To fundraise for a half marathon?

.

Let's say I'm going to learn to ski. The lift fees that are too much for me alone to pay but they will go to my charity of choice.

I think I'll try to hit up my coworkers to fund my lift fees for me going skiing because that money goes to charity and I get to ski.

Do you truly not see where that goes south? One coworker already spoke up about it. If one says something, others are thinking it.

I chat to my colleagues daily. But I don’t ask them for money to subsidise my hobbies and/or support charities of my choosing.

Yes. Some have been close personal friends. But we're at work to work, not shoot the shit and our work was intense, to say the least. We save the personal stuff for outside of work. I worked with some marathon runners. They asked for no funding. You're mixing funding your personal hobby with co workers helping you fund that and that's where you're going wrong.

And the requests from money from everywhere are out of control now. I can't pay for something using my card without being asked to round up to the next dollar so the company can get a tax break for charity donations. We tip and pay a service charge or delivery fee on top. We even got pressured at one workplace to sign up for a percentage to go to x charity and they wanted 100% compliance.

There are always particular kinds of thick skinned people who are a little hard of thinking that don't realise that regardless of what they delude themselves in to thinking that actually many people are thoroughly sick of being asked for money in the workplace.

The fact that you responded to the previous posters by saying other people are strange for not wanting to chat/act like a community says it all.

I worked in an office with 8 other people who all had the same job title but significantly different salaries and vastly different home life finances such as one being a single parent through to one with some inherited wealth. It is very insensitive indeed to coax other people into giving money to YOUR chosen charity that YOU care about.

I have particular charities I am more than happy to give to - usually small charities without big CEOs etc and also in line with my personal views and faith.

There are many of the big charities I wouldn't dream of giving money to under any circumstances whatsoever as I fundamentally disagree with them on the the way they operate and I do not appreciate being coaxed into donating by work colleagues as this would mean I can either choose to ignore my personal strongly held convictions or have an awkward conversation in the workplace.

This started because one of your coworkers approached you about it being inappropriate due to the severe economic crisis. You say people in your workplace are happy to hand over their money to fund coworkers' personal hobbies and projects and I just don't believe that. Your defensive replies when challenged on your belief that this is all cool reinforce my position that this should not be brought into your workplace, especially if you get snide and nasty with them like you are here when you aren't being supported.

No one is casting aspersions. They just believe your hobby and charity should be funded by you, not your coworkers.

Use your own SM. Would you be putting this on your work SM or would it not be allowed? If not, then it shouldn't be in the workplace either.

I hope your training goes well and you run your race.

Wow OP, you’re coming across as increasingly entitled. Not happy (or can’t afford) to pay £375 yourself but expecting your friends and colleagues to chip in to fund your hobby and your charity of choice. I don’t buy that your whole office is happy with these sorts of fundraisers otherwise why would your colleague have made the comment that prompted you to start this thread in the first place 🤔

Agreed. I have no intention of subsidising anyone’s hobby. I have enough of my own to pay for!

I rarely just donate to people running etc for charity but love to attend their fundraising events/take part in raffles etc!

Cancer research will have places for both. London Marathon is min of £3K. But, as you have seen on this thread, people get a bit fed up
of donating for people to do prestigious, hard to get into events.

How I act? I'd pay my own way, and not try to get others to subsidise my hobbies, nor expect other people to give money for me to donate in my name. I'd put my own hand in my pocket, rather than dipping it into other people's.

It's your hobby, a half marathon isn't that far, I think you should have just found a different less popular race to do or you regard £375 as the entry fee.

I want to do things like bake sales, etc.

Why bother? Unless you plan on baking really cheap and basic cakes and selling them for an extortionate amount, in which case you will irritate your co-workers, you may as well save yourself the time and expense of baking and just pay over that money yourself.

You've got a whole year to save for this and you could ask for money at Christmas and Birthday as well, to put towards it, rather than have people buy you gifts.

You don't have to raise money for the charity. You have to pay money to the charity. They don't care where it comes from as long as you pay the minimum amount. The charities buy runner places in bulk from the organisers then sell them off to make a profit. They are basically nothing more than third party ticket sellers.

You aren't putting yourself through the challenge of training for, and running a marathon for purely altruistic reasons, are you? You are having to buy your place from the charity because you want to run a marathon.

You should pay the entry cost yourself. It's not for other people to fund your vanity projects and bucket list activities for you.

Bath Half is still open, so you could have entered without making the financial commitment to charity. You can still fundraise, post about, get a charity too, without the pressure of raising a set amount of money.

I think some people think you may have been talking about races which are ballot only, like London Landmarks, London Marathon, Great North run. People Who don’t get in on the ballot will look for the cheapest charity place and then go round friends and family asking for money to hit the target, essentially paying for the place.

Those of us who are regular runners have charity fatigue, from all the people who have been posting non stop about their fundraising in the last couple of months.

good luck with your training, keep Consistent and you’ll get there.

Nobody wants to pay you to do a bloody half marathon. If you want to indulge your hobby then pay the amount yourself.

Thanks - fair enough, then.