Last month I completed the 50 mile endurance challenge by Races For Awareness supporting colon cancer. It was a virtual run, which means I registered for the "race" online, and then completed the miles on my own time, broken up over several days. I actually received the medal before completing the miles, along with a little memo pad and a fruit & veggie strip.
And I already ordered and received the Encore Performance pins for April and May, in which I am striving to walk/run another 50 miles each month. It's nice because I can pin these to my medal ribbon without buying another medal.
There's also a 100 miles challenge supporting the Epilepsy Foundation.
And a brand new 200 miles challenge supporting the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
I'm aiming for the 100 mile challenge in June and 200 challenge in July.
Maybe this all seems a little silly. Log on, pay $20-$35 depending on the race, and receive a medal! Essentially it's a participation award, but a participation award I bought for outright, and it's supporting a charity, too. And they're really cool.
Also, I like the motivation. I really struggle with motivation, and the races that I've done have kept me on track, though I have faltered a little after the end of last month.
I first found out about virtual runs through FaceBook advertisements. The first time I've clicked on an add and bought what they were selling. It was an advertisement for Make Yes! Happen The Race to Oz. It was a cool medal, but the funny thing is I haven't done it yet. I was distracted by The Watson Clinic Digital Dash 2016, because the medal was an Eiffel Tower, and I liked how it was supporting a charity. (The main Make Yes Happen races don't support charities. If a charity isn't mentioned, there isn't one.) But other groups can use this website to create races to support whatever charity they are raising funds for.
That's how I found Geek'd Out Running Club, because they were hosting the Baker Street Bound on Make Yes Happen, with a Sherlock Holmes theme, supporting Badges Supporting Fallen Officers Families (Fallen).
And it was through the Geek'd Out Running Club FaceBook page that I found out about The Hogwarts Running Club. Can I express right now how much I love the Hogwarts Running Club?! The Facebook groups are so encouraging, and there are so many good people in this club. The medals are fun, currently they're hosting The Umbridge Run supporting My Stuff Bags.
So far The Hogwarts Running Club has raised $420,000 in just the first two years.
And it's thanks to this club that I found out about Charity Miles. We use Charity Miles to earn extra money for our personal charity of choice, and depending on which Hogwarts house you claim, I'm a Gryffindor and belong to that team, the miles you run/walk/bike go towards house points.
You download the Charity Miles app to either your iPhone or Android. The downside is that you must wear the phone either in a purse, by holding, or another method for the miles to count. Outdoor Walk/Run tracks via GPS. Indoor Walk/Run goes off of movement, so if you set the phone on top of the treadmill it's not going to do anything, you must wear it in a way so that it can count each step. Both Walk/Run modes pay out $0.25 a mile per charity. Outdoor Bike tracks by GPS, but pays $0.10 per mile. The app is free to use (though it does ask for a lot of permissions, more then I'm typically comfortable giving), and the money is paid through corporate sponsors.
Below is a list of all the charities you can walk for in the charity miles app.
First listed is the charity itself, followed by the amount of money the charity has raised this term from the app. A term lasts June through May, and this term ends May 31st. Ever since the big blow up with Wounded Warrior Project, I've been looking into charity accountability sites, watchdog groups, rating how the donations and funds are being used by the charity. When I donate I want my money, and miles, to go to the actual cause I'm supporting. So for each charity I used BBB Give.org, Charity Navigation, and Charity Watch to find the ratings. When I write "can't find" it means the charity hasn't been evaluated by the site, or it could be under another name and I just couldn't find it.
Stand Up To Cancer: $53,466. BBB Give.org: Accredited Charity, meets standards. Charity Navigator: 91.93/100. Charity Watch: A-
American Diabetes Association: $2,343. BBB Give.org: Accredited Charity, meets standards. Charity Navigator: 80.29/100 Charity Watch: No information
ASPCA: $33,977. BBB Give.org: Accredited Charity, meets standards. Charity Navigator: 82.99/100 Charity Watch: No Information.
Habitat For Humanity: $10,496. BBB Give.org: Accredited Charity, meets standards. Charity Navigator: 74.36/100 Charity Watch: B+
Operation Smile: $13,034. BBB Give.org: Standards Not Met. Charity Navigator: Can't Find. Charity Watch: No information.
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: $19,104. BBB Give.org: Couldn't find. Charity Navigator: 84.09/100. Charity Watch: Can't find.
Girl Up: $5,902. BBB Give.org: Can't find. Charity Navigator: Can't find. Charity Watch: Can't find.
Alzheimer's Association: $34,786. BBB Give.org: Accredited Charity, meets standards. Charity Navigator: 90.60/100. Charity Watch: No information.
Save the Children: $12,307. BBB Give.org: Accredited Charity, meets standards. Charity Navigator: 90.29/100. Charity Watch: A
Feeding America: $18,728. BBB Give.org: Accredited Charity, meets standards. Charity Navigator: Can't find. Charity Watch: No information.
World Wildlife Fund: $15,157. BBB Give.org: Accredited Charity, meets standards. Charity Navigator: 89.43/100. Charity Watch: no information.
Shot@Life: $3,129. BBB Give.org: can't find. Charity Navigator: can't find. Charity Watch: can't find.
charity: water: $15,624. BBB Give.org: Accredited, meets standards. Charity Navigator: 96.98/100. Charity Watch: A
The Michael J. Fox Foundation: $15,956. BBB Give.org: Accredited, meets standards. Charity Navigator: 97.47/100. Charity Watch: A
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital: $26,810. BBB Give.org: Accredited, meets standards. Charity Navigator: 88.61/100 Charity Watch: No information.
Autism Speaks: $14,692. BBB Give.org: Accredited, meets standards. Charity Navigator: 74.38/100. Charity Watch: no information.
Team Red, White & Blue: $35,101. BBB Give.org: Did not disclose. Charity Navigator: can't find. Charity Watch: can't find.
Every Mother Counts: $6,475. BBB Give.org: Can't find. Charity Navigator: can't find. Charity Watch: can't find.
Girls On The Run: $12,564. BBB Give.org: Accredited. Charity Navigator: 84.50/100. Charity Watch: Can't find.
DoSomething.Org: $1,250. BBB Give.org: Accredited, meets standards. Charity Navigator: 97.09/100. Charity Watch: Can't find.
Wounded Warrior Project: $47,452. BBB Give.org: Review In Progress. Charity Navigator: 84.52/100. Charity Watch: C
The Nature Conservancy: $6,592. BBB Give.org: can't find. Charity Navigator: 80.46/100. Charity Watch: can't find.
The World Food Programme: $5,297. BBB Give.org: can't find. Charity Navigator: can't find. Charity Watch: can't find.
Pencils of Promise: $3,977. BBB Give.org: Accredited, meets standards. Charity Navigator: can't find. Charity Watch: can't find.
Special Olympics: $5,752. BBB Give.org: can't find. Charity Navigator: 86.57/100. Charity Watch: no information.
National Park Foundation: $5,609. BBB Give.org: Accredited, meets standards. Charity Navigator: Can't Find. Charity Watch: No information.
Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America: $6,732. BBB Give.org: Accredited, meets standards. Charity Navigator: 91.63/100. Charity Watch: A-
Team for Kids: $1,072. BBB Give.org: Can't find. Charity Navigator: Can't find. Charity Watch: Can't find.
She's The First: $4,125. BBB Give.org: can't find. Charity Navigator: can't find. Charity Watch: can't find.
Soles4Souls: $1,743. BBB Give.org: Unable to Verify. Charity Navigator: 85.60/100. Charity Watch: can't find.
Nothing But Nets: $1,464. BBB Give.org: Can't find. Charity Navigator: Can't find. Charity Watch: Can't find.
Back On My Feet: $4,357. BBB Give.org: can't find. Charity Navigator: can't find. Charity Watch: can't find.
The Partnership For A Healthier America: $1,406. BBB Give.org: can't find. Charity Navigator: can't find. Charity Watch: can't find.
Achilles International: $1,519. BBB Give.org: can't find. Charity Navigator: 83.04/100. Charity Watch: can't find.
The Ironman Foundation: $1,405. BBB Give.org: can't find. Charity Navigator: can't find. Charity Watch: can't find.
Vision Spring: $1,392. BBB Give.org: Can't find. Charity Navigator: 96.40/100. Charity Watch: can't find.
There's 37 total charities on the charity miles app.
(celebrate life virtual race and Watson Clinic Digital Dash 2016)
Oh course, virtual races need to be transparent as well.
Hogwarts Running Club gives $21 per medal towards the charity, which is a great percentage.
Races for Awareness states on their page that: "We strive to give the most to charities and try to keep the cost of the race fee low at the same time. Currently 80-100% of net proceeds goes directly to the charity. At the very least $8.00 is donated. Most of our races donate $10 per race fee. It’s dependent on the cost of the medal. Some of our virtual races 100% of net proceeds are donated. Please check the individual race page for details." And they take screen shots of every payment towards charity they make and post the images online.
Oh course, virtual races need to be transparent as well.
Hogwarts Running Club gives $21 per medal towards the charity, which is a great percentage.
Races for Awareness states on their page that: "We strive to give the most to charities and try to keep the cost of the race fee low at the same time. Currently 80-100% of net proceeds goes directly to the charity. At the very least $8.00 is donated. Most of our races donate $10 per race fee. It’s dependent on the cost of the medal. Some of our virtual races 100% of net proceeds are donated. Please check the individual race page for details." And they take screen shots of every payment towards charity they make and post the images online.
Make Yes! Happen isn't transparent. Most of their races don't support charities and are there for the sport of virtual races. Some of the medals are pretty cool. Those that are for charity are individual groups that host races on the site.
Virtual Strides is another virtual race site that supports charities. I haven't done one of their races yet, but they're very transparent. Under their answer page: "Great question. Unfortunately, there are plenty of unethical individuals in this world who say they are raising funds for charity but never actually make the promised donation. We are not like those individuals. We believe in complete transparency in this regard and post receipts from all of our donations and scans of any acknowledgement letters we receive on our Charities page."
There's many other sites, but these are the ones I'm doing for now.
Also, when a race has an option for how many miles you can walk/run for each race, I'm choosing the highest amount of miles. For the Paris medal on the left there were options for a 5k, 10k, half marathon and full marathon. I choose the full marathon spread out over several days, of course.
So if you like running or walking virtual races could be a fun way to spice up your workouts. And if you don't want to pay for a medal, but still want to help charities, there's always the charity mile app which is free.
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