rschulze

crew, crew. Riding in the motor home, getting tired.....

ElJamoquio

So... uh... you need some volunteers for '08?

Chucklehead

there is something about this pic, but i just can't put my right han...uhh..finger on it.

Chucklehead

thank you for doing your part in making this year's event an enjoyable one for the crew.

rschulze

As a matter of fact....yes

snoboard2

if you need some more volunteers, my roommate and I would love to help out. the two of us crewed for a 2 man team last year and it was a blast! i literally have a gigabite of pictures. pm me if you need some guys...

rschulze

Jayson, you out there? Hook this guy up....

Thanks!!!!

MacMan

Christ ... those are some great mellons. STW ...

Jynx

LOL. I thought the same exact thing.

merlinextraligh

What percentage of the funds raised go to Charity, after administrative expenses, and your RAAM expenses are considered? I'm guessing that it is an extremely low percentage.

Nachoman

Hahahaha.

Mo'Phat

So glad I finally learned whether or not I could deduct $12.

Maybe I'll go to lunch today, talk to myself about work, then deduct the lunch. Is that legal? God bless the IRS.



FYI/ Rick Schulze was a member of a 2007 two-man RAAM team that finished. Overall mileage for Rick was in the vicinity of 1500 miles in 9 days, 18 hours.

//Lauren, FTW!

rschulze

That really depends on how much we raise. Right now we have drove a tiny bit of money direct to the charity, not enough to even mention, the remainder I have raised for expenses, other than legal fees their are no administrative fees. I am not betting much on the calendars although we're suppose to get a link on procyclingnews.com soon. We have a few events we are trying to put together to raise more funds to cover expenses and get to the charity. We have a couple good shots for larger donations we'll know about by mid-feb.

Other RAAM teams have raised several hundred thousand dollars for their charities, we're just trying to get traction now; maybe it takes us a couple of years. I do know we will raise more in our efforts than if we did nothing. It's real easy to sit back and poke holes in someones effort, it's a whole different thing to consume a whole chunk of your free time trying to make some kind of difference.

rschulze

No, you have to talk to the waiter about your business and then deduct it.

Mo'Phat

What if I talk to the voices in my own head? Does that count?

prendrefeu

+1

Az B

I'll send you $100 for her phone number.

Az

rschulze

I still want her to crew.......but it does give me ideas on how we can make money......I don't think she'll go for it though

Chucklehead

we think alike, you and i.

wanders

merlinextraligh

Wether you're doing something from a charitable point of view that's better than doing nothing depends on the efficiency of your fund raising. To the extent that you're siphoning off dollars that could go directly to a charity to support your recreational activity, it's quite possible your "charitable" endeavor is worse than doing nothing.

Charities should be at least 65% efficient in their fundraising; i.e. 65 cents of every dollar should go directly to programs. See e.g. https://nccsdataweb.urban.org/kbfiles/521/brief%205.pdf

I'm doubting that your charity comes close to turning over 65% of contributions to charity.

If your goal is to fund cancer research, and running a RAAM team is an efficient way of raising money for that goal, that's great.

If your goal is to fund your hobby through the guise of making it a charity, that sucks.

robncircus

According to page 2 this is what goes to charity. Not true?

Rob

rschulze

Yes it is true. Once again people (not you) are better at just mouthing off about others efforts than actually doing anything about it. Over the last couple of years I have raised over $8000 that went directly to charities; not great, better than not doing anything.

Some of the teams that raise hundreds of thousands of dollars didn't do it on their first year or second, it takes a while to get it all figured out, to get the connections, to get the donations.

If my first year only about $1800 went to my charity, this year I pushed my own money into the mix and basically donated $3600 for charity. I did this because I didn't want to just raise money for my ride. If I can make that $3600 turn into $7200 in 2008 I would be a happy camper even if it is only 25% because I would hope in 2009 I could turn that $7200 into $14,400.

Anyway you want to look at it, every dime that a charity would get that wouldn't have received that dime otherwise, is better off for it. It just kills me that some people would rather do nothing more than belittle other peoples efforts while they sit on their couch and don't do anything.

If 'merlinextralight' doesn't want to buy a calendar or make a donation, that's fine. Times are hard and there are plenty of other worthwhile causes to give your money to. However, putting down my efforts just make 'merlin' look like a jerk.

** Before some yahoo points out that $1800 + 3600 do not equal $8k, I know how to add. RAAM hasn't been the only thing I have done to raise money.

Homebrew01

I thought you have to reduce the amount you claim by the value of the gift. I give to a community (non-NPR) radio station WPKN, and they list the value of the mug or t-shirt on the form. So when I give $50.00, I have to deduct the mug's value of $10, and can claim $40.00 on my taxes.

I haven't ready every post, so sorry if this is a repeat.

merlinextraligh

Your analysis is incorrect. There's a limited sum of money that people are willing to give to charities. Thus it is better to give money to organizations that are efficient fund raisers, and that give the majority of the funds raised to programs that are doing good.

Giving money to an orginization that only gets 25% of its donations to the charitable mission is hurting the mission by syphoning off dollars from a Charity that is 75% efficient.

If you really were focused on cancer research, you could work with the National Breast Cancer Foundation which only spends 4% on fundraising, or the Susan G Koffman Foundation which spends 13%.

Heck one of the worst rated cancer orginizations, the National Cancer Center only spends 59% on fund raising.

If you're only getting 25% of charitable donations to the mission, then it really is more about funding your team than it is funding cancer research. And by taking 75% of donations away from the mission, you're decreasing, not increasing, the money available for the charitable purpose.