NYCkayaker swim supports for charity

[Jack Gilman]

Hi All-

Richard makes some excellent points here. We are doing this as a service to help raise awareness of some serious health issues. Whether or not we feel comfortable doing it, that is every individual paddlers decision.

Mo wrote:
> I have heard rumors that
> some organizations use up to 80% of the monies they raise with these
> events to pay what they call expenses. 

There is a seed of truth to this. One of the sponsors of a popular swim was found to be taking what was considered an exorbitant percentage of the money raised for "administrative expenses". I can not document this, but was involved in some discussions about it. That's why I am anonymizing the charity involved.

So Mo does have a point. But we hope that all the charities we serve to help don't do this, and what of their disclosure of the money and where it is going we don't really know. But we can ask, and if they are reluctant to discuss it then maybe that raises a flag.

I've found the satisfaction I get from doing one of these supports easily justifies a $25 donation.

Once again, it's your choice.

jack gilman