Charity Rides are they worth it?

Mates are looking at doing Bournemouth to Berlin,
Coffee Ride.
along the lines of Riders raising money for coffee bean pickers,
win- win- win
coffee addicted riders get the challenge of doing it, drinking on way
coffee bean pickers charity gets money for their workers
coffee loving bike riders get to pay back into the bean producing industry
around 1,100 miles

but would anyone else think this was a good idea????

why from bournemouth?

because thats where we live
next question

why to Berlin?

Is your question about the act of doing a ride to raise money for charity in general? or the idea of this particular ride?

If the latter, I can confirm that anything to get someone away from Bournemouth, and nearer to Berlin is a good idea.

yeah thanks, theres friends in Berlin.
The question is after 2 answers- charity rides in general - are they done to death?

and
this particular idea of fundraising, would it get your cash over other rides?
thanks

Personally, I'm generally a bit wary about asking people I know to sponsor me for bike rides, particularly since they all know that I enjoy riding my bike and that I would happily do a long ride just for fun.

I guess my feeling is that if you don't think that this ride will come across as a "fund my holiday trip" thing, then I guess it's okay.

Seems to me coffee shops are so popular, maybe we should wonder about coffee and its impact on developing countries. Raises all sorts of issues about cash crops in general.

Like cocao, tropical fruit, drugs, cotton ... coffee is often grown by people who really live in very poor conditions. Who makes the profits? Is child labour used? Are dangerous chemicals used? What are the food-miles of coffee?

I love the stuff but sometimes I wonder if our coffee habit is good for our fellow human beings in developing countries.

Not sure where your ride fits in. I think the idea that drinking lots of coffee on the way could help coffee growers is a bit fatuous-sounding.

I for one have a but of a problem with treating cycling as a de facto charitable sacrifice/effort rather than just a liberating joy in itself.

I think the only way you would make it sponsor worthy would be some time limit.

The Paris 24 and Amsterdam 300 have time limits which make it tougher, a 5 day cycle tour to Berlin would be nice and fun but does it warrant people sponsoring?

It's difficult to argue against raising money for charity, so in that sense then it's a good idea - but I agree with the Cake Dr in that the issue could be around asking people to hand over the money - I've never done a charity ride, and would only do so if the cause was something that seemed relevant to myself (ie, relative has cancer, so thus raise money for a cancer charity...) as I reckon that would generate the most donations. I'd figured that you could only really do one or two charity rides before people got bored of handing over their money to you or started making unreasonable demands for what event you would need to do next...

If you do this I'll give you 10 Euros in Berlin!

Personally, there are too many charities to choose from.

Paying people to enjoy themselves doesn't seem like good value for my charity dollar, as it were.

Coffee bean pickers already have jobs - yes they might be shit jobs but at least they're earning something. I'd prefer to give to people who have no opportunity to work at all - survivors or natural disasters, wars, etc where there are no employers, infrastructure, etc.

Then again, I do sometimes bung mates some coin if they ask but it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind, innit?

About Yossarian's first comment^ Guess you've never heard Chumbawamba's 'Pictures of Starving Children Sells Records'. In it the Chumblies expound a view that charity is apposite to real change - that it reinforces the status quo of poverty in the developing world, instead of addressing the roots of inequality.

Just sayin'.

@skully some very real considerations
wider than what most charity events of any sport achieve

"I think the idea that drinking lots of coffee on the way could help coffee growers is a bit fatuous-sounding."
the intention would be of course to have it all properly researched, there are charities that are giving back some of what we swallow back to their workers, in a totally justifiable way.
agree that the drinking only bit is lame, far more interesting perhaps linking a properly researched challenge where participants, donators and ultimately coffee producers benefit.
@Tenderloin yeah agree, the originality and difficulty are the only things that make people get into it, like the dudes that took the Ken bike up Ventoux and back in 24 hours

An avid cyclist asking for sponsorship to ride his bike is like me asking for sponsorship to eat cakes and drink gin. The distance and effort involved is secondary, the London to Brighton bike ride is an easy day out to a seasoned cyclist, but it's marketed to non-riders for whom it's a challenge. It depends on who you will approach for sponsorshp.

Alkali eating cakes, drinking gin, and riding are all part of London life that should be supported.
in respect of your post #14 youre saying for avid cyclists it would have to be a serious challenge like 100+ miles a day to attract any support from other riders?
someone I know in family asked me for L/B sponsorship this year and I didnt give them any, but then I raised £2000 for BHF in 1996

I drink it to do less stupid things.

http://youtu.be/-gq15FEyi9A

Fewer. Will tort mii somfink.

Who makes the profits depends on the coffee you buy and how it is sourced, but personally I do try to buy good coffee which actually benefits the grower - our habit can be good for our fellow human beings.

I had a great Thai coffee recently from a cooperative between the Doi Chaang coffee company in Vancouver and the Akha Hill Tribe in Thailand. The co-op is co-owned by a family in Vancouver and the tribe and Climpson & Sons (who it came from) describe this model as "beyond fair trade".

Plus if you buy some it might have been roasted by Doktor Pepe who is/was on here so win win (as far as I know he's still there).

So going back to the OP if you source the coffee right then yes, drinking the java can be a good thing...

http://youtu.be/-gq15FEyi9A

George? phew.

Don't do it

Don't do it
what drink Nes....o?

They say charity* begins at home, so erm, stay in Bournemouth and get wired on hasbean, which is (or was) direct trade where possible so goes straight to source.

If the ride does go to Berlin then I think a place called "The Barn" has been recommended to me.

*still to find a charity whose stated mission is to not exist at a given point in the future. I haven't been looking hard though.

^ insert trollface.jpg