why is a for-profit marathon asking for volunteers to road marshal?

this is way more common than you think. lots of marathons are for-profit and they always recruit volunteers. some marathons have some charity aspect but it's only a % of the profits. then you can have volunteer groups for schools count their hours towards whatever they need

They are asking. Not forcing.

There are millions of high school kids in this country who need “volunteer” hours.

Maybe a school group will go hand out water and one of those kids will be inspired to start running and will go on to win an Olympic Gold Medal. Or better yet, will get a college scholarship. OR BETTER YET, WILL BECOME A TRACK AND FIELD COACH AND INSPIRE SCORES OF KIDS TO RUN!!!

Maybe some people volunteer at these races because they want to get out of the house on a Sunday morning. Maybe volunteering, even for a for-profit entity, gives them enough purpose to carry on,

reed wrote:

you can have volunteer groups for schools count their hours towards whatever they need

At a private school I attended, I had required volunteer hours. Any thing that benefited the community could count, thus I volunteered at races now and then. Adults volunteer to give themselves something to do while a family member runs the course, because they believe race costs should be kept down, they want to be part of the running community while not racing, and several other reasons.

I think if you volunteer for an event, you should get comped entry into another event, but few race management companies do this.

We've bandied this about a lot on here. I hate the idea. They've cracked down on those unpaid internships. This sort of thing ought to be next. Want to volunteer? Go volunteer at Habitat for Humanity, a local food shelter, run as a guide for an athlete....

The volunteering for a for profit aspect doesn't bother me at all, but I do wish races were more transparent. Many volunteers mistakenly think they're volunteering for a purely nonprofit endeavor.

Visit Reno wrote:

The volunteering for a for profit aspect doesn't bother me at all, but I do wish races were more transparent. Many volunteers mistakenly think they're volunteering for a purely nonprofit endeavor.

When you say "many", what % do you reckon? I'm thinking most mistakenly think they're volunteering for some kind of cause. Am thinking over 90%.

There are a few of these outfits in Chicago burbs.

They are bad news and not connected with any local running clubs. They put these events on like they are on tour. Schaumburg forest preserve marathon today. Deer Park shopping mall the next week, Naperville river path half after that, etc etc.

Their M.O. is:

1. Have the race on a bike path or forest preserve or shopping mall access roads before hours ( no need to pay cops at intersections )

2. Have a link on your registration page to a charity allowing you to donate in the name of the race

3. Don’t disclose how much is given to charity

4. Solicit volunteers to help you run your business

5. Cheap prizes ( and not always given out).

I have no idea what rules are around conducting business on county property but maybe they know people.

Uh , ever hear of something called the Ironman?

you can volunteer , get your hours . just check in , then disappear and go golfing . show up again 4 hours later. Its probably another volunteer counting hours . so all good. ?

I had a friend volunteer for one of the Rock n Roll races thinking he was doing a good thing and they had him stand in one of the sponsors booths for 8 hours trying to get people's email addresses.

I did one of those booth things with the email addresses. They were giving away marathon shirts for 2017 at a 10K expo in 2018 that the same company puts on just to get people to sign up. They did provide good food for us for the time I did it and plus I got free parking for the expo so I can’t complain too much.

By exploiting as many volunteers as possible, the owners of the enterprise maximize their profits. Slavery was run along similar lines. It's the secret of Capitalism. It's what made America great.

Don't they teach this sh*t in kindergarten any more?

Is the race run by a for profit, or owned by a for profit? The big local race is run by a for-profit company, but it has a local RD and board of directors with ties to the local running community, and it's raised a significant amount of money for local causes. I'm not saying this makes the race a 100% charitable cause, but it seems like a legitimate event to volunteer for. The local coaches have their athletes help out each year if the meet schedules don't conflict.

I'm certainly aware of the faux charitable parasite races that pop up around here, and I avoid them. Other races like RnR seem to be 100% profit oriented and can find their own people to help with races. But the local situation seems reasonable enough. Not just timing but running the whole race is complicated, and if someone gets paid for that service, that seems okay to me.

I mean it's because of capitalism no? Boston/NYC/Chicago don't pay their volunteers. It's one less cost for them so they can keep more money at the top.

I've never understood this either. My running club promotes volunteering at various marathons and Ironman. Really?

I always tell them that when I see them volunteering at say the local Exxon station, then I will consider volunteering for the marathon they are promoting.

Do any of you volunteer at a gas station, convenience store, restaurant? Why not? Those businesses need volunteers to increase their profits as much as a marathon does.

Our club recently volunteered to man a water station at an RnR race. We were compensated with $750 for providing about 2.5hrs of our time. I hate the Competitor Group with the fire of a thousand suns, but was fine participating given the compensation.

My daughter did a ballet recital of the nutcracker and they had the same racket going. They marketed it as a fundraiser but only one tiny aspect was fundraising. The company collected for profit: the monthly tuition fees. Payed like $250 to be in the recital. Pay another $75 for her costume. Pay $30 per person for tickets, but then they held a silent auction where businesses donated stuff and they auctioned it away for charity. They made all the parents volenteer to help run the recital.

Bluntski wrote:

By exploiting as many volunteers as possible, the owners of the enterprise maximize their profits. Slavery was run along similar lines. It's the secret of Capitalism. It's what made America great.

Don't they teach this sh*t in kindergarten any more?

Well, except for the fact that slaves didn't have the options to say no. So, slavery is not the secret to capitalism, which is what you are implying.

NERunner053 wrote:

I mean it's because of capitalism no? Boston/NYC/Chicago don't pay their volunteers. It's one less cost for them so they can keep more money at the top.

Boston is owned by the BAA, and NYCM is owned by NYRR, both non-profits.

Chicago is owned by B of A, but it's primarily a charity/marketing tool, and B of A actually supports it rather than getting any revenue out of it.