Re: ***Missing People Bike Ride now under way (Kate McCann, Simon Cowell and Stephen Fry back Missing People campaign on Twitter)

by Doug D 24.06.15 11:15

From ‘ride2raise’, no expense spared seemingly:

Accommodation:   We provide excellent hotels and usually single or twin room accommodation. However, sole occupancy can be guaranteed by payment of a supplement. Contact us for more details.

We'll make you feel like a Pro Tour rider!

  Rides to suit everyone - from 1 to 6 days, from 100 to 600 miles, from 10 to 1000 riders, and from moderate to tough grades - and with starts and finishes all over the UK and in Europe - we've got a ride for you, wherever you live or whatever your ability. 

Fantastic lunch stops & hotels – Ride2Raise take great pride in offering excellent catering & accommodation to our riders.

Experienced and friendly Ride Managers - our pool of ride managers includes a New Zealand track champion, a world-renowned endurance MTB racer, and the former Chief Executive of British Cycling, so there'll be plenty of good stories as well as advice and help. 

Full support and back up - each ride is accompanied by top spec and fully equipped Ride2Raise Support Vehicles, packed with every tool and spare necessary & driven by trained mechanics. Your ride could also benefit from motorcycle outriders and masseurs, and even domestiques and soigneurs! 

Safety and First Aid - all our challenges are insured and there will be at least one first aider on each ride.

  Exclusive Freebies & Offers - including energy bars, gels, hydration tabs, recovery shakes, oils and bike cleaning products and much more. 

All inclusive price - everything's covered!
 
Our rides really are second to none! But don't just take our word for it....   

The ride was tough and challenging both mentally and physically, and we all had our ups and downs. But this is what good stories are made of and this experience is one that I will never forget. I felt proud and privileged to be part of a Ride2Raise Ride and wouldn’t hesitate in recommending it.
Mike Pemberton, London

As a cycling enthusiast, Dorking to Edinburgh was the perfect event to challenge my cycling abilities. The organisation exceeded all my expectations and the quality of accommodation we enjoyed was just superb. The fact that we enjoyed the comfort of our own rooms exceeded any event I’ve ever taken part it. The ride was an experience to be cherished and I’ve made friends for life.
Adrian Mann, Dorking

Ride2Raise was extremely well organised and I felt proud to be part of the event. Looking forward to next year!
Ollie Kmiecik, Putney

http://www.ride2raise.co.uk/our-rides.php

by **PeterMac** 24.06.15 13:07

Ladyinred wrote:@ G Unit, there was also the cost of hiring The Orchard Room at the Tower of London (World Heritage Site), plus refreshments, for the reception.
I don't know the cost, I did look on the website a few weeks ago but no info was provided.

http://www.ride2raise.co.uk/ourroutes.php

NSPCC Tour of the South East - Guildford
180 miles in 2 days
Grade: Tough
Highlights: seeded group riding, professional support inc motorcyle outriders, domestiques, soigneurs, mechanics and masseurs, gala dinner with special guest speaker, timed hill climbs, and optional race sections.
Stops: Guildford
Price: £49 Reg Fee + £500 min fundraising, or Self-fund from £149.
Next ride: 6-7 June 2015
MORE INFO & ENTRY

NSPCC Tour of Yorkshire - York
180 miles in 2 days
Grade: Tough
Highlights: seeded group riding, professional support inc motorcycle outriders, domestiques, soigneurs, mechanics & masseurs, gala dinner with special guest speaker, timed hill climbs, closed road sections, and optional racing at the circuit at York Sport Village.
Stops: York
Price: £49 Reg Fee + £500 min fundraising, or Self-fund from £149
Next ride: 18-19 July 2015
MORE INFO & ENTRY

Missing People Edinburgh to London - Edinburgh to Richmond Park
450 Miles in 5 days.
Grade: Tough
Highlights: Beautiful Lammermuir Hills, North Yorkshire Moors, Richmond Green finish.
Stops: North East, York, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, Richmond.
Price: £199 registration, £2000 minimum fundraising target.
Next rides: 13-17 June 2015
MISSING PEOPLE

I make the assumption that the £ 2000 is absorbed by the company, to be spend on all the 'stuff', before a single centimo is raised for the Charity itself.

by mysterion 24.06.15 13:54

Sponsoring someone must be the least efficient way of donating to a charity. Much better to donate directly.

by snook 24.06.15 14:17

Not necessarily @mysterion. Some, particularly smaller charities ask that all costs are met by the participants, even foreign endeavours like cycling across the Gobi desert!

by Doug D 24.06.15 14:36

And 'professional' tin rattlers, not the volunteers, take a good cut of what they collect.

As for the 'street muggers' who try and get you to sign up, they take a big slice from at least your initial payments in commission, as do the employed fund raisers who phone up regularly to try and get you to increase anything you were daft enough to get conned into in the first place.

If you look into many Charities accounts, a lot are far worse than MP I am sorry to say, with everything going to the CEO and a few staff and virtually nothing to the 'good causes' they are allegedly fund raising for.

Every week I shred at least 3 or 4 begging letters from assorted Charities which are sent to my father, as he has clearly been identified as a 'soft touch' on the mailing register, which they obviously pass round amongst themselves. If I am not quick enough, he will have posted off another cheque, which he cannot afford, and will justify it to me with 'but they are such a good cause'!

There must be hundreds of thousands of 'dopy old buggers' like him being defrauded in this way.

by lj 24.06.15 14:58

Don't forget the costs for extra security for ~~scoundrels~~ saints Kate and John

by jeanmonroe 24.06.15 15:07

I say, 'congratulations' to 'Team KATFIJO'!

They 'raised' between them, from their MP 500 mile bike ride 'adventure', as at, 14:45pm, 24th June, 2015, ...........£16,744.83p.

That 'total' WILL 'pay' 23.92% of the 'salary' of the person, at MP, who is 'paid' at least £70,000 pa.

So, well done, 'Team KATFIJO', only another £53,255.17p, or 76.08%, of the person's £70,000 'salary', this year, to 'raise'

ON YER BIKES!

by G-Unit 24.06.15 21:25

For info, an analysis of Missing People accounts -2013

Clearly the bulk of their income is from grants, the largest of which was half a million from the postcode lottery plus £150,000 from them also for Child Rescue Alert, The Home office donated £220,000. Other grants came from businesses, Comic Relief, Children in Need, The big Lottery and other smaller charitable foundations.

Please excuse the wonky columns, it's difficult to get them straight. Please note that the figure of £ 609,643 is made up of the Fundraising and shop costs shown at the bottom of the page. There is also a breakdown of the costs of Charitable Activities

In 2013-2014 the gross income was £ 2,225,157 with direct costs of £ 609,643 leaving a net income of
£ 1,615,514

The net income is made up of;

Grants        £1,403,819.00
Fundraising and promotional events      £132,098.00
20th anniversary Gala Event        £98,000.00
Charity shop        -£27,938.00 Last shop, now closed
Investment income        £7,535.00
Legacies        £2,000.00
Total   £1,615,514.00

Spending was;

Charitable Activities        £1,655,977.00
Governance        £46,205.00 (audit, accountancy, legal fees)
Total     £1,702,182.00

        Governance   Shop     Charitable Activities Fundraising Costs     Totals
Wages        £30,714    £15,625     £1,355,238     £310,089     £1,711,666
Other Staff Costs     £524        £25,078 £13,366     £38,968
Office Costs        £2,039     £8,089     £123,956     £22,086     £156,170
Direct Costs     £12,928    £18,609 £151,705     £221,779     £405,021
Totals £46,205 £42,323    £1,655,977     £567,320     £2,311,825

by jeanmonroe 25.06.15 13:59

The ONLY 'thing' you need to 'know' about MP Charity is that they 'need' over £1.71 MILLION pa, to 'cover' WAGES, STAFF COSTS and PENSIONS, and 'other' er, BENEFITS!

BEFORE a 'single' PENNY is 'used' to 'find' a single 'missing' person!

by lj 25.06.15 16:05

I don't see any search in there. Charitable activities are things like bike rides and vip dinners. So what else do they do?

by worriedmum 25.06.15 16:19

Quite, lj, but how can they search?
That is the job of the police, which is presumably why these sort of charities pore over missing person notifications offering 'Media Opportunities'........

huh

by G-Unit 25.06.15 20:36

lj wrote:I don't see any search in there. Charitable activities are things like bike rides and vip dinners. So what else do they do?

They apply for grants. They update their website. They train volunteers to answer their helpline 24/7. There will be accounts people. They organise fund raising events. They do 'McCann' type searching lol.

by **PeterMac** 25.06.15 22:27

G-Unit wrote:
lj wrote:I don't see any search in there. Charitable activities are things like bike rides and vip dinners. So what else do they do?
They apply for grants. They update their website. They train volunteers to answer their helpline 24/7. There will be accounts people. They organise fund raising events. They do 'McCann' type searching lol.

The most egregious we have found so far is PACT
Just to remind you, a woman married a Muslim and had two children. He took them to an Islamic Country and won't give them back
So she takes a salary of between £ 70,000 and £ 80,000 for running the Charity.
She then married a man who had a proper career and has a title, hence she is Lady Thingie
http://www.pact-online.org/events/

Look, and weep. It is all about Fund raising, for HER salary.

Even the even more egregious Cherie Blair pulled away when the facts started to come out.
They actually DO nothing positive.

by lj 25.06.15 23:17

worriedmum wrote:Quite, lj, but how can they search?
That is the job of the police, which is presumably why these sort of charities pore over missing person notifications offering 'Media Opportunities'........

in any missing person case a lot of non police power is used especially in searches. They could make a frame work for that, define and setup useful things like maps, control points search equipment. how to organize people. They could fund the training of special dogs. There are a thousands thing they could do and non of them involves stuffing their claptraps or staying in hotels.

by worriedmum 25.06.15 23:32

I like your ideas lj. Especially the dogs.

by sar 25.06.15 23:35

Bell pottinger doing papers on telly now for bbc, wondering what needs spun? "The whole thing was a daft idea" - on the euro.....

by **PeterMac** 02.07.15 11:19

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jul/02/mps-claim-almost-10000-in-travel-expenses-for-pollie-pedal-fundraiser?CMP=share_btn_tw

MPs claim almost $10,000 in travel expenses for Pollie Pedal fundraiser
Exclusive: The expenses claims come from Tony Abbott, Kevin Andrews and some other Coalition politicians participating in the 2014 charity bike ride

Tony Abbott joins the ride into Penrith at the end of the 2014 Pollie Pedal. Photograph: Nikki Short/AAP
Nick Evershed and Bridie Jabour
Last modified on Wednesday 1 July 2015 23.08 BST

The prime minister and some other Coalition politicians participating in the 2014 pollie pedal charity bike ride claimed almost $10,000 in flight and travel expenses around the event.
While Tony Abbott wasn’t involved in the entire trip, he claimed $1,116 in travel allowances for two nights of accommodation towards the end of the ride in Mudgee and Leura.
The then social services minister Kevin Andrews and the member for the electorate of Parkes – where most of the Pollie Pedal took place – Mark Coulton claimed $4,603 between them for the duration of the ride.
Andrews also claimed flights to and from Sydney at the start and end of the ride, and Andrews’ wife also flew in to Sydney at taxpayer expense at the beginning and end of the ride.
The assistant minister for social services, Mitch Fifield, also claimed flight and travel expenses over the course of the event, but did not take part in the cycling, instead holding 24 meetings and press conferences at various locations. Andrews and Abbott also held meetings and press conferences.
Other politicians joined the bike ride but did not make any claims for travel expenses, including Luke Hartsuyker, David Gillespie and Barnaby Joyce.

Pollie Pedal, an annual 1,000km charity bike ride undertaken by politicians in different parts of Australia, was co-founded by Abbott in 1998 with two then-fellow MPs Jackie Kelly and Ross Cameron. It raised over $750,000 in 2014, according to Carers Australia.

Kevin Andrew takes a break before riding out of Moree, NSW, in August 2014. Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP
A spokesman for Andrews said all travel claims had been made within entitlement and directed further questions to the Department of Finance.
“As the minister for social services at the time, Minister Andrews visited many community groups and service providers that were within his portfolio during Pollie Pedal,” he said.
“Through his participation in Pollie Pedal, Minister Andrews was also pleased to contribute to the important fundraising efforts of Carers Australia.”
Claiming travel allowances and flights in this way is allowed under the entitlements system, and the Department of Finance relies on the discretion of the politician to determine what is and isn’t official business.
Andrews claimed $432 on the first day of the ride and $357 per day for the next eight days as the ride took in Tamworth, Moree, Gunnedah, the Blue Mountains, and finished in Penrith.
Coulton claimed between $253 and $278 for electorate business on 9-10 August and 12-14 August, totalling $1,315.
Andrews also charged the taxpayer for his flights to and from Sydney costing $1,274.
Andrews’ wife travelled with him at the beginning and the end of the Pollie Pedal flying from Melbourne to Sydney on 8 August and back to Melbourne two days later at a cost of $1,274.
She returned to Sydney on 16 August, when the pollie pedal ended, and then returned with Andrews to Melbourne on 18 August with the round trip costing another $1,274.

The $2,549 worth of flights for Andrews’ wife around the time the Pollie Pedal began and ended flights were charged to the taxpayer as a ministerial expense.

A spokesman for Abbott defended the practice of claiming travel expenses for participating in the charity event, referring to Abbott’s comments in 2013.
“I don’t in any way apologise for claiming travel expenses for the Pollie Pedal because the Pollie Pedal is a perfectly legitimate form of engagement with the community,” Abbott said through the spokesman.
“It’s precisely the kind of engagement with the community that I think politicians who are serious about representing the people of Australia should have.”
His spokesman suggested contacting the CEO of Carers Australia about what Pollie Pedal has achieved for carers and their cause around Australia.
Fifeld said Pollie Pedal was run with the assistance of and benefit of Carers Australia which is a key peak organisation in his portfolio.
“While the pedallers cycled, I used the event as a backdrop in my role as the minister for disability, ageing and carers to meet people with disability, carers and older Australians as well as with the groups that support them,” he said.
“My travel was for the important portfolio business of meeting carers, older Australians and people with disability and their families in regions that don’t always have the same opportunity as metropolitan areas to meet with and be heard by their minister.”
Coulton was also contacted for comment.

Guardian Australia found no records of MPs from other parties who claimed expenses for taking part in the event.

by **tigger** 02.07.15 11:36

Somehow this reminds me of the famous contract scene in A night at the Opera (Marx brothers) where they finally decide that if their tenor doesn't sing too often he might break even.

by snook 02.07.15 12:31

Tigger, The party of the first part?. I wonder if any of the above had a baboon in their pocket ?

by **tigger** 03.07.15 9:50

snook wrote:Tigger, The party of the first part?. I wonder if any of the above had a baboon in their pocket ?

If MP don't try this fund raising lark too often they might break even, iirc they went over budget from time to time...

by Liz Eagles 06.05.24 12:59

Covid is over and the Missing People festival of fundraising is back on track with healthy wealthy fun fun fun activities. Sadly it's unlikely the once enthusiastic Tapas crew will be turning out to do their sporty bit and wear their advertising sports garb. This crew couldn't make it to the 17th anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance.

The show must go on. This charity which gives no real evidence of their usefulness has brought out the pink begging bowl once again.

***Missing People Bike Ride now under way (Kate McCann, Simon Cowell and Stephen Fry back Missing People campaign on Twitter)