of the organizers has an Excel sheet with "What If" functions trying to figure out the optimum amount of riders/fundraisers vs overhead.

I have a loved one who is disabled, any extra monies I have goes to her. I too never felt comfortable asking for donations knowing that people are often living paycheck to paycheck.

tunavic

In 2013 I rode my first organized cycling event, Tour de Cure Long Beach, Ca. The fundraising minimum then was $250 plus the rider had to pay $40 also.

I hated asking others to donate to my ride so I've never again ridden a ride that required fund raising

$290 to ride a fairly local ride with a questionable route I now feel was too much.

sdmc530

that is just it. If its well organized, planned and supported I will pay to ride (out of my own pocket). It really just depends.

Example: one I love to do is the St. Paul Classic. Not very much under $100, great support, food, entertainment AND the 60 miles is the longest rout but is all CAR FREE on streets. Yep they close all roads its awesome. Riding on a interstate like road for a short stretch with no cars is pretty fun just to say you did it. LOTS of great food and local bands.....

dagray

I quit riding the Tour de Cure when they changed to a regional tour. I used to ride their Spokane, WA tour, but last time I registered for that venue the website didn't have the information that Spokane was cancelled and for WA the tour was in Seattle, and in OR the tour was in Portland/Hillsborough.

I did like the way they were organized, and didn't mind the cost, but I have found more local rides that cost way less in which to participate.

Beachgrad05

I agree with @tunavic that the long beach Tour de Cure was not worth it. There was only one perk and that was getting to ride over the Gerald Desmond bridge and take photos. They had awful pit stops with grapefruit (which I understand is a no-no with diabetes meds). Plus the route went thru LB with stop signs every block. Ugh. I won't pay to ride local route.

I do participate in AIDS/Lifecycle as I have a personal connection to the cause. I donated half the minimum and got it matched so I met minimum to ride all on my own. I worked with Pedal Industries and had gear bags designed with ALC artwork. They are donating 20% of each bag sale by sending me the funds via PayPal and I get donated and matched increasing donation to 40% of each bag sold. Obviously I am open to someone donating toward my efforts and those donations are greatly appreciated...I decided to find ways to fundraise that wasn't just straight up asking people for money.

indyfabz

I used to volunteer for the planning committee of what is now the second largest MS 150 ride in the country. (The City to Shore.) The employee that was the head of the ride for several years quipped that, in the eyes of the local chapter, the best case scenario would be to have one rider raising the ride's overall fundraising goal.

So many factors go into determining that "sweet spot." You have logistical issues such as how many people the start and finish locations can accommodate. When charity rides were fewer, it was a lot easier to get donations of food and drinks from companies. Not so these days, so that increases costs. The larger the event, the more support services (e.g., ambulances and police protection at some intersections) you are likely going to have to pay for. (The City to Shore has grown from around 1,200 to over 7,000 on a good weekend.) The "hard core for the cause", repeat riders tend to raise far more money per capita. At some point, the incremental benefit of adding more and more riders raising only the minimum becomes counterproductive from a cost and logistical standpoint. I think the minimum for the City to Shore is now $300. (I retired several years ago because there was just too much goofiness with that many people.) On average, the rider raising $300 is going to eat and drink and use porta-potties as much as the rider raising $3,000+.

Podagrower

Yep, you are right, it went up $50. In the interest of over analyzing, I went back and looked at 2019 numbers near this point. 9 of the top 10 Family and Friend teams from 2019 are in the top 10 Family and friend teams this year. Of those 9 teams, only 2 have raised more funds to date this year over the year prior. The other 7 teams have raised $21,000 less than the same time last year. Interestingly, the event's total fundraising is $90,000 more than the same time last year and the number of champions (raised over $1,000) is up by a little more than a third.

I'll agree that having fewer people raise more money is a great way to increase the bottom line, but knowing that my team is voting to ditch this ride makes me sad.

Bassmanbob

Well I hope you are still going. I've always had fun at this event, and I'm returning this year too. Perhaps we can meet that day if you are still going.

HeyItsSara

It costs money to arrange these things. I did an indoor cycling event and it cost a thousand dollars per bike to do. Crazy, huh?

jadocs

Yep I don't ride these types of events anymore.

The other thing I can't stand is some of my friends plastering my FB feed everyday with requests for money. "This is for a good cause, I only need XX dollars to ride"....."only XX dollars to go!"...."help me ride so I can battle XX". Turns me way off.

tunavic

Not sure I fully understand. How much did the riders have to fundraise to ride your event? $1,000 per bike for an indoor event sounds crazy!

jischr

The four I typically ride run from $75 to $600 minimums. I've been riding some of them for 15+ years. Luckily company match had been at 100% so that made it less painful. We also had a work authorized team the first 6-7 years. Now that I've retired, retiree match is at 50%, and goes to zero 1 Jan 2021.

The most expensive (cancer) is geared toward the 10 - 45 mile riders, which 90% of the current work team rides. The pre-ride dinner tends to have spicy food that my system doesn't care for during the next day's hilly century. As a slower century rider, the post ride lunch is pretty thin by the time I get back. So for the majority of the riders it a great event. For me its on the verge of being dropped.

Beachgrad05

Scroll past and don't donate. Easy. Fundraising via social media isn't going away. Never know who might be touched by the cause and donate.

I try to keep my posts to a minimum and I have created gear bags to sell that relate to AIDS/Lifecycle thru Pedal Industries and 20% of each bag sold is sent to me at end of each month...I then donate and get matched resulting in 40% raised. Very little of my fundraising this year has been a direct donation.

I lost my brother to AIDS/HIV 14 years ago and thus I ride in his honor. You never know who has been affected by cancer, AIDS, diabetes, or whatever the cause those folks are raising money for. At least I can say that the funds donated NOW get used NOW to by the center in LA. It's not saved up until after ride.

jadocs

I absolutely get that and I am very sorry for your loss. My issue is with disingenuous people.

It just seems like if it were that important, some of these people would be fundraising without a bike ride attached to it. Some of these people are only in it for the ride or club competitions which appears very disingenuous to me. They jump from cause to cause and the latest one is always the most important. Couple that with their incessant spam so they can go on a bike ride gets under my skin. I also get that the charity makes money from these types as well, which is great. It's the people and their disingenuous underlying reasons that bother me.

The other thing that bothers me is some charities putting minimum fundraising limits. If you don't meet them you get penalized and cannot ride, but thank you very much for the contribution. I get it that they have to cover costs, but I think some go too far in an attempt to maximize profits.

Beachgrad05

Thank you for your kind condolences. I did the breast cancer 3 day once in honor of my mom who passed from breast cancer in 1988 but breast cancer gets so much $ from fundraising and I have not heard good things about how much money charities like Susan G Komen actually give to research etc vs. salaries and such. Besides...walking was HARD as heck! Rather ride my bike.

I do understand when the posts are all about the things you mention or what they can get, or if they do multiple things and it seems that's all they do. I get it. I personally donate at minimum $1500 each ride I've done. This year I got that matched and met my minimum to ride w/o a single donation from others. ALC does have a minimum dollar amount of $3000; which since it is 7 days and fully supported, to me the minimum is necessary. I don't do any other charity events anymore as this one is enough. I did a raffle for some Aftershokz and had 545 stickers made to sell. Fundraising for me has been trying to do stuff w/o just straight up begging. LOL

jadocs

You're a good man, and again I'm very sorry.

NomarsGirl

The minimum this year for the Pan Mass Challenge is $5500 Up from $5k last year, so a big increase. The hospitals around heremake a fortune in fundraising for the Boston marathon. They each have a limited number of bibs which they auction off to the highest bidder. I have heard of people needing to raise $11,000 to run the marathon.