LEWISTON — On a chilly, misty Sunday morning two weeks ago, thousands of people — elite cyclists, cancer survivors, friends and one TV star — gathered at the corner of Oxford and Beech streets, united for a single cause: the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing.   

Runners and walkers braved cold and drizzle for a 5-kilometer walk/run. Cyclists battled hills and wet streets to bike 10, 25, 50 or 100 miles. All along the route people cheered them on, holding up signs and pictures of loved ones they’d lost to cancer. 

Based at Central Maine Medical Center, the Dempsey Center helps cancer
patients and their families by offering education, massage, yoga and
counseling — at no cost.

In all, 3,500 people from across the country and around the world had registered
for the one-day Dempsey Challenge. Cyclists paid $75 to enter; runners
paid $25. On top of that, many participants raised money, some spending months soliciting donations from local businesses, friends and family. The top individual fundraisers brought in more than $10,000 each. The top team contributed more than $22,000, while others brought in $15,000, $13,000 and $12,000. 

At the end of the day, as the mist cleared and the sun broke through the clouds, Challenge officials said they had raised more than $1 million, including sponsorships. They declared the fundraiser an unmitigated success and promised an even bigger, better Challenge next year. Patrick Dempsey, the TV star and Maine native who used his money, clout and fame to make the Dempsey Center and the Challenge possible, called the day “magical.”

But the Challenge’s largest sponsor, pharmaceutical company Amgen, reported that the event had cost more than anticipated. Chuck Gill, CMMC’s vice president for public affairs, said about half the money raised would go to pay for the event’s expenses. 

That would mean only half of the $1 million would actually help cancer patients.

That information, in a Sun Journal story on the event, caught some people’s attention. And it caught them off-guard.

“People that have raised money, they’re like, ‘Well, jeez, does that mean that the $3,000 that I raised, $1,500 of it is going toward operating costs and other expenses? That only $1,500 that I raised is actually going to the Dempsey Center?'” said Wendy Tardif, the Challenge’s event manager.  

Two weeks after the challenge, hospital officials and event leaders were scrambling to assure fundraisers that Gill was wrong, that he misspoke, that he had his information wrong or didn’t have information at all. Tardif was adamant that less than 50 percent of the estimated $1 million will go toward operating expenses, though with bills and fundraising checks still coming in, she didn’t know what the percentage would be.

But Peter Chalke, president and CEO of Central
Maine Healthcare, the parent company of CMMC, believes he knows: 25 to 30 percent. Maybe.

“I’m just guessing,” Chalke said. “But, I mean, I run the hospital; I can usually project dollars and cents pretty well.”

Tardif said she would have exact figures at the end of the month.

If the Dempsey Challenge spends 25 to 30 percent of its take on operating costs, that would put it slightly higher than similar Maine fundraisers but still within the charity guidelines that experts recommend.

If it comes in closer to the 50 percent that Gill predicted? Then event officials spent $500,00 to make $500,000. 

Organizers began planning the Dempsey Challenge last November. Patrick Dempsey, an avid cyclist and ardent supporter of the center that bears his name, agreed to participate. Amgen, the pharmaceutical company, agreed to kick off donations with a $250,000 sponsorship. Over the next several months, more sponsors signed up, including ING, Mercedes-Benz, Kohl’s, Hincapie Sportswear, DeLorme, Sam’s Italian Foods and the Sun Journal. Some offered food, cars or other items to help run the event. Others contributed money, though none wrote a check as large as Amgen’s. 

Faced with 3,500 participants, a 100-mile bike trek and a first-time event, organizers hired Georgia-based Medalist Sports, which had produced Lance Armstrong’s Live Strong Challenge, to deal with the logistics.

Medalist charged the Dempsey Challenge $147,000 plus expenses, Chalke said Thursday. The total came to less than $200,000, he said.

He doesn’t believe they could have pulled off the event without Medalist. 

“You’re going to have 1,800 cyclists riding a hundred miles, so how many towns are they going to cross? How many jurisdictions? How many private roads? How many town roads? How many state roads? Police? How many municipalities? It’s mind-boggling,” Chalke said. “I don’t have staff  to do that. And they do that. They met with all the communities, police. And that’s what they do. I couldn’t duplicate that. I’d have to hire dozens of people to do that.”

Not only that, Chalke said, “They put on a show.”

“They had every minute of those two days programmed. The event at the park; they had things for kids, things for adults, food, an educational program,” he said. “Now, we provided a lot of that stuff, but they had the concept. They drove the program. They were our producers for this show. The bike ride happened to be a piece of it.”

Chalke said Medalist was the only hire. Although Tardif said she was paid to coordinate the event, Chalke said she and a Dempsey Challenge public relations person are actually on the Dempsey Center’s payroll and they worked on the event as part of their regular duties for the center. The rest of the work — before the event and on the day of — was done by a pack of volunteers. Chalke said they had about 500 volunteers; Tardif estimated 600 or more.  

The event ran over the first weekend in October and included a Friday night dinner and a special Saturday bike ride for major sponsors, a Saturday night banquet for the biggest donors and the all-day event Sunday, with a sandwich lunch for volunteers and a lobster bake for participants. There was a special appearance by professional cyclists, entertainment, security, staging, signs and rest stops with food.

Adding it up in his head, Chalke figured the total cost, including Medalist’s fee, was $250,000 to $300,000 — 25 percent to 30 percent of the total take — with most of that, if not all, paid by sponsors. 

Tardif said she’s telling concerned callers that their fundraising efforts were not futile. All of the money raised by participants, she said, will go to the center. 

“I feel really confident that, even though the final numbers aren’t in yet, I feel confident that we can say that is true,” she said. 

Donors and fundraisers have long been concerned about what percentage of their money goes to pay for a charity’s administrative and operational costs. Too much for overhead means too little for actual charity. 

GuideStar, a Web-based group that gathers and publicizes information about nonprofits, recommends that, as a general rule, no more than 40 percent go to costs. The Better Business Bureau’s standards say it should be no more than 35 percent.

Many local charity groups keep costs below 25 percent. 

“You certainly don’t want to raise a dollar and spend a dollar,” said Todd Henry, development director for Sweetser, which provides mental health services to children, adults and families. 

Sweetser holds major event fundraisers every year, including an auction and dinner, a golf tournament and a mini-golf event. It likes to keep costs under 20 percent, Henry said.

The Maine chapter of the American Lung Association, which runs the Trek Across Maine, also tries to stay around 20 percent.

“We’re very proud of our 80-20,” said spokeswoman Margaret LaCroix. “We have consistently worked at making certain that when a donor gives us a dollar, as much of that dollar (as possible) goes to the purpose they want it to go to and not to paying overhead and salaries.”

The Trek Across Maine is the largest fundraising event for the American Lung Association nationwide. The annual three-day, 180-mile bike ride goes from Bethel to Belfast. Last year, more than 2,000 people rode and more than 600 people volunteered. The event raised $1.8 million.  

The Maine Cancer Foundation also tries to stay under 20 percent. For its Tri For a Cure, a women’s triathlon held in August, it has gotten down to 14 percent toward costs. This year — its second year — it had 60 sponsors, 400 volunteers and 700 athletes. It raised more than $400,000.

Of the half-dozen local groups polled, all said they were able to keep their costs low with little overhead, few employees and a lot of dedicated volunteers. They said donors often want to know what their ratios are.  

“Giving to charity, any charity, is a personalized decision and people should be knowledgeable about the overhead and the administrative rate,” said Joleen Bedard, executive director of the United Way of Androscoggin County. 

The United Way has donation drives, rather than large-scale events such as golf tournaments or bike treks. Its cost percentage: 10 percent. 

At CMMC, Chalke believes 25 to 30 percent is a good benchmark. With more and bigger sponsors, he believes the Dempsey Challenge will do better than that. Eventually.

“I’d love to get it down to 15, 20 percent,” he said.

Chalke was adamant that Gill was wrong in his 50-50 approximation.   

“He didn’t even have the numbers, so I don’t know where the hell he drew that up,” Chalke said. “But, listen, let me tell you something, we pulled this off, but this put a lot of stress on a lot of people. Chuck was working his brains out. I mean, we were getting bombarded with stuff we never even anticipated. So to say that some of our people were under a little pressure? They were.”

Gill was on vacation and could not be reached for comment this past week. 

Officials hope to make the Dempsey Challenge an annual event. Chalke said he was concerned that the controversy over costs would hurt that. And, ultimately, hurt the center. 

“I really wanted to make an event that people had fun at, that they enjoyed. And, you know, that doesn’t come free, either, and at the same time, raise money,” he said. “There’s no evil-ness here.”

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