Using a hike as a Charity Fund Raiser

[<adverb> Tortoise]

Greetings all -

I'm thru-hiking in 2006.

I'm investigating combining a 'walk-a-thon for charity' with my hike. I'll ask people to pledge a nickle/dime, for charity, for each mile I hike.

Do you know of anyone who has done this?
Where can I go for more info?

- - -
After deciding that I wanted to hike the AT, I thought of ways to 'expand' the hike. The idea of raising $ for a charity came to mind. (Probably because a friend did this 20 yrs ago.) The charity gets 100% - I wouldn't take a dime to defray my hiking expenses -- after all -- I was planning on hiking the trail regardless. I can't ask my friend any 'how-to' questions. He stopped talking to me after his funeral.

[TankHiker]

An excellent idea. There are many of us who have done similar. However, keep in mind that some hikers find this abnoxious and annoying. So, you may want to be discreet about it with other hikers. (I know that's silly, but true)

I would say the first step is to contact the charity. I don't know if you already have one picked out. But usually if you just tell them what you are doing, they can give you plenty of suggestions and ideas.

Feel free to email (see webpage below) if you want to talk more in-depth about it.

-Tank

[Jack Tarlin]

As long as you don't make a pest of yourself while ON the Trail by actively soliciting other hikers, or guilt-tripping people into making a donation, I can't see anything objectionable about this.

One warning: Don't let the "charity" aspect of your trip become so large that you can't really enjoy the trip itself. Many "charity" or cause-oriented hikers get so caught up with their charity that they spend a ridiculously large percentage of their trip involved with the charity, their correspondence, their website, etc. Their thru-hike becomes secondary to their money-raising and their staying in touch with their suporters. I've met several folks who hiked for a charity who, while not regretting their good deed or their fund-raising, acknowledged to me that on many occasions, they wished they were doing a "normal" hike.

Anyway, good luck. You might want to pick up a copy of "A Walk for Sunshine" which is not only a good trail memoir, but also it's an excellent account of a "charity hike." If you google "Walk for Sunshine Jeff Alt" you'll see all sorts of stuff on his hike.

Good luck!

[Mags]

Anyway, good luck. You might want to pick up a copy of "A Walk for Sunshine" which is not only a good trail memoir, but also it's an excellent account of a "charity hike." If you google "Walk for Sunshine Jeff Alt" you'll see all sorts of stuff on his hike.
Good luck!


Having hike with Jeff, I can say he is a stand-up guy and more than willing to help people out with questions. He was a class act on the trail.
He never let the charity get in the way of his enjoyment of the hike, he was very subtle about the fact that he was doing a walk for charity, he also discreet about his cell phone use, too.

All in all, a very cool guy.

IIRC, the end of his book has advice on how to do a hike for charity.

(For the record, I'm in the book [under my original trail of Magaroni..which was shortned to Mags anyway], but that should not stop you from buying it. :D)

[NotYet]

I connected my thru-hike to a wilderness education program that I was involved in helping develop. I asked for a penny, nickel or dime a mile (some gave a quarter and one person even gave a dollar a mile!). I managed to raise a little over $12,000 in a relatively short period of time. All of the solicitation was done before the hike; so I was not trying to raise money as I hiked. The fundraiser was certainly added motivation to finish the hike, but it never distracted me from the hike itself. As an aside, the fundraiser also allowed me to write-off many of my hike's expenses (not why you do it...but a nice bonus none-the-less).

I hope you are able to find a charity that you support that wants to work with you on your idea. Have a great hike!