Charity Athletic Events Fared Well in 2008, but the Forecast for This Year Is Not So Sunny

The nation’s biggest charity walkathons, bike races, and similar events produced $1.76-billion in gross revenue last year, according to a new report. That was nearly 8 percent more than in 2007.

But David Hessekiel, president of the Run Walk Ride Fundraising Council, in Rye, N.Y., which produced the report, says he does not expect this year’s events to do as well.

“The forecast for 2009 is that most charity executives are hoping the numbers at least stay flat,” he says. “Clearly everyone is worried about the economy.”

The 8-percent increase last year follows a 12-percent increase the previous year.

“Things were already slowing down last year,” adds Mr. Hessekiel. “There are exceptions, but this year is certainly even more of a struggle.”

For the third year, the Run Walk Ride Fundraising Council, an association of event organizers, identified the 30 largest athletic-event fund-raising programs.

All but two of them were run by health-related charities or organized for the benefit of such groups.

The CROP Hunger Walk, organized by Church World Service, in Elkhart, Ind., which raised $17.1-million to fight hunger, and the Rodman Ride for Kids (in Foxboro, Mass.), a 25to 100-mile bike ride, which raised $6.3-million for children’s social-services programs, were the two exceptions.

Far and away the biggest fund-raising event each year is the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, thousands of events in 20 countries in which teams participate in a 24-hour walk. Participants pay $10 to register for the event, and are encouraged to raise an additional $100 each by collecting pledges.

In 2008, according to the report, three million people participated in Relay for Life, which raised a total of $430-million.

Like most of the revenue figures in the council’s survey, the fund-raising totals reported are for the total amount collected, not what charities netted after expenses. In most cases, the competitive fund-raising efforts are not single events, but a series of races or rides throughout the year.

Greg Donaldson, an American Cancer Society spokesman, says the group is making a concerted effort this year to recruit more Relay for Life participants to make up for the anticipated drop in the average amount each walker or team will raise. He says the number of people participating has risen so far this year, which the organization hopes “will yield at least flat revenues” overall.

The second-biggest fund-raising effort last year, according to the survey, was the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training. Unlike the Cancer Society, the leukemia organization does not collect pledges from its own athletic events. Instead, in exchange for a specified contribution, Team in Training trains athletes and pays their way to marathons, triathlons, and other events. Last year, Team in Training’s 40,000 competitors raised a total of $125.5-million, the report says.

Rounding out the report’s top five were the March of Dimes March for Babies ($115-million), the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure ($113.2-million), and the National Philanthropic Trust’s Breast Cancer 3-Day ($110-million).

The Breast Cancer 3-Day, a 60-mile walk held in 14 cities last year, saw the biggest increase in revenue from 2007, 27 percent, according to the report.

A summary of the report is available at Run Walk Ride’s Web site.