What's with all these charity races? Ins't in more productive to jsut give a charity some money?

Answer 1

The charity races turn average people into fundraisers. Instead of one person asking people for money, suddenly you have hundreds of people asking all their friends for money. The charity reaches many, many more people than they could otherwise. Yes, it's more productive to give the charity some money, but most peope are hesitant to ask others for money unless they have a reason to do so.

Answer 2

Actually, against all practical reasoning, no. The reason is that the hobby of running (and I'm assuming that you are talking about marathons when you say "charity races") is a huge draw to hundreds of thousands of people. As an accountant at a marketing firm which handles these types of events, I can honestly say that the money put into the set-up of marathons is well exceeded by the profit to the relevent organization, particularly if the race offers some kind of standardized timing device, such as a runners chip, which allows runners to work toward various goals within the sport by maintain good average times.

In addition, these races raise awareness of various charities, which is far better than the actual money raised, as it encourages future and "outside the running world" donations.

My only complaint with marathoning is that they aren't ALL charity races. That would be ideal, to me.

Good question, though! Thanks!

J

Answer 3

the point is not just to get money to the charity, but to raise awareness for the charity, and the need for it, so more money can be raised. it is a marketing tactic, so to speak.

Answer 4

It feeds the need to see and be seen,

My donations are all anonymous. When they have canned good drives, I go out buy some new stuff that I like. Someone else has to like it too.