Sleigh Riders: Where Does the Money Go? [POLL]

It's no secret that I love kids and will do whatever I can to make their lives just a little bit brighter and that is exactly what all you Sleigh Riders have been doing since 2006; making lives brighter one toy at a time.  Now it's time to take this to the next level and explain, in detail, what my vision is for this charity and how the money is spent.

When I started the Christmas run back in 2006 is was my way of giving back to my community by utilizing my god given talents and the fact that I have been blessed with a job that can reach many people that are willing to do the same by giving back and helping to make life a little brighter for those less fortunate than us.

My goal, as of a way of saying thank you for showing up, was to provide most everything for free.  Shirts, patches, prizes, no registration fees etc. The Christmas run has always been funded by Sponsors and that will never change.  I have only collected enough to pay the bills and what little is usually left over goes back into the Santa Cops program.

The idea of the Summer Series run  was to take advantage of the warm weather and double the number of riders who attend.  It always made sense to me that if 300 will come out when it 35 degrees then we should see 600 when it 70 degrees.

The idea is to still fund the run with Sponsors and let the riders contribute directly to the toy cause with toys, donations, t-shirt sales and a meager registration fee.  My goal last year will be the same for this year:  $10,000. This money will then go towards buying more expensive gifts for the older kids in the Santa Cops program. Typically a toy run generates toys from newborn to about 8-9 because it's what we can afford. But with big money I can approach Apple or big franchise chains to match what we spend. This would make buying iPods or MP3 players for the older kids a reality..it's never been done, till now!

The other goal is to raise substantial money with our 501c3 status and with that and what we make on the Summer Series run, will go towards college scholarships for those who have been in the Santa Cops program.  I am VERY excited about this and the future of the Sleigh Riders.

That is my vision...for the Sleigh Riders to encompass everyone from birth to college and potentially providing full ride scholarships to 1 or many!

With all this comes expenses. The Summer Series run has about $7K invested in it total.

• Shirts - $2000
• Cash Payouts - $3000
• 501 Filing Fee - $850 {One Time}
• Printing/Advertising - $500-1000
• Band - $500

So with that being said, I am looking for several more "ride sponsors" to help cover these costs and the law firm representing us is 99.1% sure there will be no issues in granting the 501c3 status though it will be the end of the year likely before we find out since the IRS is still looking at 2011 stuff.  Point is...you will be able to go back and write it off as tax deductible donation and let's face it, you will be hard pressed to find a better way to spend some of your marketing/promotional budget.

Ride sponsorships for the "Summer Series" Poker/Toy Run are limited and there are 5 left. If you have an interest in helping the Sleigh Riders please email me {charley@k99.com} for more information and a sponsor package. These are on a first come first served basis only!

The cost is $500 and it's worth about $5K.

We have riders from 4 states who have pre-registered already and we are still looking for your pre-registration. Save money and time now by doing that and you'll get some free stuff to boot.

Pre-register now for the 2012 Summer Series run

If you are planning on attending please visit the FB Event Page and click attend and you can also access the pre-registration link there as well and if you haven't like our Sleigh Riders FB page we ask that you help spread that around as well.