Question about organizing an outdoor skate event (Ohio)

sommemi · March 2nd, 2011, 08:32 PM

Working with a group of others wanting to organize more outdoor skating events in Ohio (as opposed to NONE) I decided to take it upon myself to hold a recreational skate event for charity in the fall. Lots of planning to do!!!

I'm good on event advice except for one major thing... when doing a charity event, what is the best way to organize the 'charity' part??? Do you just have every skater pay a registration fee... or do you give them sheets to raise as much as they can? I mean, I have no idea how to balance a small registration fee to encourage lots of people, but I'd like everyone to try to gather as many donations as they can too. ????

I know with the A2A there was a registration fee and then I think others raised money for the Leukemia charity on the side but I don't know much else about it. This will be the first year doing this and I am just not sure what is customary???

Any suggestions? Advice? Tips? And if you know of any great free websites to use for event registration that would be awesome. I haven't looked at Active.com yet to see what options there are there.

p.s. Hope this is the right place to post this! I couldn't find this kind of topic yet so I don't know if I was looking in the wrong forum, or if it just hasn't come up.

SmileySk8s · March 2nd, 2011, 08:41 PM

Personally, I don't care for soliciting donations and prefer a % portion of my registration fee to go to the selected charity.

slowsk8 · March 2nd, 2011, 08:43 PM

+1

sommemi · March 3rd, 2011, 02:54 PM

Thanks!!! I'm the same way, because I hate asking people for money. But I know some people are really good at that and I hate to settle for some $15 registration fee and only have 15 people show up.

But I think if we get enough word around and get a big group, maybe we can do a $25 registration fee and then try to get food vendors at the end of the event to hold booths and donate a portion of their proceeds to the charity as well?

This was my thought originally, but I didn't know how to encourage others to feel free to go above the call of duty and collect donations on their own.

I personally hate collecting donations, but some people are just naturals at it.

NEW THOUGHT: What have you come to expect from an event that requires a registration fee? A t-shirt? A helmet cover? Bumper sticker? Music and entertainment at the end of it? Or beginning of it? I haven't been to enough of these in person to know what the average is.

Jim White · March 15th, 2011, 08:25 PM

Agree with the others regarding registration/donations. Regarding how to raise donations, find people who believe in the charity, to the extent of being willing and able to raise money; let them do what they feel like.

In general, suggest you focus on one narrow goal this year, whether it be raising good money, or having an event skaters like, or whatever. If it's raising money, find experts in charity events, whether they be running, music, crafts, or whatever. Do what they say, it'll work for skating. If your main goal is a social skating event, find people who have skated several, like Eskate, Philly Freedom skate, or the Big Apple Roll. Get some good ideas, then contact the organizers of those events to fine tune your ideas, and to publicize your event.

Chicago has socal skates each month in the summer, skate one of those to talk with the people there about ideas, and to invite them. Perhaps there are others not too far from you.

sommemi · March 16th, 2011, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim White

Agree with the others regarding registration/donations. Regarding how to raise donations, find people who believe in the charity, to the extent of being willing and able to raise money; let them do what they feel like.

In general, suggest you focus on one narrow goal this year, whether it be raising good money, or having an event skaters like, or whatever. If it's raising money, find experts in charity events, whether they be running, music, crafts, or whatever. Do what they say, it'll work for skating. If your main goal is a social skating event, find people who have skated several, like Eskate, Philly Freedom skate, or the Big Apple Roll. Get some good ideas, then contact the organizers of those events to fine tune your ideas, and to publicize your event.

Chicago has socal skates each month in the summer, skate one of those to talk with the people there about ideas, and to invite them. Perhaps there are others not too far from you.

THanks for the advice! I realized that I really needed to just focus on the goal of establishing the skating event for the first year and in later years the charity part will grow as the event grows. So yeah, one narrow goal of creating an event that attracts skaters and establish an event that will be an 'epic skate' for this area. There is really a need to satisfy the outdoor skate bug that a lot of us have up here. With gas the way it is, not many people want to drive 2 or 3 hours to skate when they can skate the paths in their own area, ya know?

I think I'll take your advice and see if I can talk to some organizers of other skate events and get their input to help me out. Thanks! Great idea! I know what it's like on the participant side, just not the organizer side!

March 2nd, 2011, 08:32 PM	#1
sommemi Evn my Redbloodcells roll Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: N.E.Ohio Posts: 866	Question about organizing an outdoor skate event (Ohio) Working with a group of others wanting to organize more outdoor skating events in Ohio (as opposed to NONE) I decided to take it upon myself to hold a recreational skate event for charity in the fall. Lots of planning to do!!! I'm good on event advice except for one major thing... when doing a charity event, what is the best way to organize the 'charity' part??? Do you just have every skater pay a registration fee... or do you give them sheets to raise as much as they can? I mean, I have no idea how to balance a small registration fee to encourage lots of people, but I'd like everyone to try to gather as many donations as they can too. ???? I know with the A2A there was a registration fee and then I think others raised money for the Leukemia charity on the side but I don't know much else about it. This will be the first year doing this and I am just not sure what is customary??? Any suggestions? Advice? Tips? And if you know of any great free websites to use for event registration that would be awesome. I haven't looked at Active.com yet to see what options there are there. p.s. Hope this is the right place to post this! I couldn't find this kind of topic yet so I don't know if I was looking in the wrong forum, or if it just hasn't come up.

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March 2nd, 2011, 08:41 PM	#2
SmileySk8s Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chicago IL Posts: 473	Personally, I don't care for soliciting donations and prefer a % portion of my registration fee to go to the selected charity.

March 2nd, 2011, 08:43 PM	#3
slowsk8 Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Tukwila, just south of Seattle Posts: 1,209	+1

March 3rd, 2011, 02:54 PM	#4
sommemi Evn my Redbloodcells roll Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: N.E.Ohio Posts: 866	Thanks!!! I'm the same way, because I hate asking people for money. But I know some people are really good at that and I hate to settle for some $15 registration fee and only have 15 people show up. But I think if we get enough word around and get a big group, maybe we can do a $25 registration fee and then try to get food vendors at the end of the event to hold booths and donate a portion of their proceeds to the charity as well? This was my thought originally, but I didn't know how to encourage others to feel free to go above the call of duty and collect donations on their own. I personally hate collecting donations, but some people are just naturals at it. NEW THOUGHT: What have you come to expect from an event that requires a registration fee? A t-shirt? A helmet cover? Bumper sticker? Music and entertainment at the end of it? Or beginning of it? I haven't been to enough of these in person to know what the average is.

March 15th, 2011, 08:25 PM	#5
Jim White Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 989	Agree with the others regarding registration/donations. Regarding how to raise donations, find people who believe in the charity, to the extent of being willing and able to raise money; let them do what they feel like. In general, suggest you focus on one narrow goal this year, whether it be raising good money, or having an event skaters like, or whatever. If it's raising money, find experts in charity events, whether they be running, music, crafts, or whatever. Do what they say, it'll work for skating. If your main goal is a social skating event, find people who have skated several, like Eskate, Philly Freedom skate, or the Big Apple Roll. Get some good ideas, then contact the organizers of those events to fine tune your ideas, and to publicize your event. Chicago has socal skates each month in the summer, skate one of those to talk with the people there about ideas, and to invite them. Perhaps there are others not too far from you.