... by the sheer number of people who appear to ask for sponsorship from outfitters of all sorts as well as their blog readers etc., claiming they will go rtw for a good cause such as to improve the awareness of the allergy of the blue whale against pink lipstick etc. I mean, is there anyone out there who goes to work, feeds a family, saves some money, pays for the own bike and eventually just sets off into the sunrise, not pretending to save the world but just honestly goes on a personal trip?

Doing something for the greater good does usually not resemble a holiday but involves personal effort and usually some sort of inconvenience instead of comfort; if it smells like vacation, looks like vacation, feels like vacation, sounds like vacation, I assume it is a vacation....

This is most certainly a very controversial statement and I am sure that some people out there have in truth nothing but a real mission they want to take the trip for, those will have my respect and I wish Godspeed then; but am I the only one with the feeling that too many people nowadays believe that everyone else but they themselves should pay for their vacation?

Cheers
Chris

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I'm with you, all the way.

See post number 10 onward in this thread for a similar line of thought:-
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...o-you-do-68489

I think the subject has cropped up in other threads as well.

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Dave

I agree, I object to handing over money to someone to go treking in Nepal for charity when actually a sizeable chunk of the money is paying for their vacation. Same with parachute jumps and all the rest.
I have used trips to raise money for charity several times, but I pay all my own expenses and everything raised goes to the charity, not to paying for my holiday.

There is a simple rule at work, we give a fixed amount of cash directly to the charity from the marketing budget in order to secure an agreed level of advertising. We expect a receipt with the relevant tax information. If the charity is daft enough to pay for the rider/parachutists/chainsaw jugglers holiday that's their business although to be honest if we thought they were we'd be less likely to sign up. Someone finishing the London Marathon with our logo and the charities on their shirt is as good as the logo's doing chainsaw juggling in Tibet on the company website, we want names like "London Marathon" that people know. It adds human interest if our employees or customers are doing the event.

I guess when you supply equipment there is the temptation to a) make the donation look bigger at retail rather than cost value and b) get the product in the marketing not just the logo. I'd still treat it as a marketing deal and for that I want real effectiveness not just someones holiday snaps. I would give the suppliers some of the blame for the growth in this, they need to have clear policies on what they want to achieve just as much as the charities and those asking for sponsorship.

Andy

Yeah.. its all a bit too much isn't it.

I do still think the vast majority are still rocking it old school but you just don't hear about them.

Some are genuinely raising money for good causes but all these begging buttons for PayPal donations on blogs makes me cringe.

I've had people offer me money in the past as they know I struggle to afford the travel but I always refuse as I think that's the way it should be.

A huge part of travel enjoyment is knowing you've worked hard to be where you are.

www.touringted.com

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Technician, BMW Chester Motorrad.
www.TouringTed.com
1994 XR650L
2001 NX650 Dominator.

Now that's more information than I care for interpol to know :/

I have been offered sponsorship & have indeed been sponsored. However life & business have been extremely good to me, so I pay for everything that I have and do & the amount that they sponsor me is paid by them direct to a charity & usually I match that amount myself, I am in a fortunate situation to do this, & I believe charity does not have to come in the form of cash, just being nice to someone down on his/her luck is sometimes worth more than 100 loaves of bread. It does annoy me how some people try to sponge there way around the world instead of getting a job and working bloody hard just like the rest of us !!!! If I have offended anybody GOOD I MEANT TO !!!!!!
Cheers
Paul

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I posted a similar question on 'Adventure book (rider)reader' site about charities and the moderators idea of discussion was to me!! It seems the people on there love to do, and broadcast 'look how good I am' to make themselves feel better.

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'He who laughs last, was too slow to get the joke'

Officially now in a minority living in London!

Is he serious ??? That literally makes me sick.

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Technician, BMW Chester Motorrad.
www.TouringTed.com
1994 XR650L
2001 NX650 Dominator.

Now that's more information than I care for interpol to know :/

I'm in a similar situation to paulD in that I've been fortunate in business and will self fund everything (and have done for the last 40 years).
But I'll defend people like Tiffany here as I woUld guess she sacrificed heaps early on and now partly offsets some of the costs with mag articles, talks and work as a guide on these adventure tours. Good luck to her.
Still doesn't excuse the nosey bugger in previous post- only question he missed was the colour of her undies.
But there is an emerging group who want everything yesterday and seem to think every manufacturer and retail outlet is there to support them.
Blame Charlie and Ewen and their cast of thousands support crew with sponsors logos on every spare square inch.
Work hard, save hard and the always tastes better.
See you on the road (without a single sponsor logo).
PaulF

It is an odd thing to me to have a "donate" link on someones website, but if people want to (and many seem to) give, then assuming no fake charity rubbish then I suppose why not?

Being allowed to pitch up in someones back yard directly saves you a few quid perhaps, so why is someone you've never met, who enjoyed your blog and photos and wants to bung you a fiver a bad thing? I can't imagine it would ever normally amount to much more than a tank or two of fuel?

Hubbers could have a donate button in their signature section, for instance "pay up or the GS gets slated" Certain folk here could travel a very long time if they had £1 for every sleight against BMW

Does it just depend on how the "DONATE NOW!!" bit is presented?

Weather it's a holiday or not if people are willing to donate to charity because they think what your doing deserves it then I think why not.

When I did my trip to morocco in 2011 people kept asking me if we were raising money for charity by doing it, so I set up a Just giving page (for the Muscular Dystrophy Campagin) and raised around £1500. Nobody lost out charity made some money I went on holiday.

On my soon approaching round the world trip I have kept the same just giving page open and updated the details so that it was related to my current trip. I feel it is more apt on this trip because Mrs Fox, who carries Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and therefore manifests mild symptoms of the muscle wasting condition, is coming with me. I hope though our blog and hopefully video we can show how this impacts on our trip.

I do however think that any money that people donate to charity should go to the charity, That is why I will never click a Paypal link as there is no confirmation that will go to the charity, however: Just giving, B My Charity, Virgin Giving links mean that the person carrying out the expedition will not get any of the money raised.

However if people offered me personally a few quid then i would happily take it as every penny counts with these things, but there is no way that I would expect any kind of sponsorship etc, without delivering some kind exposure for product.

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http://www.justgiving.com/FMFox

But like most of you i want my hard earned to go to the intended,and not to a travellers vacation.I fund all my own travels.someone like tiffany has done the hard miles and deserves the sponsorship she can muster.Noel

Tiffany needs no defending; her post in the other thread, linked in this thread, speaks for itself. The work of writing, talks, public speaking and the like is legitimate work and not at all related directly to the OP about sponsorship; for all I know, she may have no sponsorship - it matters not to me.
My point is that sponsorship may follow when a marketing dept sees a potential for "easy" publicity; such would come after an individual has done something to draw such attention of the public and marketeers - I suspect the OP is referring to those non-entities who have high, unsubstantiated expectations (and that's putting it nicely).

Even the OP can be broken down into unsolicited sponsorship (which some folks state in here has been offered to them) and those who go looking for sponsorship; thereafter, for the latter, it becomes a question of sponsorship with equipment and similar (for which can we really take a report about such at face value?) or cash payment, or both.

Charitable fund raising is yet another, separate but somewhat related, subject which has some discussion in that other thread (and,yes, I have contributed via just giving and similar, but only after careful consideration of all the factors).

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Dave

There is a big difference between sponsorship and begging..

www.touringted.com

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Technician, BMW Chester Motorrad.
www.TouringTed.com
1994 XR650L
2001 NX650 Dominator.

Now that's more information than I care for interpol to know :/