A few ideas to start off with: Giving money to charitable causes is a noble activity. Rewarding successful raisers of funds (as in people, not activities) is certainly on the up and up, so long as the rewarding doesn’t consume a significant proportion of the resources raised by the parties being rewarded. In certain reward events, where there would be a high demand for participation, it makes sense to restrict it to parties who have met certain criteria. A sensible organization does this in such a way as to maximize benefit to the cause.
I know that, neglecting transportational expenditures to get me & my bike to & from the start point, I could afford the bike from boston to ptown for significantly less than my entry fee, even without the economies of scale, and the corporate sponsorship that large crowds can draw. Therefore, it’s pretty clear that I’m not asking others to “fund my vacation” (see previously stated con-artist perspective), but to actually help out with a noble cause.
This, of course, doesn’t help with the actual donations, but it does put me in a far better frame of mind for fundraising.
fund-raisers
(1) is the cause worthy of contributions? (necessary, but not sufficient)
(2) are there other causes more worthy of contributions? (which causes give the biggest good per dollar?)
(3) do the added administrative costs of the *-athon attract contributions that would otherwise have been spent on SUVs or other useless/damaging products? (sort of an “opportunity gain” analysis)