It is yet again that time of year when those of us at Grab My Wheel have picked up an additional job. One that we don’t get paid for and actually pay to be a part of it. Do we have lots of spare time on our hands and large trust funds? No and definitely not. We are just really passionate about our non-profit event that is in its fifth year.
We put on an all women bicycling event called “le Tour de Femme” in Cary, NC. It started out as a small group of friends that thought it would be cool to put on an all women bicycling event. Four years later we have raised over $150,000 for the Lance Armstrong “Livestrong” Foundation and the local Rex Hospital Angel Fund. We have learned a lot in the past four years and here are some little gems that I would like to share.
-Just because someone says that they will sweep your ride doesn’t guarantee that they know what sweeping a ride means. One of our sweepers showed up with his car because he didn’t understand the difference between sweeping and SAG support. It’s always better to over communicate when talking to volunteers!
-Businesses don’t always do what they promise to do. One year the porta-potty company we hired decided to not show up to drop off the potties. Now I know that most cyclists can pop a squat in the woods but we still needed to have them. Luckily we found someone that dropped them off at 4:00 AM the morning of the race. We learned that planning is very important and so is being able to handle last minute emergencies!
-People will steal your directional signs! We put signs up to direct our riders throughout the route and some of them always get stolen! They are expensive and I have to wonder – what the heck do they do with them?
-Law firms do pro bono or discounted pricing for non-profits. You have to get a bunch of paperwork done prior to applying for the 501c3 application. Luckily lots of law firms are very kind to non profits.
-If you have a sponsor that is on the fence about sponsoring your event, you can’t go wrong by sending in the super pregnant person in your group to ask for the money. This I can attest to because I was the eight month pregnant chick that did this. Apparently, sponsors are willing to give you just about anything to ensure you don’t have an emotional meltdown in front of their customers.
-Small businesses are incredibly generous to non profits.
-Having some tech geeks in the group is a must. Our website is amazing and would be really expensive if someone in the group didn’t do it for us.
-Likewise having artsy folks is incredibly important. Our jerseys are uber cool because one of our members is a graphic artist.
-It’s amazing what a group of friends can do when they all share the same passion.
My last bit of advice is if you are thinking about creating a non-profit event then do it! But don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Ask people that are in successful non-profits how they did it. It will save you a lot of time and ensure that you are on the right path!!
Check out our slideshow from the event: Le Tour de Femme.
