Squeamish about Charity Stuff

[ClassicLime]

I'm currently fund raising for the brilliant Guide Dogs charity I'm doing the Great Manchester Run, quite a challenge for me I was 17.5 stone when I signed up for it & have never entered a running event before. If I could easily run 10k I think it's abit cheeky to ask my friends for cash for doing the event.

So far I've just posted my virgin money giving link on my social media, if friends wish to donate it's upto them I'm not being a PITA & pestering them nor am I keeping tabs on who does/doesn't, if I can raise afew quid for charity while challenging myself I'm a happy chappie.

However I've paid for my own entry to the event so no cost to the charity, always seems flipping cheeky to me that some event organisers make charities buy places in advance so that they can then give them out for free in reward for people pledging a minimum donation.

Speaking of annoying fundraising. I had a chap fundraising for Anthony Nolan knock on the door the other day asking for money on a regular basis, he couldn't get the fact that I couldn't commit to that as I'm drowning in debt but I'm trying to help his cause in a way I can, I'm registered as a potential bone marrow donor (awaiting a match).
His guilt trip kinda made me glad I'm registered on the NHS donor list not the AN one, which doesn't seem right for the charity!
Pushy fundraisers don't help charities, I give as, when & how I can.

 

[Turbo Rider]

Well...I'll start by saying I can't remember the last time I was sponsored for anything and I generally don't contribute towards these things either...furthermore, what really gets my goat is being asked to give money whenever someone decides to do something far less amazing like have a birthday, get married or have a baby...but...I don't begrudge anyone doing so at all. It's up to me if I contribute and I don't feel the slightest bit guilty for not doing so...I have no spare money and if I do get any, I like to select who I give to at an appropriate time...and...yes I agree that it's incredibly sad that some people wouldn't spare a penny unless there's an incentive to do so, like watching someone go through pain or make an ar$e out of themselves...but...the fact is that that is exactly the case in a lot of instances and I'd rather these things do exist than don't, else a lot of charity money wouldn't get raised and the profiles of some charities probably might not exist either...so...if you don't want to contribute...I'd say just grow some and explain the situation...or just ignore them and let them get on with what they're doing...in spite of how annoying it might be. Charities need money and that's why these things happen, which really is the bottom line.

 

[jack smith]

I feel the same i had to do it on a 50 mile ride lastyear and although it actually went to a charity in memory of my brother for disabled children i didnt feel too comftorable about it as 50 miles for me isnt a challenge or anything i would say is a big event that takes lots of effort. If i was cycling across the country in a couple of days maybe but not small sportives

 

[Dave 123]

I was going to do London-Paris about 4 years ago.
The two millionaires I know/knew pledged a fiver each. I decided to give up before I got really angry. They wanted £1000 minimum.
It was for East Anglian Children's Hospice. I give regularly as a result.

 

[neil_merseyside]

When I was a wage slave it was always 'my darling brat is doing this will you give x' and the following week 'y' was doing something else and so on. It appeared to me that everyone was giving £5 to these kids events, but then also getting the same £5 back another time from the colleagues, so on balance seemingly pretty neutral - except I suspect 'expenses' eat more out of small payments than one larger one.

 

[vernon]

The ultimate in cheek was a colleague of mine who was 'raising money' for charity by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. He quickly buried that fact that the first £4,000 was the entry fee and the surplus went to the charity.

He asked me to do a sponsored bicycle ride and donate the proceeds to his fund raising. I politely declined though I was inclined to be abusive.

He went on to raise £12,000 and took his wife with him. That's a 66% of the funds swallowed in expenses before the charity saw any money.

I'm seething at the memory as I type this.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I did a few sponsored things like bike rides*, abseils, zip slids etc for Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow trust and later Malcolm Sargent (now Clic Sargent after two charities merged).

I had just been diagnosed with Leukaemia when I started the Anthony Nolan ones and was looking for a Bone Marrow Transplant too, so the local paper made a big song and dance about me, and I raised over £3000!! I went round the doors, we got donations through the paper, people got workmates and so on to donate and other than one grouchy person who refused to give me anything and slammed the door in my face (something I didn't understand at the time), it was great!!
I then did things for Malcolm Sargent/Clic Sargent, raising a similar amount.

Now, however, having (allegedly) grown up a bit, I can understand why that guy had been such a grouch towards me on his doorstep and I do feel a bit guilty/dirty asking people for money, so to make up for it, I will only do things where I can pay as much of my own money towards it. I would pay all of it, but people are so insistent to donate, so who am I to complain??

I will still give other people money (when I am not skint that is), Karma and all that, but I hate asking for money myself!



* - It was the annual Anthony Nolan Glasgow (SECC) to Loch Lomond (Balloch) Bike Ride, which was 22 miles (or alternatively 44 miles back to Glasgow)

Well, to be honest, I could have done 22 miles with my eyes closed, so, other than the first year when I really wasn't well, in other years, I remember cycling up there and coming back down again and then cycling home again, a total of about 50 miles. One year I think I did 72 miles (44+22=66 + 1mile getting to the cycle track in the morning + 4 miles from Balloch back to Dumbarton afterwards + 1 mile getting home again from the track) .... And yet, was being sponsored to do a lot less.

I even remember one year turning up on spec and getting to do it for a small fee (the other 'entrants' didn't know this, although I would have done it anyway, nobody could have stopped me) purely because I knew the team so well and had raised so much for them!!

After that, I helped with the Marshalling, but they (Anthony Nolan) started going a bit funny with us, so we stopped and started working with Malcolm Sargent/Clic Sargent instead (ironically, the 'coordinator' from Anthony Nolan and the very woman who went all funny on me is now working for Clic Sargent).

 

[marzjennings]

I'm a complete charity whore, I ride the same charity ride each year and and send out the same begging letter to an ever increasing number of people. I raise about $3-4000 every year, though I'm trying to increase that. A colleague of mine raises over $40,000 every year and he too is looking to increase the amount he raises. As a team of about 90 riders we hope to raise about $300000.

I'm also president of a local non-profit (almost a charity) and every hour I work for them my company matches at $14 an hour. I'm average about $200 raised per month for that group.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I just look at the people who ask me for charity donations as probable marks when I have charitable obligations to fill.

 

[Saluki]

When I worked in a proper job, I did get pretty fed up with the 'please sponsor me' emails, 4 or 5 a week in the summer, less in the winter but there were not many weeks where the emails didn't arrive.
One was for a 10 mile sponsored bike ride from a member of my team. As I had sponsored her for a swim & the race for life, I didn't sponsor her for the bike ride. She was really narky with me when I pointed out that I commuted by bike, further than that 5 days a week, come rain come shine. 6 days a week if it was my Saturday morning on shift.
The requests for charity money got largely ignored after the first few months. I was happy to donate to the Jogle ride by a couple of the Peterlee call centre lot. Happy to sponsor one of the wheelchair users to do the Stoke on Trent half marathon - a bit lumpy that one. But the sponsored slims, sponsored haircuts, 10 mile walks, sponsored fishing days, sponsored ironing day (yes really), sponsored motorcycle tour around the coast roads of England and so on and so forth were met by silence from me.
I do donate to a couple of charities, Kidney Research UK and to Greyhound rescue charities (small ones) but I don't often ask people for donations. I think I last asked the year before last with a just giving page as I was kind of guilted into it by McMillan. I raised about £30, of which £25 was my money that I gave them.

Chuggers on the doorstep are a totally different matter. I told one today - British Heart Foundation - who refused to listen to the 'I'm sorry I cannot afford x amount a month' and went on and on (I was too polite really). In the end I said "I was a live kidney donor in 2008, I draw the line at donating my heart. Please leave" and shut the door.

Hubster has just mentioned the hand written not through the door the other day. One of the neighbourhood kids is doing a sponsored day of having facepaint on her to raise money for the local school.

 

[Arrowfoot]

Most people are either too polite to ask or find it politically incorrect to challenge on such matters. Sponsoring their own adventure / trips and a bit to a charity is just not right. But you have kids now doing it encouraged by their parents. Then you see a new car on their driveway and you wonder what values we are teaching the young.

Schools are no better. Organising trips to build homes on an exotic country.

 

[tyred]

I hate the charities that try and persuade me to sign up to direct debit things.

Last October there was some sort of event thing where you could get people to sponsor you to stop drinking for the whole month of October. A friend was constantly begging me to join her in doing it but I refused on the grounds that I don't generally drink and may have perhaps 3 pints of cider in the average year. How could I ask anyone to sponsor me not to do something I wasn't going to do in the first place?

 

[Herbie]

I've seen a few events I'd like to do but they involve charity fundraising, something I'm just not comfortable with. My company are into this in a big way organising events, publicising them and so on but it means I've got an unending flow of emails from folk I don't know asking me to sponsor them. I'd hate to be just another annoying PITA passing round the begging bowl so I just don't participate in what could be fun events.

Am I the only one that feels this way? Does anyone else feel embarrassed at the thought of begging friends, family and strangers for money?

in my running days i used to raise money for Charity.....i felt ok first time i had to ask for people to put their hands in their pockets but i felt a bit awkward asking again next time ...i just thought they were thinking "here he goes again wanting more money" I'm always happy to sponsor peeps though...i think its only right

 

[w00hoo_kent]

The ultimate in cheek was a colleague of mine who was 'raising money' for charity by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. He quickly buried that fact that the first £4,000 was the entry fee and the surplus went to the charity.
I'm seething at the memory as I type this.

I recall hearing about the charity company going bust last year. All of the charities got their money, but the punters lost their 'experiences'. I'm afraid I had little sympathy for the, invariably public school types, whining on the radio about how they'd done all this work and now weren't going to get their experience of a lifetime and it was so unfair. I don't recall one of them saying 'well the charities have their money, that's the important thing.'

I don't believe I've asked for sponsorship money in over 20 years, it really doesn't sit well with me. If there's something we really want to do and the cost is a minimum charity donation, we just dip in our own pockets if it feels worth the money.

 

[Chrisz]

Some interesting (and not nexpected) views on here!

I am posting from the opposite side of the coin (so to speak) in that I am a trustee (unpaid, and no expenses claimed!) for a small military charity and one of my roles is to organise our annual fundraising cycle challenge.

Therefore I am fully aware of the difficulties some people face when asked to raise a specified amunt for an event/challenge (which is why we suggest a target rather than set a compulsory goal!). I also ensure that our rides are actually a bit of a challenge for the average MAMIL (but not impossible) - meaning that sponsorship is earnt.

Finally, I always try to ensure that any costs for putting on our events are met by the participants themselves - they pay a registration fee and accomodation etc. is very "budget" thus all sponsorship/donations go directly to the xharity rather than to the cost of running the event itself!

To give you a rough idea of how this can benefit a charity - I looked into getting a company to run a L2P ride for us- it would have cost nearly £800 per head just to run the event. I decided I could sort things myself and it ended up costing each participant a little over £100 - no-one had to ask people to pay for their cycling holiday

Please remember - not all charities are the same and not all charity events are the same!