BBG as a fundraiser.

[ServoJockey]

Has anyone done an Ironbutt ride as a fundraiser?
Here the story; my brother in law has been fighting cancer. He has been off work for a year and a half. He has gone through a bone marrow transplant and continues a slow recovery. Being an average working guy, it is difficult for him to accept help in the form of money.
I believe his insurance is covered by his employer; (kudos to them! I know a lot of companies that would dump him like email spam)
Insurance does not cover the full cost of all the medication, the weekly trips to Ann Arbor from Holland, or the other more mundane everyday bills that come in. 
I would like to figure out how to do an Iba ride and raise some much needed cash for him and his family. (Married 28 years, twins in college, and son that just graduated.)
Trouble is, I can ride but I dont know the first thing about fundraising.
If anyone has done this sort of thing before I would appreciate some pointers. My wife and I are willing to do the work, we just need to know where to start.

[squeezer]

Print up pledge forms and ask people and/or businesses to sponsor you per mile. One cent a mile works out to a $15 donation.

You have to know lots of people and/or wear out some shoe leather to raise significant cash this way, but every little bit helps.

To raise more money, make it a group ride and ask other riders for an entry fee and/or to get their own sponsors (preferably both). That takes more organization (where will they meet and stay, will there be a group feed and how much of the entry fee goes to that, will you get some kind of souvenir gift for the riders, can you put together a rock solid waiver form since that might expose you to liability if a rider goes down).

Solo ride, small group, larger event like the Hoagy's Heroes group saddle sores -- pick your level of effort and go for it.

It would also be polite to ask the IBA folks for permission to use they're copyrighted stuff for a fundraiser. I've never heard of them turning anyone down.

Sorry to hear of the struggles. Good luck.

[ServoJockey]

Thanks for the suggestions, I should start with getting permission from IBA.

We discussed the group ride thing, I really don't want a pirate ride. (The last one I attended had a four hour registration, a twenty minute ride, and a three hour after-ride party) I would be open to have another couple of riders on the road, logistics would be a concern.

I would like to find a site like Kickstarter that will take donations.

If I could create a link to to a donation site, Facebook and other sites would be a way to save shoe leather.

[bomber]

take a look at Lucky Dog's Ride Report -- she raised money for RIder dot Org, but the concepts apply . . . . don't ignore sites like this one as potnetial sources of donors . . . . . . .. .

Stand tall, and know your borther in law is lucky to have you in his life

[CLAY]

Yep.  I raised a bunch a couple years ago for microscopes in my classroom and there was enough for a few other things as well for my class.  Wanna do lunch some day or you want details here?  It worked really well- our community is awesome at these things.  Here's a link to the website that was made and donated by a web-hosting company:
http://claysrideathon.org/

[ServoJockey]

Clay, It would be great to meet and go over some details in person.
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