UKC

Hiya,

I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me out? I am currently trying to get an understanding of whether cycling for a charity is a popular idea amongst keen cyclists?

Has anyone cycled for a charity before? If so, which one and why? What piqued your interest and drew you in?

I feel that often it has been more about the challenge of the race than the drive to fundraise.

Any thoughts?

In reply to littlemouse:


To what end?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=charity+cycle+ride

In reply to littlemouse:
As a long term cyclist (30+ years), I ride because I enjoy it, and am never short for a ride, either alone or with club mates.
From time to time I ride organised events such as sportives and audaxes, but I do not ride charitable events.

I donate to a number of charities, and do not link my donations to any activity carried out by anyone. I would not ask anyone to make a donation on the basis of any ride (or other activity) which I have done.

If you want to ride 100 miles or the End to End do it because you want to and don't ask anyone for money. Similarly if you want to walk on The Great Wall of China, or climb Kilimanjaro do it and pay for it yourself.
If you can afford to donate to charities, then do so, and don't wait until someone has ridden something first.

In reply to littlemouse:

I'd sponsor an unfit overweight person to ride 20 miles, I wouldn't sponsor a fit cyclist to ride 120.

If it's a ride where the charity pays for all your expenses (holiday) before the leftover money goes to good causes then you'd get very bluntly told where to go.

In reply to littlemouse:

The Etape Caledonia attracts a lots of people riding to raise money for charities. The people who ride it range from quite-serious cycling enthusiasts to folk who fancy a bit of a challenge. Not everyone who rides it does so with the aim of raising money, but that doesn't seem to get in the way of lots of people getting out on their bikes and having a good time.

In reply to David55:

That's an interesting view. I approach climbing in much the same way. However, I have recently been interested in competitions and do enjoy the aspect of my entry free being donated to a charity, and not just limited to paying for event costs/wall maintenance.

Often with cycling races, there is not a very high cost involved with entering, but a high fundraising target to aim for if supporting a charity. Why not fundraise towards a race you have your eyes set on completing anyway, regardless of how much money is raised?

Still, thank you for your opinion. I can certainly relate.

In reply to tony:
This is where I wonder why the cycling community seem to differ from runners? I find that many more runners are more committed to raising money for charity and towards the cause as well as the race, whilst there doesn't seem to be a high level of committment from the cycling community.

I'd like to know reasons why this might be?

I do realise I am overly generalising a bit...apologies for this, but I am curious...

In reply to littlemouse:
Charity cycle rides aren't races!

There's thousands of charity rides every year and I'm sure that a huge amount of money is generated.

Many cyclists who ride for charity ride one big event a year such as Ride London or Etape Caledonia and have to train hard for thier 100 mile day out and hats off to them.

Most club cyclists will be approaching thier cycling to properly race or time trial and won't be interested in charity rides, others will ride 100 miles in a day many times a year and wouldn't expect people to part with money for them doing so.

In reply to littlemouse:

I'm the same as David. I cycle for enjoyment and will not ever ask people to donate to charity when I'm doing something I enjoy anyway. Trying to fundraise when I just want to ride my bike would detract from the riding.

In reply to David55:


A sporty friend of mine discovered that by doing what he was going to do anyway (e.g. triathlons, running races etc and paying all costs associated himself), but then letting people know (nothing pushy and just once) that he was doing it and had a justgiving page, that some (a surprising number) people were keen to 'sponsor' him even though they knew that it was nothing special for him. It was just a very gentle reminder to some people to donate to a charity and they liked to do so via this mechanism.
I found similar when I have done some events, that people have asked if I was being sponsored, and when I said "no but feel free to donate to a charity on my behalf" they did so very happily.

Maybe for some people it is just having a prompt to donate when they otherwise wouldn't. (I know, you'd hope that the news coverage etc of awful events would be a prompt, but sometimes it needs something closer to home).

In reply to littlemouse:



It's much easier to find a 5k or 10k or half marathon to run for charity, and the effort involved in training is significantly less than it is for cycling. In some ways, the effort to run for charity is less of a commitment than a cycle for charity - if you do a 10k charity runners, you'll probably take less than an hour, and then you can be off to do something different. Very few charity bike rides are over as quickly as that.

In reply to littlemouse:

The last two years a bunch of us based around the local cricket club and the local pub have organised our own 4 day rides with a charity slant to them. The first year Ickleton to Paris was jointly for cricket club and red balloon and this year's Ickleton to battlefields of Flanders was the cricket club and help for Heroes/Royal British Legion.

It has to be said that the motivation for the rides came before the motivation for the charities.

In reply to littlemouse:

I think your perception might be skewed by the slightly easier access to the sport of running and the higher profile of some of the running events. Tens of thousands of people do sponsored cycling events each years, ranging from this sort of thing:

http://www.cyclinguk.org/event/ride/david-geldard-mbe-over-edge-charity-cyc...

To LEJOG or London to Paris, with the later ones often requiring large amounts of fundraising and possibly some questions about how much money goes to the charity.

I did London to Paris earlier this year, but we just organised our own trip and did it for the sake of doing it.

Likewise the vast majority of runners don't run for charity, they run for the sake of running. I probably know 150 runners, but it is actually quite rare that I see a JustGiving page on Facebook, usually when I do it for someone who isn't a runner or a cyclist, but they are doing a one off run or cycle for charity.

What I am saying really is that although charity runners make up part of the running community in the same way that charity cyclists make up part of the cycling community, I don't think they are any more significant in running than cycling.

In reply to David55:

In 2013 I hiked the Hadrian's Wall Way, because I'd always wanted to. I met another hiker, coming the other way, who wanted me to sponsor him for doing the same walk as me.

In reply to JEF:

Did you?

In reply to JEF:

Hahaha!

That's fantastic.

In reply to Castleman:

No!

I was camping each night, he was using B&B the wuss!

In reply to littlemouse:

I don't think I fully agree with that, it seems to me that "runners" and "cyclists" enjoy what they do and don't often do it to raise money for charity, partly because if you are keen, running a half marathon or cycling 100 miles isn't a big deal.

I would think most of the people who do a run for charity aren't really runners, but just train up for the one off or annual event. This mainly used to be running events, but there are a lot of similar cycling events over the last few years, ride London being one such.

I guess there are still more people doing charity runs than bike rides, but this might be partly because if you are thinking of doing a one off fundraising event you might not be keen to spend £500 (+) on equipment.

In reply to littlemouse:

Me and the chaps normally do something each year for charity. Did the coast to coast / Hadrians cycleway over three days, did Glasgow to Inverness over 4 days (if I remember...might have been three). Did a couple of the manchester BikeEvent single day loops and the Manchester to Blackpool thing.

Emphasis is normally on doing about 60-70 miles a day (ish), and to actually try and enjoy the ride and see some pretty scenery along the way, rather than kill ourselves.

To be fair, the charity element is 'incidental' - it's an excuse to get away and see some pretty sights, set a couple of personal challenges...but we normally set up a just giving site and do it for Cancer Research or something...but in a very 'non aggressive' sort of way. Couple of facebook posts, couple of emails around work etc. No rattling tins and bullying people for money or anything like that.

And any incidental costs like transport, support vans, b&b's all come out of our own pockets - we make sure any donations go straight to the charity.

Also lucky enough to work for a company that sometimes matches any money you raise pound for pound up to certain limit if it's one of their affiliated charity.

In reply to tony:

And to run you need just a pair of trainers. As cheap as £10 from Decathlon or Sport Direct. For cycling it's a bit more expensive.

During 10k races in London I see a lot of charity "runners" who does not really run. They jog / walk / socialize, sometimes stop by the station to enjoy a drink. In cycling it would look way more weird to unmount and push the bike!

In reply to nutme:


Would look equally iffy to stop your 10k run for a pint, which occasionally happens on our bikey efforts.

In reply to David55:


You sound like very nice guy David, but not everybody is as morally upstanding as you. Sometimes we need reminding that spare cash could go to charity, or have a charity suggested to us. Sometimes we are just moved and want to donate to a charity that matters to a friend.

I ride loads. I entered a big event I'd always wanted to do. Family circumstances changed and it was suggested to me that I used this ride to raise money for a small charity relating to a medical condition very few people have heard of. A large number of friends and family friends donated a significant amount of money in a short space of time. It didn't seem to matter to them that I wanted to do the event anyway.*

Of course you can raise money through an activity you enjoy. What a silly suggestion.

*the Fred Whitton, incidentally. A cycling event which always suggests raising money.

In reply to littlemouse:

The charity side of running and cycling is hugely about awareness.

I ran 4 half marathons on November for Pancreatic Awareness month. I had a piece in the local paper and a lot of people came forward and said that their relative had died and how important it was to get the message out here.

Running a 10k, half, or full marathon is not 'easy' and isn't over in an hour or so. It takes many weeks of dedicated training as well as organising yourself on the day. Plus once you have committed to raising money, you can't wake up on the morning and decide, it's a bit cold, I don't fancy it, I was out for a few beers last night, I'll skip it.

I do a lot of running, I'm a member of a club and probably have done in excess of 200-300 race miles and 1200 training miles this year.

I raised over £500.

In reply to twoshoes:




It's not about whether or not you are doing something you enjoy, it's whether it is a challenge and therefore warrants sponsorship, for most regular runners or cyclists they are sort of thing they do week in week out.
200 miles or a 50 miles run might tick the box.

In reply to webbo:

The challenge part can be quite tenuous though.

When I'm marathon training I run a lot further than 13 miles each Sunday.

A half marathon every week for 4 weeks is difficult for a number of reasons. The physical act of running 13 miles each Sunday isn't the hard part.

In reply to webbo:
I think you've misunderstood me.
I completely agree with you and that's what I was trying to convey, hence the 'silly suggestion' comment. I was replying directly to a post near the top which seemed to suggest exactly the opposite and that people should give to charity without the need for sponsored events.

In reply to webbo:


I disagree, it's not just about the person doing the event, it's also about the attitude of the person who's doing the giving. They may want to give regardless of the 'challenge'.

In reply to littlemouse:
If it's not about the person doing the event or the challenge. Just go round with a collection box.

In reply to DancingOnRock:

The charities would have got more if you'd just donated your entry fees instead.

In reply to Lion Bakes:

No. They'd have got well over £400 less.

How much do you think a half marathon costs to enter?

What surprised me was the number of people from my club that donated.

As I say a large amount of the fundraising is about raising awareness.

When it comes to the London marathon there are many charities that benefit from publicity that wouldn't normally happen.

Imagine just telling all your mates about a particular charity and asking them to donate some money. It's a lot easier if you are doing something that gains attention.

In reply to webbo:


The event gives a focus to the collection. Bit like Children in need once a year.

In reply to yesbutnobutyesbut:


Pretty much this - as one of the latter, I would find it hard to ask anyone to sponsor me to do something I would have done anyway.

I've done a number of sportives that have a pet charity, or are run on behalf of a charity, and you are encouraged to fund raise for that charity, but it's not an absolute requirement.

I helped my sister train for and ride a local one (and sponsored her) a few years ago for a local charity (can't remember which one). Only something like 55 miles, but, for her, that was a big day out, especially on a mountain bike.

Last one I did was as part of a corporate team assault on the London to Cambridge for Breast Cancer Now - a cause close to our CEO's heart. The group of companies I rode for treated it as a team building/publicity exercise and paid the entry fees and travel expenses, laid on food and beers at the finish and made a sizable donation (a few £10k) to the charity. Quite a bit of publicity around the offices and a JustGiving page for anyone that wanted to donate. Not sure if it made any difference that one of the companies involved are joint sponsor of a US women's Pro team - we actually got issued re-badged versions of their strips

In reply to nutme:


A bit more, yes, but most people have a bike and, from looking around at start lines, not having a very good one doesn't stop anyone attempting some of the shorter rides - my sister's Scott was about £400, with slight upgrade to a set of slicks. I've even seen people on some of the longer and harder ones on some pretty basic bikes. Arguably, they deserve the sponsorship, as they're going to find it a lot harder on a bike that costs about the same as my handlebars.


Equally, I've seen people having a pretty leisurely break at the feed stops on some sportives - quite often waiting for other team mates to catch up.

In reply to littlemouse:

I've been asked a few times if I think about raising money for some of the races I do, and had the same question when I used to skydive.

When I was skydiving I was doing say 10 a week, weather permitting.
Now I'm running I do regular races but also run 3-4 times a week generally.

What makes any of those special? Not much. They're me enjoying myself. It would feel a lie to ask someone to donate based on me doing my normal routine. May as well ask for sponsorship for going to the pub or cooking my tea.

It makes more sense for those who don't run, or have just started, and have to work hard to aim for a distance that is not in their comfort zone or something they're doing just for enjoyment. Deciding to get fit so starting a couch to 10k and asking for sponsorship I understand, but not "hey guys, doing another race this weekend, yeah my 3rd this month....".

That's my personal thoughts on it anyway, not knocking anyone who raises money.
(unless half the money pays for their experience in which case I'm pretty negative on that)

In reply to littlemouse:

I'd never ask for sponsorship for running, cycling, walking etc, and don't do many organised events, but for those that I do I'm quite happy if a chunk of my entry fee goes to charity, or if it a charitable donation is suggested on top of your entry fee.

There have been some very very interesting thoughts on this topic. I just wanted to say thank you for sharing.

I thought I would share a few of my own thoughts.

I myself feel as though the sports I participate in are for my own enjoyment. However, I do think that regardless of whether running/cycling is your regular sport and you do so so many times a week, when it comes to racing for charity, it is far more about the awareness raised for the charity, not how hard or easy it is to complete the race.

A race may be your own personal challenge or for your own enjoyment. I can understand this. However, fundraising itself is so much more than asking people to donate or sponsor you for the race itself. People also fundraise by selling doughnuts, having a curry or quiz night or jumping off a plane, appealing to that entertainment factor that is so highly sought by todays general public. But these fundraising tactics have no relation to the race itself. So why not support something to raise money by doing something they enjoy and know well? Particularly if it is fitness based! What with obesity on the rise....

I think people should not feel as though they are cheating people out of their money. I believe that whether it is direct sponsorship for the race or raising money over smaller events and cake sales, more emphasis is on the 'good deed' of being able to collectively raise and donate money to charity anyway.

Fundraising is a huge challenge in itself. But I feel there is wider scope for it even amongst 'advanced', frequent cyclists.

Thank you so much for all your input! And it has been amazing to hear how so many of you have raised money for charity through cycling!