Hiking for a Charity

[Dodds1990]

I never said anything about a scam.

But if you expect to ask for charity you finances will be scrutinized here and on the trail.

You are funding a tru-hike, college loans and a charity walk all at the same time.

Expect scrutiny.

I was able to lower my loans down from $650 to $500 with something called Graduated Repayment. I wil have no problem saving for the trail. Funding a thru-hike and a charity hike is the same thing. I'm thru-hiking while raising money for a charity. Second, It is ridiculous how quick people jump to conclusions without even asking any form of question. I hiked with a guy this past year for 500 miles who was raising money for charity. Also another guy I was hiking with met another hiker up in Vermont that had already raised $37,000 while on trail. There is a book called "A Walk for Sunshine" written by Jeff Alt about how he hiked for charity. So where is the problem? Please, I would love to hear? This is more about what happened to my brother than anything else.

[atmilkman]

Thanks for the one positive feedback on here.

Did you happen to check out my post? #2. It doesn't get any more positive than that. And, it was brief and to the point.

[Dodds1990]

Did you happen to check out my post? #2. It doesn't get any more positive than that. And, it was brief and to the point.

Haha sorry man, it was hard to see through all the negativity. Thanks for the idea though, I will definitely give that a shot as well!

[hikerboy57]

Haha sorry man, it was hard to see through all the negativity. Thanks for the idea though, I will definitely give that a shot as well!

the milkman delivers

[Boondoggle]

Cyborg,

I will be starting my thru hike in April as well. I will be retiring from the Navy after 30+ years. What a great organization to raise money for. Let me run this by some of my buddies out here at Naval Submarine Base Bangor, Wa.....Hope to see you on the trail....I will be hiking light and fast.....want to finish the hike while I am still collecting a full paycheck while on Terminal leave.....

Boondoggle

[HikerMom58]

Boo to the negativity... sorry to hear about ur brother. I think ur first post raised a few eyebrows but you explained ur situation well. We were just wondering about this charity but once again you've shown ur good intentions... go for it!

[Dodds1990]

Cyborg,

I will be starting my thru hike in April as well. I will be retiring from the Navy after 30+ years. What a great organization to raise money for. Let me run this by some of my buddies out here at Naval Submarine Base Bangor, Wa.....Hope to see you on the trail....I will be hiking light and fast.....want to finish the hike while I am still collecting a full paycheck while on Terminal leave.....

Boondoggle

Thanks for the positive feedback, and thank you for your service. It does mean a lot to me. I will hopefully see you out there! When in April were you planning on leaving?

[Train Wreck]

A suggestion -
Once you get a solid fund raising plan together, then invite the CEO and/or other representatives of the organization to join you for a short day hike to help promote your cause. Make it as easy as possible for them to participate (and difficult to decline) by leaving your calendar as open as possible. Offer multiple options for dates, locations, length of hike, etc. Be persistent. Why wouldn't they want to help in a fundraiser that isn't going to cost them a cent as far as outlay? Once you have a date set with them, contact the local media near the portion of the trail where the day hike will take place. You might get more free PR that way. Local papers and news stations like this kind of story.
Good luck with your hike.

[Dodds1990]

A suggestion -
Once you get a solid fund raising plan together, then invite the CEO and/or other representatives of the organization to join you for a short day hike to help promote your cause. Make it as easy as possible for them to participate (and difficult to decline) by leaving your calendar as open as possible. Offer multiple options for dates, locations, length of hike, etc. Be persistent. Why wouldn't they want to help in a fundraiser that isn't going to cost them a cent as far as outlay? Once you have a date set with them, contact the local media near the portion of the trail where the day hike will take place. You might get more free PR that way. Local papers and news stations like this kind of story.
Good luck with your hike.

Thanks for the advice! I like that idea a lot. I'm going to start getting things together and start working on the details. Thanks for the suggests so far.

[turtle fast]

As someone who is "in the know" for charitable marketing programs and implementation I would suggest first talking to the casino marketing team/person. They are more likely to hear a pitch from someone who works at the casino for an idea. You have to talk to a representative of the Wounded Warrior Project to see if the idea appeals to them as the casino would want the official go ahead from them and be able to use the Wounded Warrior Project logo in printed advertisements. (As well as donation logistical issues) From a Public Relations standpoint its a win-win situation as I mean who is against wounded veterans.... It also shows that the casino cares about the community and puts them in a positive light. I would first bounce the idea to the the Wounded Warrior Project and then get a plan together....then approach the casino marketing with a plan. Good luck!

[Don H]

I hiked for charity. My son's scout troop had friends and family sponsor me for a penny a mile. They signed up about 30 people and made about 700 bucks for the troop. They collected the money when I finished, I didn't handle any of the money.

I hiked the 100 Mile Wilderness and summited with Buckeye Flash who raised $75,000 for charity for medical research.

[prain4u]

Not being negative here...just being practical on a few points.

1) Check with the the key people at the charity before going very far with this. Some charities want to be VERY MUCH in the loop if you are going to do fundraising on their behalf and use their name etc.

2) Legal issues. Legal issues. Legal issues. Check with a lawyer before you get very far with this idea. There are LOTS of places to "mess things up" when doing something for charity. Off the top of my head--I would make this just an INFORMAL hike for charity. Use the hike as a way to help RAISE AWARENESS of the Wounded Warrior Project and simply ENCOURAGE folks to make their own donations directly to the charity. Anytime that you get anywhere near handling the actual money or whenever you get involved with actually soliciting money--the potential for "issues" to arise is BIG. (Don't be surprised if someone accuses you of pocketing some or all the money or accuses you of misrepresenting how the money would be used etc.). Some places even require you to get a local or State permit in order to solicit funds for a charity. See a good lawyer--and try to stay as far away from the money as possible.

3) Related to # 2---The IRS (and some State taxing departments) sometimes LOVE to scrutinize such charitable things and find ways where you "messed up" and should have been giving them their portion in the form of taxes, permit fees, or fines. In addition to seeing a good lawyer--you may even want to run things by a good CPA--to make sure that you are doing everything is such a way as to not open yourself to any tax liability.

4) Doing this for charity can also increase your "need" to keep people posted regarding your progress and give you an "obligation" to continually "advertise" your hike and your cause. Such things can quickly become a pain in the butt and start to feel like a job or a burden. ("Dang, I am tired and really just make dinner and go to sleep-but I probably ought to update my webpage or my trail journal before I go to bed"). It has the potential to suck the joy right out of the hike.


I appreciate your desire to do this for charity---but it has the potential to really complicate your hike and/or even blow up in your face. I know that I would not personally turn a thru hike into a hike for charity. I would find other ways to help the charity.

[WingedMonkey]

Two vets did the AT last year for Wonder Warriors. Did a big PR blitz and worked with VFW groups in the towns near the trail to promote it and raise funds.
They are now promoting the National Geographic film to raise cash (or as the ATC refers to as membership) for the ATC.

http://www.warriorhike.com/Warrior_Hike/Welcome.html

[WingedMonkey]

Two vets did the AT last year for Wonder Warriors. Did a big PR blitz and worked with VFW groups in the towns near the trail to promote it and raise funds.
They are now promoting the National Geographic film to raise cash (or as the ATC refers to as membership) for the ATC.

http://www.warriorhike.com/Warrior_Hike/Welcome.html

Correct that to Wounded Warrior, although Wonder works too.