Cape Town - The 35 000 cyclists registered for the Cape Town Cycle Tour now have the opportunity to make every kilometre count by raising funds for good causes with the debut of an online charity portal, allowing the public to make donations by sponsoring a registered “fundracer”.
Tshwane Urban Riders, PinkDrive, The Children’s Hospital Trust, Marsh Memorial House and Velokhaya are the five charities hoping to benefit through the 109km cycling event with the easy-to-use site, ctctfundracers.co.za.
The idea is to set the Cape Town Cycle Tour apart, as not just the world’s largest timed cycle race, but the world’s largest fundraising cycle race as well.
The online charity portal is designed for registered riders to create their own custom fundracer profile on the site and select one of the five charities to fundraise for.
Fundracers then appeal to friends, family and the public to sponsor their ride by inviting them to “like” the campaign through Facebook and Twitter.
All cyclists have to do to get involved, is sign up and create a profile – they need not spend a cent as the site does all the work.
Companies and individuals searching for colleagues or friends will find that the site is easy to navigate with a simple search of the fundracer’s name directing them to the profile. Philanthropists have an option to make a direct donation to all five charities.
Each fundracer profile page is updated to reflect donations made by friends or family, with the cumulative total being ranked in real time on the site’s leader board.
This year’s top three fundraising winners will be announced in the Cape Argus alongside the race winners.
Donations made by friends and family in support of the fundracers can be made directly to the rider’s profile via EFT, credit and debit cards, and BitCoin through a highly secure payment partner PayFast.
One of the charities hoping for a cash injection is the The Children’s Hospital Trust.
The ICU at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital is the largest in Africa but due to high demands, a bigger capacity is required.
An appeal is therefore being made to raise the last R10 million required to complete the building.
The initiative was designed for Pick n Pay and the Cape Town Cycle Tour by WorldSport and Matchboxology.
Cape Argus