Skip to main content
Skip to main navigation
Skip to talk navigation

Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Saved Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Flip

1 2

AIBU?

to think this is unfair to kids who don't have people to sponsor them (school event)

34 replies

SophisticatedSkivvy · 16/05/2017 10:53

DD's school is doing a sponsored event. DC who raise more than £10 in sponsorship get a medal. The sponsor form was only given out last week and the event is on Friday.

We don't have anybody locally to sponsor her. Won't be seeing family for a while. DH is not keen to ask work colleagues who have never met DD. Times have changed since the old days where you could send them out knocking doors in the neighbourhood asking for strangers to sponsor them.

I have had to pledge the whole £10 which is a stretch as I don't want DD to be one of the few not to have a medal.

Should not ALL the DC get a medal just for taking part no matter how much money they raise, as after all it's not in the DC's control how much money they can get?

Don't particularly support a charity which pays it's Chairman a 1/4 of a million pounds a year from donations given by people much worse off either but have no choice in doing so.

OP posts:

Report

luckylucky24 · 16/05/2017 10:56

I think this is ridiculous. They shouldn't be asking for sponsors. A donation should be fine.

CotswoldStrife · 16/05/2017 10:58

We are often in the same position (infant schools are the worst for it IME) and have stumped up the cash ourselves so DD can get the item too.

BarbarianMum · 16/05/2017 10:59

Couldn't you ring family to ask them to sponser her a couple of quid and collect it later? That's what we do. Ultimately you didn't have to do it and your dd would have survived not getting a medal (doubt she'll be the only one). I don't particularly like school sponsered stuff but it's part of life. You can opt in or out as you choose.

As for the Chairman's salary, very very few charities pay anywhere near that much. It must be an extremely large one to justify it. If you don't agree with it then you can boycott the charity or join it and, as a member, lobby for a change. Sitting and whinging changes nothing.

SophisticatedSkivvy · 16/05/2017 11:00

Thank you lucky. I should imagine many parents can't afford £10 and may not have anyone they can ask to sponsor DC/may forget/not have time etc and the then the kids miss out even though they have taken part. It's really not on IMO.

OP posts:

harderandharder2breathe · 16/05/2017 11:01

Yanbu

They should get a medal for taking part, it's not their fault if parents can't afford or are unwilling to pay sponsorship money. Teenagers who could be expected to use some initiative for fundraising fair enough but not primary school children

Maudlinmaud · 16/05/2017 11:02

The medal thing is unnecessary. We are lucky to have a large extended family (to puke) that we see most days but like you not everyone has that luxury. I still hate to see the sponsor forms though albeit for a worthy cause.

2014newme · 16/05/2017 11:03

I never get anyone to sponsor I just put the money in myself.
I don't think most people genuinely bother getting sponsors.

stitchglitched · 16/05/2017 11:04

YANBU, they should all get a medal for taking part. I can imagine some parents will end up donating money they can't afford so their child doesn't miss out.

Anditstartsagain · 16/05/2017 11:09

No one should get a medal for getting sponsors the point is to do something good and people to donate the money because they want to not to get a child a medal. It completely defetes the point of charity if your getting a bloody medal for it I would not want my child thinking that.

BUT I also wouldn't want my child to not get a medal so would pay the £10 and complain to the school.

BlindAssassin1 · 16/05/2017 11:10

Most parents wont have time or volition to fanny about finding donations from friends and family and will bung a tenner in an envelope.

I'm fed up with all this dipping in my own pocket for this or that charity and just don't, especially charities with ethics I disagree with (Christmas shoe box thing especially). I donate to the school though.

As for not getting a medal: being left out now and again is part of life. It would be a hard shock to the self to only have that feeling for the first time once your an adult.

strikhedonia · 16/05/2017 11:28

YANBU

At least it's only a tenner, but it's still ridiculous. You just get a medal because your parents are happy to pay, I am not sure what's that teaching the children, it's better to have generous parents? Pretty sure they know that already.

rightsofwomen · 16/05/2017 11:30

In situations where I know my DCs are not going to get the award, acknowledgement in assembly...whatever, we talk about it and I explain why the charity or the school have the incentives (to raise as much £ as possible), but that we can't support everything and we do what we can.

So, in this instance they might not be getting the award, but there will be other times and the important thing to remember is that we (as a family) do other things for charity.

Personally I think my young DS can relate much more to going around the super market picking out treats for kids his age who are relying on the Food Bank, rather than the leprosy charity his school supports.
I'm not saying that either is more worthy, but that I feel he's learning more about charity by doing something within his own knowledge.

purplecollar · 16/05/2017 11:36

I hate sponsored events and raffle tickets too. They do them a fair bit for brownies/guides where we are. We have nobody to ask. Relatives miles away, friends are in the same boat. Neighbours don't give a hoot about dc. I think it's a thing of the past really. We end up putting a tenner in an envelope ourselves.

Daffodils07 · 16/05/2017 11:38

Yanbu nspcc did this in my children's school.
For every 10 sponsors they got a different colour badge.
I have 3 children in that school so really can not expect other people to sponsor all of them.
Considering its a children's charity I thought it was quite bad of them to make children feel like they have to get a lot of money .
I would rather there be a bucket you could give what ever amount in.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 16/05/2017 11:39

YANBU. Sponsored events and raffle tickets etc are a total PITA.

MrsJayy · 16/05/2017 11:43

Yanbu it really isn't fair i used to have the same thing when mine were young sometimes i would put grannys aunties etc on the form and just pay some money if it was a prize thing other times i just donated,

greedygorb · 16/05/2017 11:57

This is stupid and unfair. Plus they're wasting some of the money they raise on medals.

hoddtastic · 16/05/2017 11:58

put what you can in an envelope if it's for your own kids school i can't imagine begrudging a tenner, it's a tenner, not £100.
I'd also stick a note in with the amount to say 'not every child has an extended family to sponsor, not every parent has a spare £10' and that they might take this on board for future fundraising events.

dataandspot · 16/05/2017 12:02

Hodd

You would begrudge ten pounds if money was tight!

Op hope the medal is not the plastic party bag rubbish I am imagining.

TheNaze73 · 16/05/2017 12:04

Even 10p, is 10p more then they'd have had before. Bad form on the school's part

teddygirlonce · 16/05/2017 12:05

I agree that the notion of sponsorship favours families with lots of local relatives. BUT even then goodwill runs out when it's two/three sponsorships a year (per child).

We used to do them when DC started primary school but I'm afraid I gave up on sponsoring several years ago. Fed up with having to over sponsor to compensate for not wanting to ask family members to do so yet again.

ExplodedCloud · 16/05/2017 12:07

Like you we don't have any local family and we have a very few relatives anyway. My dc have 1 cousin for example.
So yes we end up subbing it ourselves. It's ok, we can afford to, but it does rankle when it's a charity I wouldn't donate to myself.

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Email address

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

hoddtastic · 16/05/2017 12:08

hence me saying 'donate what you can' and put a note in with the donation pointing out why it isn't more and that you wont be the only family in this position.

Mumzypopz · 16/05/2017 12:19

Yes, this is annoying. We have often just put random names on the sponsorship form and put the money in ourselves. Other times, we just haven't bothered at all. I don't agree with the kids getting a medal for ten pounds...

grannytomine · 16/05/2017 12:27

Had this once with DS, he was desperate for the prize for most sponsorship, related to football club he supported. So we wrote lots of random names on form and donated more than we wanted to and he raised the most.......... and they never gave him the prize. They kept making excuses and the prize never appeared.

Last time I ever signed up to sponsor anything at that school.

Flip

1 2

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.