How to start your own charity ride

[la02]

I was planning on doing a charity ride in the summer of 2009. I have only planned the idea of it and not many details. My brainstorm idea is having a 3-day weekend mini tour in the state of Wisconsin, maybe even dip into Illinois, Iowa, or Minnesota. Anyway I want this ride to be purely for charity and want to get as many riders as possible to race for a specific charity. I am thinking cancer right now though I am not sure. Anyway my question to you all is how do I go about doing this? I have some experience in this field as I built the club lax team at UWM a few years ago which also involved me setting up one of the largest lax tournaments in the Midwest. I am new to cycling so my resources are not as deep. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I would be able to go about setting this up? Any information would be helpful. Thanks.

[twahl]

I would say that the first thing you need to do is settle on exactly where you'd like the funds to go, and approach the appropriate charity, starting at their local or regional office. Check that interest first, and they should be able to get you started.

There are several considerations that you may not have thought of on the cost side of things. You'll probably need some sort of insurance and/or a legally viable liability waiver for participants to sign. You'll probably want to contact town and county officials where you want your route to go for approval and possibly police support if your route is going to interfere with traffic.

The organization may be able to help you with getting together forms and promotional materials like brochures, posters, and other forms of advertisement. They may have existing contacts for getting something like T-shirts printed to give participants.

Once you've got that together, you should be able to estimate your costs on a per rider basis, anticipating the number of riders you believe you can reasonably support. You're going to need volunteers, and again your organization may be able to provide a network of existing volunteers. Then you can decide whether to have a fixed participation fee that includes both costs and a fundraising margin, or just an entry fee with additional donations leading to an incentive program.

Then you get to look for sponsors who may donate food for rest stops, incentive prizes, and cash to offset your costs. Businesses along the route my allow you to set up rest stops at their location, let riders use restrooms, that sort of thing.

I really believe that starting with an organization is your first key to success. You'll want donations to be tax deductible, which their credentials will provide for the donation portion of whatever the riders hand over to participate.

Having offered my opinion I need to qualify it by saying that I have participated in and volunteered for several large charity rides, but I have not organized one. I have been privy to the outskirts of the details of the way they are put together, but my thoughts are my impressions on how things are done, not direct knowledge.

[Large Marge]

I am also looking for these sorts of resources for a similar event here in Canada. la02, I hope you'll please share your findings!

[Extort]

Here is a book that I saw in the office of the ride director of the MS Society in San Diego.

“So, you want to put on a bike ride?: How to do it and actually make money” Bicycle Ride Directors’ Association of America – Peter Heumann & Ed Moore

Also, a website that might have some tips.
http://www.nbtda.com/AboutNBTDA.asp

Maybe this will be help some... I mean... Nancy did directed the planning for the Land Rover Miramar Bay to Bay Bike Tour during the last several years and the event has won in the Best Cycling Event category for the past two years in the reader poll conducted by Competitor Magazine (2006 and 2007).

Now she is headed to NYC to work on that event... you guys out there are LUCKY to have her!

[voltman]

Here is a book that I saw in the office of the ride director of the MS Society in San Diego.

“So, you want to put on a bike ride?: How to do it and actually make money” Bicycle Ride Directors’ Association of America – Peter Heumann & Ed Moore

Also, a website that might have some tips.
http://www.nbtda.com/AboutNBTDA.asp

Maybe this will be help some... I mean... Nancy did directed the planning for the Land Rover Miramar Bay to Bay Bike Tour during the last several years and the event has won in the Best Cycling Event category for the past two years in the reader poll conducted by Competitor Magazine (2006 and 2007).

Now she is headed to NYC to work on that event... you guys out there are LUCKY to have her!

I saw the blurb about her in Bicycling mag a couple months ago. She's pretty cute.

[tprevost]

Here is a book that I saw in the office of the ride director of the MS Society in San Diego.

“So, you want to put on a bike ride?: How to do it and actually make money” Bicycle Ride Directors’ Association of America – Peter Heumann & Ed Moore

Also, a website that might have some tips.
http://www.nbtda.com/AboutNBTDA.asp

Maybe this will be help some... I mean... Nancy did directed the planning for the Land Rover Miramar Bay to Bay Bike Tour during the last several years and the event has won in the Best Cycling Event category for the past two years in the reader poll conducted by Competitor Magazine (2006 and 2007).

Now she is headed to NYC to work on that event... you guys out there are LUCKY to have her!


Phil, I've been looking for this kind of info for months! YIPPEEEE!!!! Thanks for the link/info!

Trac'

[Extort]

I saw the blurb about her in Bicycling mag a couple months ago. She's pretty cute.

Well, too bad.... you could have met her before last Friday.... but now she in already in NYC...

Phil, I've been looking for this kind of info for months! YIPPEEEE!!!! Thanks for the link/info! Trac'
You bet sweetie! I am sure that there are other books out there, but they are hard to come by. I know that we have a planning committee of 20 people plus 5 staff members for the MS ride and we still miss stuff!

[tprevost]

You bet sweetie! I am sure that there are other books out there, but they are hard to come by. I know that we have a planning committee of 20 people plus 5 staff members for the MS ride and we still miss stuff!


Phil, you are so awesome! I really can't thank you enough!!! The other cool thing was that I found a conference via your link that is all about how to put on a bike event! I had been told abount the conference last year but it was already past... and no one could tell me what it was called or how I could find out about it... but.... THANKYOUVERYMUCHPHIL!!!.... the link to that was w/in what you posted!!! Whoooo Hoooo!!!! :D

[Extort]

Phil, you are so awesome! I really can't thank you enough!!! The other cool thing was that I found a conference via your link that is all about how to put on a bike event! I had been told abount the conference last year but it was already past... and no one could tell me what it was called or how I could find out about it... but.... THANKYOUVERYMUCHPHIL!!!.... the link to that was w/in what you posted!!! Whoooo Hoooo!!!! :D

If you end up going to South Carolina for the conference, could you take notes and give me a synopsis?

Glad that the link helped!

[socaltony]

Found the book. Here is the link: http://www.brdaa.org/Starting_a_new_ride.htm

[socaltony]

Hey extort, would you be willing to participate in planning another charity ride in so cal. I'm thinking of putting something together for the American Cancer Society. I have been on the planning committee for the Relay for Life Event for several years now. I'm just thinking outloud right now. I have a planning committee meeting this week with them and am going to bring it up as a possible fundraiser for the event.

[Extort]

Some basic questions to know the answers to before deciding that you want to be a ride director.

What time of year would you look to hold your event?
Will you compete directly with any other local rides (charity, race, premier event)?
How many participants are you trying to attract in the first 1-3 years of the event?
What geographic area would your event traverse through (towns, cities, highways, military bases)?
Do you have contacts with the local (insert charity name here) chapter?
How much support can you expect to be provided by the local charity chapter? (volunteers, major donors, media exposure, etc.)
What are the ride distances you are looking to offer?
Has a sponsorship proposal been developed to forward to potential corporate donors?
Do you have any industry contacts that can help create interest in your ride?

[socaltony]

I got my hands on the book today. I'll keep you posted after I read it.

[tprevost]

If you end up going to South Carolina for the conference, could you take notes and give me a synopsis?

Glad that the link helped!


I ended up going to the BE-Pro conference in San Jose last weekend... very helpful... got the book/joined the director's club and am now figuring out what exactly I can put together!

I'm co-directing a ride in October so I may wait until next year and just do a BF Preview of the route this year to get feedback... the difficulty will be close to the level of Breathless Agony/Sierra Century so fine tuning it so people will want to come back will be important...

Also need to decide who to donate to... I'm hoping to offset my time with a little reimbursement but probably splitting the majority between a local/larger cause...

[tprevost]

I got my hands on the book today. I'll keep you posted after I read it.

Have you had a chance to look at it yet? I got mine last weekend but am moving today/tomorrow and have been pretty much consumed with that...

[Extort]

any cool information to share with the rest of us?