UK Long Way Round type Charity Ride
 

Just a quick note to bring some attention to a charity fund raising motorcycle ride that a friend of mine is trying to get off the ground. I won't go in to loads of detail here, as you can visit the website yourself and see what its all about. Basically, its a ride around the UK by Phil and girlfriend Nic on two Vstrom 650's. The aim of which is to raise as much money as possible for the charity Cancer Research. please visit their website at Long Way Round UK - Home and give your support/sponsorship to this worthy project.
Many thanks for taking the time to read this.
:scooter:
I wish you all a safe and happy 2008

At the risk of accusations of being curmudgeonly, my reaction is one big yawn. So someone is riding 3000 miles for fun, yet wants others to dig into their pockets. Why don't they just give from their own pockets instead?

The similarity to the Long Way Round/Down logo is likely to get your friends into substantial trouble unless it has been cleared in advance. Passing off is the term.

And then the moans about Premier Travel Inns and Travel Lodge are hardly going to encourage people to associate with the project. Why on earth should these companies discount to you???

Thanks for your comments
 

Thanks for your comments Tim, I appreciate similar things have been done before, but this is two people who simply want to raise some money for a worthy charity.
Its not unusual for big companies/names to get onboard with projects like this especially by assisting with accomodation/vehicles/equipment...etc. Rarely do they just hand over cash. Point taken re the logo! nuff said. Thanks for taking the time to look at their website, I think Phil did a great job of it. I know the whole project is still in the early stages and is still a work in progress, but I wish them all the best.

I'm afraid you'll find that big companies/names rarely get onboard with projects such as this as they get many, many requests like yours.
But good luck.

big companies/names
 

I've been involved with several charity events in the past and I've always been amazed at the number of big companies/names that have come onboard.
We've had bikes (loaned), meals, accomodation, servicing, clothing, equipment, publicity, transport (including flights) and many other things generously donated previously. I think sometimes it's how you approach these companies/names that makes a big difference (& sometimes it's who you know, plus a good track record).
I've got no personal involvement in this project, I just wish it well.

Hi Tim and thanks for the comments.

We have approached Long Way Round Ltd for their endorsement and are still awaiting their approval. Charley Boorman himself is aware of the trip so we're hoping for a positive response.

We're not in anyway attempting to pass ourselves off as Mr McGregor or Mr Boorman - what we are simply trying to do is raise as much money as possible for Cancer Research.

I have been riding for quite a few years on and off but both my girlfriend and I only passed our test via DAS in August 2007 and had already decided that this was a trip we wanted to do so we also decided to put the 2 together and raise money for a worthy cause.

If I had £5000 spare to give I would GLADLY donate it to Cancer Research - but I haven't so we're doing what we can to help.

The opportunity for big (and small) companies to get onboard is a chance for them to show themselves in a good light - all to often you hear of companies making tens of millions of pounds profit, sometimes billions, but very little is spoken of any charity work that they do.

Point taken about Premier Travel Inn's but I also think that it's important to show that some companies don't REALLY want to know you unless you are high profile.

There's an old story that goes something like this:

Traveller "Excuse me, do you have a room for the night?"

Innkeeper "No, we don't and besides you are wet and dirty - we don't want your kind here"

Traveller "OK, but if Prince Charles turned up in a similar state you'd find him a room wouldn't you ?"

Innkeeper "Well, of course we would - he's our future King"

Traveller "Well, he's not coming so can I please have HIS room"

Apologies Firehorse.
I tried to help someone get sponsorship a while ago and we ended up, after an awful lot of work, with virtually zero.
Maybe the approach was wrong, I don't know, but it was very disappointing at the time.

Sorry it didn't work out for you Hustler. I had some great contacts which helped out hugely (although not always). I know cold calling is hard work and not always sucessful. Best wishes

I've always thought of it this way. What do the companies get back for there money? Because that's how you have to think of it. So any sponsorhip approach you make has to show what that company gets back, approaching the media before you approach companies seems to help, and being able to show existing media coverage helps even more.

I've also found that sometimes small companies respond better than big ones do. Sometimes a hotel chain's head office will turn you down but the individual hotel manager will do what they can. Big companies get loads of approaches, and also have big budgets to spend on publicity. Small companies don't have either of these, and sometimes they're happy to give you £50 worth to help on your way.

I'm not certain on the knockbacks page, it might put people off.

Good luck on this.

Sponsorship.
 

I have always found it strange that people want others to pay for their jollies.

Why not just give the amount you would spend on the jaunt to the charity.
Its probably more than you would make in sponsorship anyway.

John

Hi Again

As it seems that the knockbacks section isn't a good idea I will take the advice and take it down and replace it with something else.

Regarding the media coverage - we have a professional PR team (thanks to Breville UK also) that is intending to promote us using their contacts. They have several high profile "celebrities" that they regularly use for their products and also lots of TV, radio and printed media contacts.

I'm not saying that this will be a media circus - far from it - but the more exposure we can get the better I suppose.

Redboots - we're not getting someone to pay for our jollies - We can do either of the things that we want to do. Either we donate and forego the trip or we go on the trip and don't donate. This way we get to do the trip AND raise money in the process.
Cancer Research is thankful for any money that they get so we're doing something that will hopefully raise more than we can afford to donate individually.

I'm sure that a lot of people are happy to donate a small sum to charity but if they can actually relate it to something that they themselves do or would like to do then they are inclined to donate a little more.

At the end of the day if we raise just £1 more than we can afford to donate as individuals then Cancer Research is a winner.

We don't expect everyone to jump onboard and wish us well as there is always an element who feel that what others do isn't to their liking but as the saying goes "The world would be a boring place if we were all the same"

tread carefully!
 

You state you have approached Long Way Round Ltd & Mr C. Boorman Esq for 'approval' yet you HAVE used the Long Way Round Logo on your website, presumably without permission? Use of Logos, Trademarks, and other forms of Corporate Identification without permission is liable to win you zero friends and possibly a Copyright Infringement Court case!

Just thought you should be aware of that fact before you let too many people see that logo.

Martyn

I have no issue with raising money for charity while doing something you are essentially doing for your own benefit. I've done it myself so it would be hypocritical. My theory was "Well, I'm going anyway so if people are going to be kind enough to sponsor me then some starving kiddies will reap the benefit..."

However, I do find the 'Charity Knock Backs' page bordering on the offensive. Why the f*ck should someone provide you with free accomodation just because you are doing your jolly for charity? If someone offers you freebies then great, but criticising a company because they don't to join in is ridiculous. Who knows what other charitable commitments they have?

Had you read my post above I have already said that I will be removing the knockbacks section.

There's no need to be offensive yourself with your bad language, I can swear with the best but feel that this is not the place to do it.

Also I cannot see how the page offends you unless you are connected to the organisation listed.

Travelodge advised us of their charity committments and we have listed that - as you would have seen had you correctly read the page. However Premier Travel Inns clearly stated that unless it involves NATIONAL coverage they weren't interested.

I'm not about to get into a slanging match with anyone, only to say that it's not big and it's not clever :mchappy:

Regarding the logo - seeing as it has generated a talking point then I'll look at producing a bespoke logo but if there's anyone out there with any ideas for it then please contact me with your ideas and I'll happily give you the credit.

dont get me wrong, i dont personally care if you pinch the logo!
 

I just did not want to see you getting yourself into hot water when all you were trying to do was raise some money for a Charity.:eek3:
It appears that there are many differing ideas and attitudes as to the 'right' way to go about it, but I am sure your Hearts are in the right place and your motives are good.:thumbup1:

Not a problem Martyn and I understand where you're coming from so I'm not taking it the wrong way.

Basically we are doing 2 things in 1 - touring the UK and trying to raise cash for charity. We do something for CR every year in one way or another and this seemed like an excellent opportunity to do 2 things that we enjoy. If we get accommodation then that's great - if not then the tent will be coming out and we'll still do the trip.

Thanks for your input - it's been appreciated

Phil

1: Good.

2: Yawn. Is the sun shining up there on your high horse? :) ;)

3: Hmm, so listing a company for the heinous crime of not givng you free stuff and insinuating they are mean and uncharitable is'nt slanging?

Good luck with your trip all the same. I don't wish you to think I'm against your whole enterprise, just felt you'd misjudged the charity knock backs page, which you've admitted. I confess I didn't see that you'd already said you'd be removing it. Hope you have fun and raise lots of money for charity.

Matt

Hi Matt

The sun isn't shining but it's bloody cold and lonely :) ;)

I wasn't saying they were mean, just saying in their own words "Our central marketing department focus solely on national
advertising as the main aim is to drive the awareness of the
Premier Travel Inn brand on a much larger scale eg via national
newspapers or websites"

Basically, unless you are national news then they don't want to know.

Thank you for your good wishes and please think about us in the wilds of Scotland when we're up your way sometime in July :) We'll actually be stopping over in Edinburgh on the way back down as we have some friends who live near the centre, near the Botonical Gardens

Cheers matey

Phil

Yeh i've always thought this. Aslong as you somehow associate yourself with a charity and claim on your high horse to be doing something worthwhile, then you are just getting someone else to pay for your holidays under the banner of charity.

Fair enough getting sponsorship if you are doing something different...or you are writing a book or you are just bear faced cheeky/pressy. But the charity thing has always made me wonder a little bit.

I'm nothing to do with Long Way Round UK, but I am doing Journey To Russia in September with 2 of my mates - we're raising money for Everyman.

We thought long and hard about the charity thing. We were going to Russia, we were doing it anyway, in fact most of the planning was done and we started telling people we were off on our trip - at which point some people asked us - 'great... who you doing it for?'

Well no-one was our initial reply, and then we thought, well if people really want to use us as an excuse to give to charity we should make it easy for them - so we set up the justgiving page (Justgiving - Journey To Russia - as you asked so nicely) and as you can see we've had some donations - not a huge amount but more than would have gone in to Everyman if we'd not.

We could of course just turn around and go - 'well let's not go on the trip let's just donate our budget to Everyman'. Or we could say 'we're off to Russia, if you want to use us as an excuse to give to charity, great, go over here.'

I know which one I'd go for!

You have touched a chord here with me Matt.

One guy I know was "over the moon" when I put some money into his justgiving pot - apparently about 2-3 times more than he expected.

Another guy I know has never spoken to me or emailed me since I did not respond to his very obvious email asking for a contribution to his justgiving pot and his jaunt around in the desert - hard work no doubt, but.........

The moral I have learnt is that you find out who your friends are when you get involved with justgiving!!

I'll jump on your bandwagon too if there's room.
 

Yup, I'm doing the old charity fund-rasing thing too, and I'll admit it, I'm going to try and blag free stuff from people. I have no problem with it at all, because I know I'll only get it if they think they're getting something in return, and that will be the time and effort I put in to publicising the event and their product and service. The fact of the matter is, they're not giving you anything, they're bartering, and if you publicise well then they're actually getting something on the cheap, that's why companies give.

In the past I've organise charity events and people have said to me "what's the point, why not just give to charity directly?" at which point I usually dig out the collecting tin and say "OK, cough up".

Example of why there's nothing wrong with having fun and raising money. On Tower to Tower rally, 25 teams of people went begging for sponsors plugging the charity and plastering their cars with companies names, people came up to our bunch of Minis in Paris and asked what we were up to, when we explained out came their wallets, even chequebooks. and then the participants went rattling collecting tins round the car-park at Le Havre waiting for the boat back, loads of people dug in their pockets and threw in their unspent Euros, total result nearly £30,000 which probably wouldn't have gone to charity otherwise, because there wouldn't have been the people collecting.

Yes I know exactly what you mean - it's a very personal direct way of giving and really allows you to say what you're giving where. I suppose that will play well to some peoples vanity - but as an organiser you HAVE to just treat it as a collecting tin and nothing more - it's nice to see who's donated but it's just a collecting tin.

What I do like about JustGiving though is the ease and more importantly the fact that they make the gift aid thing so damn easy.

The same thing that happened to Mattcbf600 happened to us.

We explained that we were going to ride around the UK and when we were telling some friends the idea came up about us supporting Cancer Research. It went something along the lines of "well, you donate every year so why not tie the 2 together and raise more" so we did.

Getting the free stuff doesn't bother me - I'm hard faced enough to ask but in return I know that the companies sponsoring us expect a certain amount of publicity whether that's via press release, flyers, interviews with shameless plugs or whatever. At the end of the day I'm happy to be a media whore for them as long as they do their part.

As it is Breville UK are allowing us to use their resources and I will happily promote them to the hilt.

A thought.
 

I notice the site has a blog... now cos I'm a nosey bar-steward I love reading about people's trials and tribulations even before they've started travelling. So why not blog about your preparations a bit more? A regular blog with regular readers shows companies that you've got a base for them to publicise to. And in a blog I think having a grumble about something is allowed (vis: knockbacks).

PS as it's Breville I guess you get as many toasted sandwiches as you can eat?

Our Opinion
 

Well, firstly let me explan what we are doing. Driving to Australia from UK in a Land Rover. Not unusual on this site but unusual to me and certainly unusual to my friends. We are raising money for charity, and we will except some freebies (haven't asked for any yet, not sure we are going to or not). But here is where the big difference is for us, we are not sayng the trip is why people should sponsor us, because we want it do this. What we are doing is stuff we wouldn't normally do to raise money. Hence in April of last year I ran the London Marathon. Easy for some people but not for a 20st smoker (now ex) with a buggered body. 6 month of training later and I completed it in 5.5 hours. Ouch! And raised £3000+ in the process.

But also, to encourage people to sponsor me I offered to match every £1 donated with 50p from my own pocket (up to a total donaton from us of £500). This way I felt we were matching other peoples cash with my commitment and cash.

Next up I think have to go bigger, and will cycle from John O'Groats to Land's End, which will take 9 months to get ready for and two weeks to cycle.

Now I'm not saying any way is right or wrong, but I do get damn angry when ALL charity fundraising is written off as trying to get someone to pay for your holiday. My 'holiday' is 100% funded by myself and will have taken 4 years of savng to get. Brilliant! At the same time I am both trying to improve my health and raise money Even better! But I want to also be able to say is I enjoyed the marathon and I wll enjoy the cycle, without someone looking down on the charitable part of it as a means to an end purely for selfsh reasons.

Sorry rant over and back to finishng off the Chrstmas booze and food :)

Happy new year to all including those from Long Way Round Uk ...... Good luck

Thanks for the good luck message Ollie and thanks to Alex for the tips about the blog.

Once again we find ourselves in similar territory regarding things we wouldn't normally do.

I've ridden bikes for years on and off but due to an error at DVLA I had to resit my test and after getting divorced in 2006 I've met someone who likes bikes. We both decided that we'd do our test and do a ride of some description. Once we got chatting with friends the idea just snowballed.

So we are where we're at - organising a trip that we wouldn't normally undertake but now intend to use it to try to raise a lot of money for a worthy cause - not because we're after a free jolly holly.

BTW - One thing I've forgot to mention is that if anyone wants to ride parts of the route with us then please get in touch. I'd also like to try and organise a ride out from the start and possibly back home

Scratching each others backs...
 

Hi wonkydonkey - I think Alexlebrit touches on the fundament point (regarding sponsorship) above: essentially that they will want something (and positive!) for their association and support of your endeavour, and for a commercial company, that basically means brand publicity/product placement in the press/media.

Have you approached any of the motorcycle publications with details of your proposal? While the sportsbike mags may seem disinterested (unless you have a particularly strong pitch), you might find MCN or the monthly MCM newspaper style magazines would get on board and offer an interview and/or feature on your return at the very least? Perhaps you could even write the piece yourself? Likewise local (regional) television and radio news stations also like to feature 'what's going on in our region' type stories - worth a punt trying to arrange an interview with them when you are passing though...

Of course editors are notoriously hard to pin down for an actual commission or guarentee of anything being published - but if you can get their support, then at least you would then have a solid lever to use when approaching any potential sponsors?

Just a thought...

JennyMo xxx

press/media
 

following on from JennyMo, i work in the media and I can promise you, we are all inherently lazy b*st*rds

if someone fronts up at a newspaper/magazine with decent words and (very importantly) decent pictures that are both targeted towards the right audience for the publication, then you are doing our work for us and it stands a reasonable chance of going in - the same is true of radio, although they aren't that big on pictures

this is particularly true if you don't want payment (although I have to say this seriously annoys us pros who do want payment for our work !!)

however, if you do some decent pre event publicity, and get stuff published, or regional airtime, at least when you go to companies asking for support then they can see you mean business and they might get a result.

getting publicity isn't as difficult as you might thing - publications and many media outlets are down to the bare bones on full time staff and they can't come up with bright ideas every bloody day

give someone a good reason to publicise you, your event and your commercial supporters and then you might get better results

cheers

dick

JennyMo and Dick - can't thank you enough.

We're putting together a press pack so that we can send it to the locals and I'll get in touch with MCN and MCM.

We'll also get some glossy pics in there too.

If you (or anyone else) have any tips the by all means PM or email me via the website or just leave a message here.

Any help is most welcome.

Regards

Phil

Dick, you've just confirmed everything I ever thought about journalists *wink*.

In the past I've just strolled round WHSmiths, looking up the editors' names, contact details etc and then I've either e-mailed or snailmailed some bumph and followed it up a couple of days later with a phone call.

Seemed to work then, and got us a decent 4 page spread in one of the specialist mags.

I've now started to update the blog with what we're doing. It's by no means a war and piece epic but I'm assured that blogs aren't supposed to be.

If anyone has any tips on writing the blog it would be useful.

Thanks

I'm a snapper actually, I can't do wurds.

Best not to print what photographers really think about scribes though, especially those that turn up with you on a job and ask to borrow a pen !!

Dick

Wonkydonkey,
You have got my vote.:thumbup1:
I don't think many people do something they don't like to raise money for charity, I ran three marathons and raised money but I ran them because I wanted to, raising money for charity was an afterthought.
I am from Lancashire ( Bolton ) survived a cancer operation in 1992 and ride a V-Strom 650 which I will ride from Saudi to Bolton.
Good Luck.
Ian:mchappy:

Thanks for the encouragement Ian. It's something that we want to do and as we enjoy riding the bikes as well we couldn't think of a better way to do the 2 things together.

Have sent you an email but if you don't get it then drop me a PM on here.

May see you at the Barn sometime :-)

Support Vehicle
 

We've had a friend say that he might be able to run a support vehicle for us but he's not sure what's involved.

We've said that we'd probably just want him to meet up with us at a half way point on a day and then meet us at the final day destination with the tents up and a brew on ready unless we need him for any emergencies.

Does this sound about right ?

Having never done this before we're not sure what's involved.

Thanks

Why not ask if any biker-friendly pubs and cafes will help you? Maybe they could put a collection tin on the bar, 2-3 weeks before you get there. You could maybe sell raffle tickets to customers when you arrive, depending on whether a sponsor can provide a prize worth buying a ticket for.

Every venue that agrees to help gets their name and location in print and the ones who raise the most for your cause get their picture with yourselves, in any publicity too.

When you planning to do this anyway? I'll have a ride out with you if I'm not on my own travels.

I liked the format of the Italian Job charity run. I'm not sure what the current method of raising money is but basically, the original idea was that a load of Mini owners would drive to Trento in Northern Italy, fill up their Mini's with local plonk which would then be auctioned off for charity when they got back to the UK. Of course, the charity aspect is just an excuse to have a blast down to Italy but the publicity was quite clearly on fund raising, unlike the Cannonball or Gumball which is just an excuse for a load of irritating wankers in Porsche's to get their faces on TV.

Hi Craig

We're looking at late July, early August. We're hopefully going to be stopping at some biker friendly places (Ace Cafe, Shires, Rivington Barn etc etc) to collect but also we'll be contacting them in the run up and asking them to advertise the fact that we'll be calling. When we get to places we'll be taking pics etc and (again, hopefully) raffling off some kit.

Not sure of your location but please feel free to join us.

Once we've got the full itinery we'll publish it on our site and anyone wishing to ride with us will be welcome. :thumbup1:

I'm in Sunderland, about half way between Newcastle and Durham.

I'll be at the Cock o' the North races at Oliver's Mount, Scarborough in Mid-July and again for the hillclimb championship late July. Usually a decent size crowd there and you may get permission to set up a table among the trade stalls. Not 100% sure of the details yet but we'll probably be camping there.

A typical sunday ride out for biker's up here would include Whitby on the northeast coast and Stahope, Alston and Hartside Pass, heading west towards the lake district. I'll keep an eye on your website. Good luck.

Hi Everyone

The dates are now set for 3rd August start until we're done.

Just to say that the sponsors that have helped us have been really astonishing. As usual the smaller companies have been the ones to lead.

We approached a couple of multi-national companies who fired us off. The companies that have sponsored us have been REALLY good - we now have pannier sets, camping stuff, fuel, tyres, clothing and boots.

I know it sounds a little mercenary but now we have the basics in place we can concentrate on the trip as a whole.

The route is planned and we can now work on where we can stay, eat etc etc. Thanks to everyone on the site because your encouragement has been overwhelming. I can only hope we can get a BLOODY BIG ride-out on the day.

Am going to approach the local media (Radio, tv, papers etc) so if you're on the ride-out make sure you wear your sunday best and that your bike is taxed http://www.visordown.com/forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

More updates will be going on our website now that we have the basics in place.

Thanks once again.

WonkyDonkey