To fundraise for a half marathon?

How do you judge 'happy', though? Is everybody proactive and all taking their turn to initiate new campaigns; or is it just that people do hand over money and don't moan about it? If the latter, do you think that people would feel confident in saying if they weren't really happy about it, but don't like to stand out or be accused of being mean?

Well if you don't want to, it clearly shows this is more about you doing a reduced price event subsidised by others, rather than actually a genuine desire to raise money for the charity.

Put your hand in your own pocket rather than expecting others to pay for your desire to run a half marathon and your desire to donate to charity.

That's my whole point.

Does asking people for sponsorship really raise awareness of the enormous national charities that are already constantly advertised on TV? I can't imagine there can be many adults out there who have never heard of Cancer Research, the RSPCA, Oxfam and the rest - and know very well what their stated charitable aims are, whether or not they chime with what the individual chooses to support.

It makes a lot more sense if it's a nascent and/or local grass roots cause that many people will not have heard of.

Also I know this will make me sound like an objectionable old curmudgeon to some, but I find the word 'fundraising' a bit annoying in itself. It gives the impression that the money comes organically as a direct result of neutral hard work - such as, say, tending your vegetable plot for many hours and 'raising' lots of lovely fresh veg as a direct result - rather than the reality that it's just asking/encouraging/cajoling other people to give their money. Then, of course, all of the praise and publicity goes to the 'fundraiser' for their 'efforts', with very little recognition of the many people who actually gave their money - maybe not a few of them feeling guilted or pressured into it - who are just seen as incidental.

It's completely different if you're giving of your own time, talents and resources to make/produce things or offer services that you then sell, with the proceeds going to charity - things and services that people actually, genuinely want to buy, as opposed to only buying it 'because it's for charity'.

To be fair, OP has only paid £20 for a £60 place.

Assuming her intentions are good, and she'll top up her ticket, plus make a substantial donation of her own to this charity so dear to her heart, plus what her family have pledged, then she should be fine.

£40 for fee shortfall, plus say £100 donation from OP, plus £150 pledge from DPs, plus £50 pledge from siblings (assuming 2) only leaves £35 to raise, which surely OP's DH or BF would cover?

I think it depends. I won’t sponsor people for something that I think is easy for them or that they are only doing it to get a place in a popular event.

I have a charity spot in a HM later this year but as my motive was to get into that particular race and I have just done a much further distance for a charity that means a lot to me I will basically be self funding this one.

Blimey, what a lot of push back for someone wanting to raise money for charity.

@tilyougetenough has paid for her place, she is now using her participation as a way to raise money for charity. Not as a way of roughing up her friends and colleagues for cash whilst she burns her spare pounds and spits on the poor.

There shouldn't be a problem with it. Having a bake sale and a just giving link on your social media page isn't cheeky. Most folk love a bake sale- cake for £1 or £2 and the glow of feeling like you have supported a charity and colleague? Dead easy way to do it.

I've raised money for two charities in this way in the past, both incredibly important to me, and people were really keen to support me and the charity.

I suspect some PP are conflating the "sponsor me so I can do a sky dive i always wanted to do but it was a bit pricey just to rock up one day" types of sponsorship with "i have paid for my place in a race, would you like to help me feel supported in doing the hard thing by your kind messages and raise money for charity at the same time" sponsorship that OP is doing.

Ooft.

Good luck OP, with training and raising money. 💪

Yeah it’s not like I’ll be rattling a bowl around at work everyday and saying they must donate. I was just going to bring some cakes in and say if people want to donate I’d be really grateful.

But where does it stop? You already said people go around asking for some money for birthdays. You're asking for money for your personal project. It's a bit of peer pressure.

Your colleague may have been giving you a heads up that there's people in your workplace having financial difficulties and don't want the pressure to be a nice coworker and donate yet more money. And they're right that times are really rough financially for a lot of people. It might be they're just sick of too many people with their hand in their wallet and would like it to stop. But you've already had one coworker giving you negative feedback about your plan.

This is a personal achievement thing for you, I get that, but I think you should keep your personal stuff out of your workplace. Keep it to your family and your SM.

I've been donating to my organization of choice for decades and they provide direct essential health care services to those that can't afford it. But that doesn't belong in the workplace.

Well in my opinion your last sentence sums it up perfectly - can’t afford it then they’ll need to take a chance with the ballot or not participate. Running the London marathon is hardly a basic human right is it, and as PP have pointed out there are a lot of other local low cost running events they can join instead if the point is just to participate in a marathon. Look, I hear all the arguments about it being good exposure for the charities etc and obviously it works, people donate (whether out of genuine desire or peer pressure) so they are going to keep on doing it, but the OP asked if people would find it in bad taste to fundraise for this and clearly many people do.

Ignore the colleague - no one is forcing them to donate!
£375 isn’t that much really, especially when your parents have already pledged £150. And good on you for doing a bake sale rather than just expecting donations 😊
My partner did the marathon last year with a target of raising £1,700 - he actually got the majority of it through JustGiving but also did a bake sale at work (and one colleague baked some cookies for the bake sale in lieu of giving him a donation which I thought was lovely).
Ultimately, remember that anyone is entitled to say no! Some of our closest friends didn’t donate, completely up to them!
Good luck!

That would rule a lot of people out of running the London Marathon then - it would just be for rich people or elite athletes because most ordinary people can't just find the £2,500-£3K charity pledge you need to make if you don't get in on the ballot down the back of their sofas. But hey, why should ordinary, not well-off, probably mainly female runners get to run the Marathon anyway? If they can't pay to indulge their own hobby, they just can't do it.

I think this is true.

But nothing wrong with trying to fund raise!

I’m doing a hike for a charity in the coming weeks. I had no expectation at all of raising any money so I went with the pov of paying the actual entry fee myself, and then fundraising on top of that.

I was absolutely blown away that many people have donated and I’ve raised many times the entrance fee. But I wonder if the fact I was willing to pay up front made people more willing to donate?

There are dozens of half marathons every month. If it's about the challenge you really don't need to take a charity place. You definitely don't need to be wealthy to pay entry fees for local club organised races (which are better anyway IMO) I'm doing one for £5 this weekend and it includes a beer at the finish.

I don’t often stick (edit) my head over the parapet… OP is dealing with a tough audience here! Appreciate the debate and awareness this has raised about running a distance to fundraise for a charity.

Many volunteer positions rely on individuals willing to invest their time and abilities to a cause important to them. The benefits of volunteering aren’t just to the recipient charity: they are also conferred to the person volunteering. Maybe it’s a sense of community, of being helpful or useful, or to help them be in another space. I guess what I’m getting at is that it is mutually beneficial to both parties and, through their combined efforts, also to others.

So the OP has identified a charity she would like to help fundraise for. OP is also taking on a personal challenge which they are now being held publicly accountable for due to the promise made to the charity.

OP… keep running! Enjoy every moment of this fantastic journey and thank you for taking on this endeavour, raising funds and awareness for the charity, and for challenging yourself to grow. Keep healthy, rest well, consistency is key. You’ve got this 💐

PS run walk intervals might be your friend in increasing distance; less fatiguing

People fundraise all the time for all sorts of charities. I think your colleague just doesn’t want to donate themselves (which is fine - she doesn’t need to if she doesn’t want to or can’t afford to). My Daughter recently had 14” of hair cut off and donated it to Little Princess Trust. The wigs themselves cost money to make, so we did some fundraising alongside it and the bake sale we did raised £200 on its own. We sold out in just over an hour. She raised £1300 in total.
Good luck with your fundraising and half marathon!

Ask for donations for a tombola and do it at your local spring fete.

See if your work will match your fundraising.

Ask for donations.

Buy one of the name a Teddy sheets on Amazon. Get a Teddy, £5 a ticket, 1/2 money goes to you, half goes to winner (along with the Teddy).

I think it’s fine. Not everyone is struggling because of CoL. Good luck with the half! I did it once before and that was enough for me, but whenever I was going physically through a tough time (like labour 😂) I reminded myself I managed that so I can do this! It’s an amazing thing to draw upon later in life, even better if you keep it up!

I think that's a moot point really. From your OP "in order to take part I need to raise £375 for a charity."

Obviously they'e not payung you, but they are paying for you to take part.

I've supported loads of runners over the years with their fundraising efforts in similar situations, but they have offered something like a dance, a quiz night, a pamper evening, rather than just asking for cash.

It doesn't matter if you don't agree with me, I'm just suggesting that approach may be more successful for you.

If the money goes to the charity, fundraising for a charity that matters to you is never cringe, particularly if you’re putting work into it like a bake sale, so I say go ahead. And I’d never give to someone just for them doing a run though - I’d wave towards the outside and say pavement is there and no one’s stopping you, off you go, and you can fund your own hobby.