serious thread about 'cross, money, and, well - cross and money atmo...

[e-RICHIE]

ya know, here's something that i have trouble with and am wondering
if folks out there follow these things. i'm knee deep in 'cross racing and
run a team that has high goals. we met one this year by having a rider
(will dugan) win us a tenth national championship since 1997, and he
also was named to the U23 worlds team. will also was asked to attend
the eurocross camp in izegem these past two plus weeks. i'm using the
will story as a device to get to my point and my beef.

usa cycling has no money to support this effort. iirc, only one racer will
get some-if-not-all expenses comped. the other four (and i could even
be wrong about that one i mentioned) are self-supported. add to this
a trip in december for the camp, and the tab per racer approaches the
five to six thou amount including airfare. it costs us about three tho to
get will from vermont to belgium and back. and he, like his team mates,
return to europe in a few weeks to dress like american flags and represent
our country at the worlds. the cost for these two separate trips is more
than many 'cross teams (stateside) spend all year.

i would like this thread to be about the possibility of finding a revenue source
for all of the U23 racers who represent usa cycling. not will. not JUST will.
but all five of them. i considered a paypal account. and i know that some
have local club fund raisers. and still others have had bikereg dotcom gigs.

i wanna keep this chat here, with salonistas, not out there in the big e-world.
what ideas can we scheme to raise money here, in broad daylight, and in a
very short amount of time? there are four, maybe five young americans who
deserve a break, will race their hearts out, and i know they could spend the
money atmo.

thoughts?

[Jonathan]

I agree. There is an interview with Steve Johnson on cyclingnews where he talks about this subject. His attitude was that since it's a non Olympic sport it's a no go. I think that is bullshit and it pisses me off to no end since cross is the discipline that is growing. I bit my lip yesterday when renewing by licencse for 09.

A paypal acct or an ebay-a-thon. I've thought about the ebay route for my own team.

[agilismerlin]

any account, paypal or online, set up this time of year as tax deductible, would benefit tax time...........starting feb. 1st.

give money now, get back next month

anything setup next year as a dec/jan donation that is recouped feb/april is a no loss situation...........

i don't mind donating...........and willing do so, in the future, in this pay/payback scheme..........everyone winz'



the problem, post edit, is getting usacycling (whatever they are called) involved

[acotts]

How was it done before 1978?

If I had to guess, the athlete turned to his local community for support and kept his/her fingers crossed.

I guess this is a community. Just a really wierd one. One where we all know a lot of people, but few of us really know each other.

[jmeloy]

e-richie, is there any chance that the key builders could lean on their suppliers (I'm thinking tubing companies) to lend a hand financially?

[e-RICHIE]

I agree. There is an interview with Steve Johnson on cyclingnews where he talks about this subject. His attitude was that since it's a non Olympic sport it's a no go. I think that is bullshit and it pisses me off to no end since cross is the discipline that is growing. I bit my lip yesterday when renewing by licencse for 09.

A paypal acct or an ebay-a-thon. I've thought about the ebay route for my own team.

i set up a separate paypal email addy for this and this only, but
i have cold feet about the legal and fiscal ramifications. i wanna
raise $??.00 for the U23 team's world's coffers. others can concern
themselves with the elites and the juniors.

can one act simply as a receiver, let paypal take its 3 percent, and then
just take the money, disperse it, and sleep at night without a liability down
the road?

[e-RICHIE]

e-richie, is there any chance that the key builders could lean on their suppliers (I'm thinking tubing companies) to lend a hand financially?

this is about money not stuff.

there is no shortage of industry support atmo.
my own team gets nearly every part and then
some for free (as a sponsorship deal) but then
takes no prisoners for 5 months. that's not at
issue here; finding a factor or a patron is.

[Jonathan]

i set up a separate paypal email addy for this and this only, but
i have cold feet about the legal and fiscal ramifications. i wanna
raise $??.00 for the U23 team's world's coffers. others can concern
themselves with the elites and the juniors.

can one act simply as a receiver, let paypal take its 3 percent, and then
just take the money, disperse it, and sleep at night without a liability down
the road?

with the amount of money we are talking about, yeah.

as a practical matter, the springs should not be given the funds to distribute. paypal the riders themselves directly if they are not supported.

[e-RICHIE]

with the amount of money we are talking about, yeah.

as a practical matter, the springs should not be given the funds to distribute. paypal the riders themselves directly if they are not supported.

dude - this is between me and the riders, no feds (from the springs) allowed atmo.

[Jonathan]

dude - this is between me and the riders, no feds (from the springs) allowed atmo.

cool, as it should be.

what's the timeline?

[e-RICHIE]

cool, as it should be.

what's the timeline?

i dunno - by feb 1 i suppose.
i am not sure when the worlds are, but my fantasy would be a
quick fix and there ya go, good luck in belgium atmo. iow, fast.

[coloclimber]

I am all for this big time. I was invited to a camp in Belgium my Freshman year of college and would have gone except I and my parents didnt have the dough.

I think we all have spare old parts lying around that we could auction off on ebay in a weeks time. I can look into it but isn't there a "percentage of the proceeds of this auction support"... fundraiser button? That way someone could set aside what ever percentage of the auction proceeds they are comfortable with going to the U23 CX team expenses, some could do 100% others could do 25% whatever. I'll see if its limited to 501c3s. Maybe some of the "free" spare team parts could be auctioned off as well.

[Jonathan]

I am all for this big time. I was invited to a camp in Belgium my Freshman year of college and would have gone except I and my parents didnt have the dough.

I think we all have spare old parts lying around that we could auction off on ebay in a weeks time. I can look into it but isn't there a "percentage of the proceeds of this auction support"... fundraiser button? That way someone could set aside what ever percentage of the auction proceeds they are comfortable with going to the U23 CX team expenses, some could do 100% others could do 25% whatever. I'll see if its limited to 501c3s. Maybe some of the "free" spare team parts could be auctioned off as well.

I'm gonna throw up an auction in a few minutes. I'll see how it goes.

[justinf]

What about corporate sponsors outside of the industry that might appreciate the demographic? Sam Adams? Caribou Coffee? Whole Foods? etc.

Mid-size bike companies with some cross-industry experience in their management might be able to reach out to companies like this, and open some doors for others.

[rphetteplace]

Could some of our big time movers/shakers that do a lot of travelling donate/transfer airline miles or credit card points so as to purchase plane tickets?

[taz]

Some of you know that I am selling one of e-richie's frames on ebay right now.

I'll donate 10% of the final bid to the cause. Not much, but it's a start.

Richard - send the money directly to you?

Would it be kosher to say "x% of auction to go to U23 CX team" like Colo suggested or should I just let it run it's normal course?

- taz

[wrestlr]

Could some of our big time movers/shakers that do a lot of travelling donate/transfer airline miles or credit card points so as to purchase plane tickets?

That is a good idea. I will check to see if it is feasible.

[mikeyp]

I don't know if this helps or not. We have done some fundraising in the MN/WI community for Bjorn Selander to help him the last couple of years. Paul Schoening from the Ridley Factory team has set up different ways to pay online or pay at whatever event. You might try to contact him and see if he can help with the technical money side.
Mikeyp

[Athame]

dude - this is between me and the riders, no feds (from the springs) allowed atmo.

If that concern is paramount then CASH is the only way. The next best thing would be USPS MO in the riders names.

[pdxmech13]

how bout a private party for someone w/their favorite builder at NAHBS !
on a serious note I don't see a quick fix for this at the moment.