Where The Money Goes

About

How We Share Success

The Ride for Refuge is North America's only franchised peer-to-peer fundraising program, developed and operated by Blue Sea Foundation in partnership with local charities across Canada and the United States.

Blue Sea Foundation provides the experience, training, branding, technology, coaching, administration, and innovation that powers every location partner.

Our local charity partners bring the event to life by recruiting team captains, inspiring participants, mobilizing volunteers and sponsors, and delivering the mission impact that makes the event matter.

Together, we combine national expertise with local leadership helping charities raise more money without the cost, risk, and complexity of building a large-scale event from scratch.

Since 2011, Blue Sea Foundation has helped raise more than $130 million working with 400+ charity partners across North America.

What Partners Receive

Our goal is simple: we want to help local charity partners raise more money with less risk, less complexity, and less time spent managing events, so they can focus on relationships, fundraising, and growing their impact.

Area	What We Provide
Blue Sea	Twenty years of experience helping charities raise more money through North America's only franchised peer-to-peer fundraising platform, backed by expert guidance, shared infrastructure, and a dedicated team working year-round to support, improve, and grow your fundraising success.
Branding	Access to one of North America's leading peer-to-peer fundraising events, backed by trusted branding, compelling storytelling, and professionally developed creative assets.
Technology	Registration, fundraising, and donation management tools, including GUIDE, our event management platform, and WAVES, our online resource and training portal.
Coaching	Access to a dedicated team with years of experience helping charities grow successful events and campaigns, providing practical advice, strategic guidance, training, and year-round support whenever challenges arise.
Marketing	Professionally developed campaigns, communications, resources, and promotional tools that help attract participants, engage donors, and grow fundraising results.
Support	A dedicated participant and donor services team providing year-round phone, email, and online support, ensuring participants, donors, team captains, and local partners always have someone to help
Finance + Administration	Centralized donation processing, tax receipting, financial administration, reporting, and compliance that removes the administrative burden from local partners, ensures accountability, and frees charities to focus on their mission.
Sponsorship	Proven sponsorship strategies, tools, resources, and coaching that help local partners secure, steward, and grow meaningful sponsor relationships and community investment.
Community	Access to a network of experienced charity partners across North America who share ideas, lessons learned, benchmarks, and proven practices.
Data + Insights	Access to real-time dashboards, key metrics, benchmarking, trend analysis, and fundraising insights drawn from hundreds of events across North America, enabling local partners to make smarter decisions and continuously improve performance.
Standards	Consistent event standards, operational excellence, risk management, and safety protocols that protect participants and strengthen trust in the event.
Innovation	Continuous investment in technology, participant experience, fundraising performance, and event development to keep the platform growing and improving every year.

How Revenue Is Shared

Local charity partners receive between 70% to 85% of gross event revenue, depending on event size and participation levels. Historically, local partners have received approximately 78% of all funds raised.

The funds local charities receive stay in their communities, supporting programs and services for people experiencing hurt, hunger, and homelessness.

As a charitable organization, Blue Sea Foundation reinvests its share into operating, improving, and growing the platform including technology, participant support, coaching, marketing, financial administration, insurance, compliance, and ongoing event development to strengthen the fundraising platform that serves local charity partners across Canada.

Partner Payout

BSF's tiered payout structure rewards increasing fundraising success: as local fundraising success grows, so does the partner payout percentage.

Total Raised by Charity	Payout %
$100,000 plus	85%
$50,000-$100,000	80%
$20,000-$50,000	75%
$0-$20,000	70%

Payout percentage is cumulative from the first dollar.

Payout is calculated on total verified donation revenue and community sponsorships.

Charities that sell $10,000 (or more) in financial sponsorship and have $20,000 (or more) in donations get a preferred 85% payout rate on their sponsorship total.

Financial Statements

Financial Accountability

Blue Sea Foundation's management team and independent Board of Directors are responsible for the stewardship of the organization's finances and the accuracy of its financial reporting.

Our financial statements are prepared in accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for nonprofit organizations and are reviewed annually by an independent public accounting firm.

Management maintains financial controls, reporting systems, and governance practices designed to safeguard organizational assets, support sound decision-making, and ensure financial information is accurate, reliable, and transparent.

Blue Sea Foundation is a registered Canadian charity CRA#: 819882655RR0001

2024 Audited Financial Statement

2023 Audited Financial Statement

2022 Audited Financial Statement