The One Aim Team and One Aim Cycling Club have been built on a strong ethos of helping each other, and particularly helping those who find aspects of The Ride more difficult than others. Some are strong riders but weak fundraisers; others are less strong riders but fantastic fundraisers. We like to think that everyone would help their team-mates in any way that they can.
One way that we help each other is to do joint fundraising events such as Mini-Spins. The purpose of these events is to raise funds but also to provide an opportunity for our team to interact with each other and the public. The amount of money raised at team events is often substantial but it is actually fairly low when “divided” between the number of people who volunteer. However, the cumulative impact of these funds is transformationalfor the individuals who we are able to help. We can almost guarantee that no One Aim team member will incur a substantial (involuntary) financial burden as a result of their fundraising for The Ride. We are driven by our aim to enable as many people as possible to raise their $2500 minimum (at least), to help as many as possible to participate in The Ride and share the experience that we all cherish so dearly. Some people find it hard to raise the funds, some find it hard to attend training rides, some find it hard to attend club/team events…and some people who want to be part of what we are trying to accomplish do not even join us until we are all but ready to Ride. However, if they have tried and if they want to be a part of what we are doing, then we, the One Aim Committee will support them to the best of our abilities on your behalf.
We will not always get it right. There will be times when we contribute funds to a rider who “takes advantage” or does not contribute appropriately. However, in such cases, the funds still reach their desired destination (the ACF) and we either learn that our efforts and resources would be better placed elsewhere or we educate that individual about what is really required to be part of our team. However, we think it is much better to “err on the side of generosity” than potentially penalize people who have done their best.
There have been suggestions that team fundraising should operate on a pro-rated basis, where members receive a portion of the funds that is proportional to their contribution of time. We think we would dramatically, and terminally, diminish our team ethos if we operated under such a scheme. If anyone has a specific fundraising goal that is >$2,500 but less than $10,000 then we will do what we can to accommodate that, once we have accomplished our primary priorities. These priorities are: 1) Ensure that everyone who wants to Ride can Ride (this may require them to self-pledge to a previously agreed amount which they commit to reaching before any One Aim payout) 2) If additional funds are available, to top up as many riders as possible to $10,000 to reach Ambassador status (in reality, these riders need to have raised over $7,000…ideally more). 3) Individual fundraising goal accommodation, contributing to volunteer/crew fundraising and/or milestone accomplishments.
We see our team club/team fundraising events as a vehicle for team success (in which you share equally) rather than a vehicle for individual fundraising. We are here to support everyone…on the understanding that some will probably need more help than others. We hope that you will all support the continued application of this club/team ethos. We strongly believe this is a critical aspect of our success and we would like you to feel that you share equally in that success. We are the One Aim team…and we are freakin’ AWESOME!! Kind regards,
Your Captains.
Kevin, Bradley, Phil, and Janice (and on behalf of the One Aim Cycling Club Committee)