"Donation Minimum" for Breast Cancer Walk

OctGirl80

Today on the radio, I heard a commercial about the Susan G. Komen 3-day Walk for breast cancer in July. It got me thinking that I've always wanted to do something like that and it would be a great incentive to get back into shape after LO comes. So today when I got home, I went on their website to get more details. I was shocked when I read the following:

 

"All walkers must agree to raise a minimum of $2,300 for the 3-Day in order to walk. If you haven?t raised the minimum requirement by the time you check in for the event, you can make a donation to your own fundraising account, put up a credit card to insure the balance and allow yourself four weeks after the event to continue to fundraise, or you can choose not to participate in the event."

 

This is on top of the $90 registration fee, which "goes to producing the event". Now I understand that they have the walkers in special tents and provide food and showers, etc, but really? Why can I not just collect whatever I can for donations and if I don't make the $2,300, then I can only do the walk not the camp (I wouldn't want to anyway with a 4 month old). You would think they would want to get whatever money they can. I just don't understand why they would put a minimum on donations (Yes, I know it's only about $90 a week if I started today, but still). WDYT?

snowybride08

That seems strange to me, but I've never done one of those things before.  Why wouldn't they want as much money as possible?

SilliRy

I used to work for a similar event, and I would encourage you to call the 3-Day and ask them for their answer. Essentially, by having a high fundraising requirement they can limit the number of participants while still raising a huge amount of money. A multi-day endurance event like the 3-Day takes an enormous amount of planning and logistics and therefore, they have to keep the number of participants to a manageable number...say, 3,000 or so. Even if you don't want to camp (and lots of people don't) they still have to limit the number of people that are walking 60 miles due to the cost of city permits, medical services, supplies, food, staffing, etc.

Even with a 'smaller' number of people, though, they raise a ton of money. My local breast cancer 5k has 5,000 people and raises $500,000 (no minimum fundraising requirement). When I worked for an event similar to the 3-Day, we had 3,000 participants and raised $7 million. 

If it's something you've always wanted to do...go for it! Events like the 3-Day are truly amazing experiences. However, it's definitely not the right event for everyone, and if you're not up to the fundraising challenge that's okay--there are lots of other ways to support the cause. 

Hope that helps clarify things a little bit!

bakemecakes

My friend did the 3 day with her sister and some cousins in memory of her mom.  They had a really hard time raising enough money for all of them to participate!

perplexed59

I did a really similar walk. I had to raise $2500 and there was an entrance fee. There were times where the fee would get dropped to about $25 and I signed up then. Raising that much money was hard, but it really made it worth it in the end. On the day of the walk people were submitting last minute donations and people were just handing their donations to other walkers so that they would make the minimum requirements.

I would suggest if that you are thinking about doing it, go for it! Sign up early and get fundraising early. When you are on the walk and see the amount of organization and support that you get it will make sense why you had to raise so much. I still get emotional about that walk (and I did it 6 years ago). The physical exhaustion you go through and hearing the stories of the cancer survivors around really makes you appreciate the struggle these people have gone through.