The future of the Geolympix

[+Simply Paul]

After the rip-roaring success of this summer's Geolympix geocaching Mega event in and around Oxford, it was inevitable people would want to know what plans there were for it to run again, and where.

 

Following a meeting in Berlin last week, I can reveal it might be going there in 2013, if it's not wanted 'elsewhere'. So this thread is to open up 'bids' to use the Geolympix account (and its semi-automatic Mega status) in the UK in 2013. When in 2013, and where, being the big questions. Although 'short notice' I believe it's possible to organise a Mega in a timeframe of a few months, if that event already has a profile and reputation (such as the Annual UK Mega and Piratemania) and there's evidence of a demand for it. The reaction to our 11 Icons in 11 Hours challenge, amongst other 'Geolympix Games' played during the event/s, makes us think the same support exists for a future UK Geolympix. My personal feeling is an Easter or spring half-term three-day (rather than the 2012 week-long format) meet in NW Wales/Snowdonia could be a winner, but obviously it can only go where there is a demand and support for it. Please let us know if this is you! There's been talk of a Cornwall/Devon Mega, or even an Irish one..?

 

In a separate question, the Oxford 2012 Geolympix raised over £2,000 and it's still the organisers' intention that the three charities supported by the event/s get a healthy chunk of that, but we want to know this: what is the caching community's consensus on using some of that money to fund another UK (Irish?) Geolympix Mega? If the feeling is it should all go to charity, the organising team will respect that - it was our original intention, after all.

 

The Geolympix - Still Outstanding in the Field!

[+castagnari]

 

In a separate question, the Oxford 2012 Geolympix raised over £2,000 and it's still the organisers' intention that the three charities supported by the event/s get a healthy chunk of that, but we want to know this: what is the caching community's consensus on using some of that money to fund another UK (Irish?) Geolympix Mega? If the feeling is it should all go to charity, the organising team will respect that - it was our original intention, after all.

 

This quote from your FAQs

all excess funds will go to charity.

 

Seems to answer this question

[+Simply Paul]

That rather depends how you define 'The Geolympix' - as a one-off event in Oxford in July 2012, or as an on-going series of events. But I'll put your name against the 'Charity' list. Anyone else?

[+MartyBartfast]

I would also go on the "Charity" list.

 

I think anything else could open up the possibility of complaints about not complying with the stated intent and it might all get very unpleasant.

[+Lorgadh]

That rather depends how you define 'The Geolympix' - as a one-off event in Oxford in July 2012, or as an on-going series of events. But I'll put your name against the 'Charity' list. Anyone else?

 

No, it doesn't depend on how you define 'The Geolympix' From your website it says

 

The Geolympix Mega is a not-for-profit event. Any and all money it makes will be given equally to the follow charities: then lists the 3 charities benefiting from the excess money.(my bold)

 

You can't change the goalposts after the game is over.....

[BasildonBond]

That rather depends how you define 'The Geolympix' - as a one-off event in Oxford in July 2012, or as an on-going series of events. But I'll put your name against the 'Charity' list. Anyone else?

 

No, it doesn't depend on how you define 'The Geolympix' From your website it says

 

The Geolympix Mega is a not-for-profit event. Any and all money it makes will be given equally to the follow charities: then lists the 3 charities benefiting from the excess money.(my bold)

 

You can't change the goalposts after the game is over.....

 

 

Now thats interesting!

 

I suppose it depends if you consider the geolympix mega as a discrete event this year in England, or as an ongoing event over more than one year.

 

If it is one event - then all money needs to go to charity.

 

If it is an ongoing event (as I think the original idea was meant to be) then some money could be used to fund part of the next episode.

[+Dorsetgal & GeoDog]

I'd vote that it goes to the charities as described.

 

We've proven it can be done from a standing start AND at a profit, why spoil the fun of the next holders?

[+Jonovich]

Another geolympix, should that not be in another four years and somewhere far more Brazilian than anything North Wales or the Emerald Isle has to offer? Or am I missing something here?

Jonovich

[+Original A1]

It strikes me that the UK could get "over-mega-ed" if it's not careful. Like Jonovich, my feeling that the name "Geolympix", having been coined to match the fact that there was the Olympics/Paralympics in London, should take place again in 4 years' time.

 

[+Griff Grof]

I think that the profits should go to charities as stated

[+Lord_Blackadder]

I also expected the Geolympix to be every 4 years.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Lord_Blackadder

[+MartyBartfast]

I also expected the Geolympix to be every 4 years.

 

Or every 2 years if there's one in the winter as well.

[+FuzzyBears]

If the original Geolympix team were to do another event then maybe but if the idea is to hand x£ to anyone who says they will do another NO.

When people back a Mega event by paying into it in any way they are trusting the listed team to 'do the right thing' and do what they say they will do with any 'profit' on the website/cache page. So if the 2012 Geolympix team have finished the money should go to the charities

If anyone want to 'run a mega' they don't have to come up with lots of cash or raise lots they can do as Piratemania & HH&CC have done and start with a small event and make it good enough to attract the numbers in following years

As Original A1 said we could end up getting Mega'd out and we stand the chance of 'The Mega' just being another event, I still think there should be only one 'official' week long MEGA in any year which would leave the rest of the country to run weekend long events that go mega. I know of two groups who were thinking of trying to run a mega event but were put off by the chance they would be affected by another mega dividing the country by holding a MEGA around the same time thus halving their potential attendees.

[+Simply Paul]

A couple of things; this thread isn't meant to discuss how many Megas in the UK is too many - there are four this year and that doesn't seem to have made the world end - and remember, if say £1000 was used for venue hire and insurance for a further Geolympix event, that money isn't 'lost' to charity. It simply reduces the initial expenses for organisers of a future Mega meet, therefor increasing by £1000 any money that event makes after costs. As that money didn't come from someone's personal pocket (or credit-card!) it goes back into the Geolympix Profit Pot. Think of it as a roll-over if you like

 

Also to be clear, it's exactly because we don't wish to be accused of misleading anyone about where the profit from the first Geolympix will go that we're asking this question publicly - not only here but on other forums and Facebook. Transparency has always been important to the Geolympix organising team and it remains so.

 

Speaking personally, I continue to take exception to the word 'official' or the phrase 'The Mega' when describing the longest running annual UK Mega event; it's no more official or 'the' than the HH&CC or Piratemania Megas.

 

Additionally, the question of how often a Geolympix event is run is more of a question of how often people want one or want to organise one (the main thrust of this thread, please!) than having it follow an event of a similar name in frequency or geographically. Even before the July/Oxford meet, the 'competitive' (if only against ones-self) nature of the challenges we ran (most icons in a day, most cache-finds in a day, etc etc) made the name transcend its origins. As intended, it became more of an 'international celebration of caching' or 'summer festival of Geocaching' than a tie-in with the Olympics. The 'games' associated with a Geolympix would be a vital part of any future one - regardless of where or when it's held - and thus the name works very happily without a major sporting event around the same time/place. The concept still tries to emulate the spirit of the Olympics, even when that event's not happening. I hope that makes sense?

[+Happy Humphrey]

...remember, if say £1000 was used for venue hire and insurance for a further Geolympix event, that money isn't 'lost' to charity. It simply reduces the initial expenses for organisers of a future Mega meet, therefor increasing by £1000 any money that event makes after costs. As that money didn't come from someone's personal pocket (or credit-card!) it goes back into the Geolympix Profit Pot. Think of it as a roll-over if you like

I don't think you can do that, Paul. The promise is that ALL excess funds from the Oxford 2012 Geolympix will go to charity, and all to charity it has to go (as pointed out above). There's no question of a "roll-over". Even if this means that there's no further Geolympix, there's no other option: the money was collected on this basis. As Lorgadh said, you can't now change the goalposts; it's pretty clear that the intention was that ALL the profit would be immediately given DIRECTLY to the three charities.

[+Von-Horst]

That rather depends how you define 'The Geolympix' - as a one-off event in Oxford in July 2012, or as an on-going series of events.

 

People gave money to support the event not the brand.

 

Please give the excess to charity as you (publicly) said you would.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Von-Horst

[+Original A1]

Sorry, but I think the issue of "how many Megas" DOES tie in with how often you would want to hold the Geolympix.

 

As others have remarked, those who contributed were assured that the money would be equally divided between three charities and that's what should happen. All that should be left at the end is the name, the concept and great memories. If the two former are carried over to a brand new event at A N Other time, great, but in the same way that London has finished its work when it passes the flag to Rio, so should this one be done and dusted with the handing over of the cheques.

 

Personally, I think the fact that the Megas are relatively rare (plucking a figure from thin air, perhaps 25 a year around the world?) makes then all the more valued. In the same way that great value is placed on the Olympics and Paralympics, I think it reaches that value by being held every 4 years rather than annually.

 

[endoheretic]

Paul, people gave money to you and the other organisers of this geolympixs. They entrusted you with fair and honest accounting.

For you to do anything other than give all excess funds to charity would involve that trust to be passed on to someone else.

Whilst I'm not suggesting there is any wrongdoing or subterfuge, you have to understand that those funds would move out of your control and if anything were to happen people might not be happy.

[+Simply Paul]

I don't think you can do that, Paul.

You're right. I can't. Any decision will be made as a team, following proper consultation with geocachers. People seem to be getting a bit het-up. I was asked some questions, I'm just repeating them here. It doesn't mean anything you disapprove of will happen - we're just trying to find out what you disapprove (or approve - Feedback from elsewhere has been a bit more mixed) of - and I can certainly understand why people have reservations. I do too.

 

To refocus this thread, is there anyone in the UK interested in using the Geolympix account at some point in the future? I need to give some feedback to Mic@ in Berlin and the longer I wait the less time he'd have to organise a potential German Geolympix event. Thanks.

[+Dorsetgal & GeoDog]

I don't really understand what you mean by any decision ... There is no decision, the money should be going to the charities.

[+Happy Humphrey]

I don't really understand what you mean by any decision ... There is no decision, the money should be going to the charities.

Succinctly put. Paul somehow doesn't seem to be picking this up, even though we've said it several times.

 

IANAL, but to do anything else might even be illegal (however noble the motivation); so I don't know why it's being put forward as a point for discussion. I'd have thought that the money would be with the charities by now.

[+Team Noodles]

The moment the money was publicly pledged to charities it ceased to be anything but the charities money. To try and change that now would be equal to stealing.

Robbing a charity, what great legacy to leave behind.

[BOBBLES WORLD TOUR]

I would recommend Mr Simply Paul to lend his monkey suit to his German friend.

We all know he doesn't need that suit to show what a cheeky monkey he is.

[+drdick&vick]

All monies was donated, by mainly UK cachers, on the understanding that it would go to charity and not so as it could be used to part fund some other Geolympix in another country.

The money should go to the charities.

[nobby.nobbs]

I will stress I'm making no suggestion of any unlawful intent but I think you need to read this definition before you decide whether you are allowed to alter what happens to any money collected for charitable purposes....

 

fraud act 2006 section 2 "fraud by false representation"

[+Simply Paul]

I doubt very much the CPS would be interested in what I asked (not proposed, not suggested - it was just a question) but since the majority who expressed a preference across a selection of forums and Facebook are against it we'll stick with the original plan and the police don't need to get involved.

 

Thank you all for your feedback; I'm glad there was a clear consensus as it means there's no arguement!

 

What we didn't get an answer to was if there's any team in the UK who'd like to take on the Geolympix here in 2013 so I'll feed that back to Mic@ in Berlin and see if he wants to go ahead with his plans. (There was never any question of the UK Geolympix part-funding another on the continent btw - I've seen comments suggesting this was a plan. It wasn't.)

 

Cheers again for taking the time to express your opinions.

[+Hampk]

It seems to me that if it was stated profits should go to charity, to charity they should go.

 

Another thought : is LOCOG passing on it's profits to Brazil to help fund the 2016 games? I rather suspect not.. Although it would be *amazing* if they donated them to charity..!

[+MartyBartfast]

LOCOG - Profits ???? What planet are you from?

[+Hampk]

Depends which paper you read

[+Dorsetgal & GeoDog]

I thought I read somewhere that we as a nation will break even around 2020 - if that's true, pretty good going for the greatest show on earth!