Recommendations for a successful fundraiser ride

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Mar 4, 2010 | 11:37 PM

#11

AtticusFinch

Thread Starter

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Joined: Aug 2009

Posts: 1,926

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From: Utah

Quote:

Originally Posted by crzy1racing

oh ya dont forget to sell bug splat spots they always raise extra money.

I've never heard of this. What is it? I'll definitely post more info as we get closer to the date -- probably in the Regional Events forum. Do you follow that area? I'll try to remember to PM you either way. Please do the same when your ride is teed up. In the mean time, mark August 21 on your calendar for our ride. Thanks.

I'm getting some good suggestions here and I really appreciate them. Thanks so much.

Last edited by AtticusFinch; Mar 4, 2010 at 11:40 PM.

Mar 5, 2010 | 12:11 AM

#12

rogerfromco

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Joined: Apr 2009

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From: Rocky Mtn High CO

My wife and I have done two for a local animal shelter. My suggestions would be:

Try to keep the route to about 2.5 - 3 hours max and start early (9-10 am) so people can do other things that day too.
Get a lot of small prizes (t-shirts, hats, bike wash supplies, gift cards, etc.) and do a 50/50 drawing (not raffle - illegal without a license) with the non-winning tickets being drawn for the prizes. That has helped us boost the 50/50 sales and sends most people home with a "prize". Winning feels good!
Events with bands and free food draw more people. See if you can get both donated or if not consider getting at least one and raise the price of the ride by $5-$10 to cover the cost. Or try getting a dealer to sponsor the ride. They will generally put the ride on the mailers that go out to their patrons, add it to their e-mail newsletters, and also have a lot of if not all the things you need to host the after party - they may even get a band and food vendor and throw a street party to increase their in-store sales that day, but not all will.
Give the written ride directions to someone who wasn't involved in preparing them to see if they are easy to understand.
Pre-ride the route the weekend before to look for potential road closures/detours/repairs, etc.
If you are making it a poker run, you need to line up the stop locations and make sure there is easy/safe access in/out of each stop and plenty of parking. Also need to get volunteers, cards, stamps, tables/chairs, etc. for each stop. You can draw one card at registration and one at the last stop to reduce the headaches. Also, offer an extra card at the last stop for $5 more to try to improve the hands.
Get flyers up 4-6 weeks ahead of time at the local biker friendly hangouts and in the bike shops. Do posters for the walls and flyers (1/3 of a page) to leave on the counters that they can pickup and take with them with all the ride info.
See if you can get on the agenda for the local HOG Chapters the month before the ride and give a presentation with the event details and leave flyers.
Ask the charity if they have a relationship with any of the local TV/radio stations to help ge the word out.
If there is a local TV news or Radio Station person that rides, see if they will get involved and offer some free promotion for the event.
Post your event on internet webpages like www.lets-ride.com and the regional subforum here.

Good luck and have fun - it's a lot of work, but well worth it for a good cause.

Mar 5, 2010 | 02:41 AM

#13

Dr. Tiki

Stellar HDF Member

Joined: Apr 2007

Posts: 2,347

Likes: 602

From: The 9th Island

My thoughts on this and maybe another prospective...

I run the website RideSinCity.com website that consolidates all the local events into one calendar. The most common errors that I see are organizers that don't give enough advance notice, schedule their runs that compete with other runs during the same weekend and poorly organized events. You may get away with a poorly organized event once... but not twice. Hence, Make sure pull all the bells and whistles for your first run.

If there is food, serve it at the end. It gives riders a purpose to finish.

Design your ride accordingly.... here in Las Vegas... shorter MILEAGE runs seems to work the best. The riders know the area, they know where they want to stop and linger before heading to the next stop in the poker run. With that in mind, make your stops where people like to stay for awhile. Myself, I like to ride poker runs at my own pace... In general I am usually one of the first people to sign up but the last person to finish. I like to find a spot where I can watch the bikes and smoke a couple cigars.

Did I mention, make everyone sign a waiver?

Mar 5, 2010 | 07:45 AM

#14

piasspj

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Joined: Sep 2007

Posts: 9,208

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From: Central Illinois, Between I-80 and I-74

I'd have the start and finish at the same place, breakfast at the start, lunch break about 3/4 through.
From the typical rider you could make a few $$$ on breakfast, and lunch. Another $5-10 on the ride and $20-$40 during the after event (drinks, snacks, raffles, auction).

Your scenario, I ride 50 miles to get to the start and if your ride takes me 80 miles further away I have a 130 mile ride to get home. 260 miles in a day isn't bad but I'm not going to hang out for long when I'm 130 miles from home and I probably won't want to deal with any items larger than I can carry on my bike.

Mar 5, 2010 | 09:42 AM

#15

crzy1racing

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Joined: Oct 2008

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Quote:

Originally Posted by AtticusFinch

You sell little stickers in the morning for say $5 each that have a target in the center(we use fire fighter shields since the money went to the volt. fire) they put it on there bike or helmet or both. do the ride and at the end of the day have someone in charge to go around and look at the stickers and see who got the bug splat closes to the center of the sticker and the win half the pot(most will donate it back). or you could just tell them at the end of the ride if they r close to check in at the end of the ride.

simple and fun just try to get sticker that come off easy. if you cant find some let me now and i will make you some.

Mar 6, 2010 | 02:56 PM

#16

AtticusFinch

Thread Starter

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Joined: Aug 2009

Posts: 1,926

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From: Utah

That does sound like a fun idea, and a good way to add revenue. Thanks.

By "stickers" do you mean some type of removable decal? Where do you get them or how do you make them? I like this idea. Sounds like a fun thing to do on group rides with buddies too -- everybody pitches in to buy lunch for the guy with the closest bullseye.

Mar 8, 2010 | 10:58 PM

#17

crzy1racing

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Joined: Oct 2008

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ya just any sticker. i have a sign bus.as a hobbie. but you can goto walmart and get little round sticker for pricing for a yard sale. they work ok just kinda a pain to get off.

Mar 9, 2010 | 09:06 AM

#18

EasyWFFW

Novice

Joined: Oct 2008

Posts: 20

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From: Akron, Ohio

I'm a Road Captain for my club and I organize our annual poker run every year. I would add a few things that make our event successful.

* Get businesses to donate gift cards, VIP cards, etc. ie. We got our local Dairy Queen to give certificates from a free small cone for every rider. Focus on new businesses who are trying to get attention. Start collecting now.

* We sell ride patches and make sure that a seamstress is on site and advertised ahead of time. People tell me they enjoy getting sewing done and buying bling for their vests. Have any vendors donate a gift basket for raffle.

* Focus on prizes that can be carried away on a bike, that way your not stuck holding on to them for the winner. Also, set your prizes as 'chinese raffle' drawing where you can buy tickets and then place them into the containers of the gifts you want to win. BTW, in my events the containers with the most tickets are always gift cards for tattoos and VIP parties at strip clubs.

* Get the businesses that you are using for stop locations provide the food. Usually it's pizza or hot dogs, etc. If your bringing several hundred people into their business on a slow afternoon, the least they can do is cook up some grub.

Good Luck.