Originally Posted by
veganbikes
I see a lot of selfishness in those tours. Most of the causes people use as an excuse to ride a bike for money are B.S. anyway. Susan G. Komen and companies like that promote products that literally cause cancer, they fund research that has already been done, spend most of their money on their organization on not on the people or cause they claim to care about.
The people who do these charity rides really just want people to notice them and give them money just because they are doing something that a huge percentage of the world already does for many on a daily basis. When I commute to work or go riding on the weekends or something like that I don't ask people for money to support some cause because I would look like a jackass.
If you are curious to learn more about the non-profit industrial complex specifically relating to the breast cancer awareness check out the movie Breast Cancer Inc. It is focused on that issue but what is being said about them can be said fairly well across the board of non-profit types.
People often quote CEO salaries as reasons to hate the Susan G. Komen foundation. It became a bit of a viral fad to hate them for these apparently "secret" injustices within the organization, like they're a for-profit wolf in sheep's clothing.
Not true.
A little research goes a long way. The current CEO of the Susan G. Komen foundation, Nancy Brinker, makes about $500,000 a year. This organization is a multi-million dolalr machine with thousands of employees and a nationwide presence. In order to keep leadership of the caliber necessary to run what is essentially a company on the same approximate scale of Apple or Nike, you basically need to pay that much. Otherwise you lose leadership to the for-profit sector.
The "20% of funds go to cancer research" is also spin. Here's a chart:
In actuality, only 11.3% goes to administrative costs, including the CEO's salary. 88% of funding goes towards a wide scope of activites that include research, but the foundation is also dedicated to providing services for cancer patients, outreach and support groups, education for the public to raise awareness and thus, donations, and for the actual events that do so much good for so many people.
Why the public decided to sink teeth into a foundation that is a net positive in the world, I have no idea. The shock factor of "Charity" and "$500,000 salary" sells newspapers.
Don't believe everything you read.