I would like to make suggestions for the upcoming Malibu Marathon and past Malibu Triathlon which both boast of fundraising in the hundreds of thousands and perhaps a million or more dollars as reported in our local papers.
It is wonderful that Marathon, Triathlon, and Malibu City Council support these events for some benefit to our City, but I wonder if our City is receiving the short end of these fundraising dollars. It was reported in our local newspapers that Malibu would get the greater part of only $5,000 or $10 per participant and that this money could go to Legacy Park or other City Programs.
The question I have is why Legacy Park and what other programs and how is it decided who gets what?
Considering our schools, as well as other organization, are in dire need of funds, I recommend the following. These events need to open up their pocketbooks in a much bigger way to the Malibu community. Teams should be set up and participants and other contributors can participate and/or contribute to that team and a healthy percentage would go to that organization. For example, let’s say the Boys and Girls club have 100 sign-ups and the entrance fee is $100 and that Boys and Girls club gets half. That’s $5,000.00 going both ways!
I do not think this will cut into the Marathon fundraising but really increase it because most of these participants will be new and added to their fundraising. Perhaps the organization with the most participants should be awarded the $5,000.00 instead of Legacy Park. It’s not that I am against Legacy Park, but think the fundraising money can be put to better use.
This all could be controlled by the Marathon adding “Teams” to their Web Site application.
Pamela Conley Ulich, in a recent e-mail I received from her, is hopeful that organizations will contact the organizers at the Malibu International Marathon to get started. I think the above is an excellent way that our Malibu schools and organizations can benefit and really have an all-out community event.
David M. Kramer