I am starting a charity ride!

[cyclebee]

I am in the beginning stages of planning a charity ride in the Portland Oregon Metro Area, I have narrowed it down to 4 different charities that I strongly believe in I will have a vote on which one the ride will benefit. I would love to hear from anyone who has organized or participated in a charity ride!

[StephenH]

Some informative reading here: http://www.bicycle-stuff.com/main/director/index.htm
Also look on some of the past rides and read the reviews, may be informative.
Note that this is north Texas related, and some things may vary regionally.

On the normal pay-your-$30-and-ride events around here, most of them are organized by the charity in question, which gives them a ready-made base of volunteers to run the event. One local ride is organized by a bike club. A couple of local rides are organized by a professional, although they may benefit a local charity. (Some of the volunteers in that case are peple doing their mandatory "community service".)

It is possible to lose money on an endeavor like this, or to lose money for a year or two until you build up ridership, etc. So it helps if it's not a shoestring operation. You'll have upfront costs like insurance and traffic control and t-shirts, and then if it's pouring rain and nobody comes, you have problems.

It might be helpful to contact some ride organizers in the area and get their insight if possible.

[cyclebee]

Some informative reading here: http://www.bicycle-stuff.com/main/director/index.htm
Also look on some of the past rides and read the reviews, may be informative.
Note that this is north Texas related, and some things may vary regionally.

On the normal pay-your-$30-and-ride events around here, most of them are organized by the charity in question, which gives them a ready-made base of volunteers to run the event. One local ride is organized by a bike club. A couple of local rides are organized by a professional, although they may benefit a local charity. (Some of the volunteers in that case are peple doing their mandatory "community service".)

It is possible to lose money on an endeavor like this, or to lose money for a year or two until you build up ridership, etc. So it helps if it's not a shoestring operation. You'll have upfront costs like insurance and traffic control and t-shirts, and then if it's pouring rain and nobody comes, you have problems.

It might be helpful to contact some ride organizers in the area and get their insight if possible.

Hmmm those are all things to think about perhaps to start out with a charity event like a bbq or T-shirts to benefit charity would be a better way to start