Ram - they do spend large amounts on lobbying ... as evidenced in their accounts.   No doubt a good portion of this spending is on genuine cancer-funding-promotion grounds .... not sure that it should be considered a 'program expense' as most charities would consider it legal, promotional or fundraising ... but anyway.

But the question for me is - they should not be promoting Lance's agenda at all.  And if they are at the moment, against USADA which is very blatently not anything to do with their prime concern .... how much have they in the past, when "lance protection = brand protection" and the lines are somewhat blurred.

The article itself says that basically as long as the board says its ok, then its ok for the charity to spend its money on this ...   so what else is it doing in the name of "brand protection"

Arthur Rieman, an attorney who advises nonprofit organizations, said nonprofits generally aren't supposed to use their funds to benefit their board members. However, he said Livestrong could legitimately argue that protecting Mr. Armstrong's reputation ultimately benefits their mission. Such a decision, though, should be run by the board, he said. "If they were my client I would have advised them to do some homework to be able to demonstrate to any third party that supporting Mr. Armstrong's reputation serves the interests of Livestrong," he said.

You know why I asked, not an apologist in any way.

One of the defences of the trust would be that the trust's reputation and survival is dependent on the reputation of Lance and a witch-hunt based on tests which are more than 8 or so years old and outside the statutes that he quoted in his letter would entail such a situation, which would thereby reduce much necessary cancer funding.

On another note, has there been a change at the USADA's highest echelons in recent times?

none.  They do not pay him, nor do they pay his expenses.

BUT  (and its a big but) ... if he is competing in an ironman event in California next weekend, they might arrange a big cancer summit that weekend, and pay him a fee to speak and represent them.  They may also arrange a whole heap of appearances, promotions and other stuff for him to do that weekend, some political lobbying for him to attend to make a week long tribute to his-greatness .... all in the name of cancer of course 

AG yeah i bet his accountants have set it up so he gets millions from liestrong every year. whether it is through 3rd party companies that provide 'programs' or other 'stuff' he has to get a hell of a lot of money from them.

He is not doing liestrong for anyone but him so he wants as much of that money as he can get.

Pretty sure like most 'celebs' who have foundations, it's just a way to avoid tax.

I like this thread   :tu

I would like to know exactly how it has helped 2.5m people.   Perhaps that is how many people to whom they sent glossy brochures showing how Lance recovered from Cancer, and you can too!!!

Seriously, I have no doubt that they do help people.  Some people ... but much more of the money raised goes towards promoting Lance as the inspiration and hero of all for achieving so much blah blah blah, and things like the "global cancer summit" for him to appear at.



Its funny though, I was thinking about this thread today when I was reading something on CN.  Thanks to pelodee for diggining up this article -

Austin cyclist back on track after cancer (Austin American-Statesman, Monday, October 27, 1997)

Bill Stapleton, Armstrong's agent, said his client is more marketable now than he was before the cancer, although he said many cycling teams view him as "damaged goods." Cofidis, his former team, dropped him on Sept. 1 because officials said they needed to go in another direction. Several weeks after Armstrong's diagnosis, the team renegotiated his contract, lowering his salary from $1.2 million to about $800,000 because he could not pass a physical.

Armstrong will receive a base of about $400,000 from the U.S. Postal Service. His contract is laced with performance-based incentives, and he could make as much as he did back in 1996.

This summer Armstrong picked up a new sponsor in CycleOps, which is producing a training bike. He also has a shoe deal with Nike and a sunglasses endorsement with Oakley.

"Lance isn't just a cyclist anymore - because of the cancer, the Lance Armstrong brand has a much broader appeal," Stapleton said. "Our challenge is to leverage that now. He's on the verge of being a crossover-type spokesman. He could be just like an athlete who does a Pepsi or Gatorade commercial. If his comeback has success, we hope to take him to a Kodak or Sony and hope they will turn him into a corporate pitchman.

"We're really just beginning. In January and February people will realize that Lance is back on the bike. And once they realize it, that's when the marketing will pay off."

so in 1997, when he was just recovering from cancer, he was already getting sponsors and positioning himself as a self invented "icon" and brand.

Lance profits from Livestrong ride?

The story on CNN is true.  I was at both of those events.

One of the things people need to keep in mind is that with a few exceptions the people doing these rides are not "rich yuppies".  Remember the environment, Livestrong was at its peak.  Corporations take a lot of heat from the public but one of the things they do is a lot of community service, volunteer labour type events and they tend to do a lot charity fundraising type events.  So a lot of these people were low or mid level employees who won the contests at their employers to go on the rides.

I feel sorry for those people.

There were a couple of people who rode both of those events, both days, and it was pretty clear they were on their own dimes.

What is described pretty much fits what happened, both at those and at the one in BC the next weekend.

I have wondered ever since why Revenue Canada didn't chase it down harder as it was certainly talked about at the time, and some of the local news and radio people were on it, but that was a really unpopular story line at the time, and they just got no traction on the stories.

I have always thought that the thing that would get Armstrong, Bruyneel and the whole Livestrong sham, eventually, would be the tax authorities in various countries.  This stuff was pretty blatant.  It wasn't hidden.

I did send a link to this article to the one particular radio guy that was all over this at the time, maybe I can get him stirred up again.

And just as a BTW - there was a certain aged Englishman on the L/S plane as well.

I doubt the financing/tax went down exactly as described in that article.

Normally (I'm talking Canada at least) you can't get a tax receipt for the full amount of your charitable "donation" if you've gotten something of significant value in return. The ride itself (and awareness directly from Lance!) had a benefit that people purchased and it was probably assessed at $10,000 which seems pretty reasonable to me. Armstrong's appearance fee may well have been equivalent to $10,000 per person but I don't think it's directly related to the tax receipt.

Ok, so I know Lance is a pr*ck and all, but  having had two family members suffer from the disease, I'm not really prepared to believe that he faked cancer, unless there is some pretty strong evidence to back it up. 

Ok, so I know Lance is a pr*ck and all, but  having had two family members suffer from the disease, I'm not really prepared to believe that he faked cancer, unless there is some pretty strong evidence to back it up.

I agree but it just shows what a man he is that you would even think it.

I did think before posting but my wife and I have dealt with cancer in our familys alot this last year and shows my opionion of the man

Some people started digging into liestrong in 2010. they posted some blogs and got lambasted in the comments. Made them dig even deeper and find more non charity behaviour  ;D

http://fraudbytes.blogspot.dk/search?q=livestrong&max-results=20&by-date=true

Funny that has come back, I remember reading that blog a couple of years ago.  I think it is pretty good work. 

Armstrong has now resigned completely from the Livestrong Board.

AUSTIN — Disgraced cycling great Lance Armstrong has cut ties with his cancer-fighting charity amid his doping scandal.

A Livestrong spokeswoman on Monday confirmed Armstrong has resigned from the board of directors of the Austin-based group.

Armstrong on Oct. 17 stepped down as chairman of Livestrong in an attempt to minimize the damage caused by a devastating U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report. USADA last month banned the cancer survivor from the sport and stripped him of his seven Tour de France titles.

Livestrong spokeswoman Katherine McLane says Armstrong resigned from the board Nov. 4.

McLane says Armstrong felt it was in the best interest of the organization and that he "remains the inspiration of the mission." McLane says it was Armstrong's decision to step down from the board.

Associated Press

"@TheDailyShow: #TDSBreakingNews Lance Armstrong steps down as board member of Livestrong. Cancer reacts: "I wanted to win, but not like this."