To fundraise for a half marathon?

I sponsored my friend's child's brownie troop to do a local litter pick. The kids had to work hard, the improved the local park and I chipped in a fiver for their fundraising.

Put it on Facebook. I got a few small unexpected donations when my daughter did something for a cat charity.
Also, sponsor your friends doing similar. As those I'd sponsored then repaid by sponsoring me.
I didn't get many donations for my event. You may have to pay some of the contribution yourself.

If course I know the difference, I just think you should be covering it all.

And much as you're 'not interested in what I have to say' you're trying to raise money from others who may well feel how I do, so it's worth bearing in mind.

(Please tell me that, as a minimum, you're covering from your own pocket the difference between the reduced price charity ticket and a full price general entry ticket?)

Out of interest, what would happen if you didn't manage to meet the fundraising target? Do they just say "Oh, well, thanks for your efforts anyway" or do they make you sign a commitment in advance that you WILL either raise that minimum or otherwise have to pay it yourself?

Yes, indeed. Obviously OP has a special motive for wanting to help a specific charity; but I wonder how many other people just want to run a marathon and then look for any old charity that has a place available that they can have.

A bit like the chuggers who pretend to be passionate about the charity they're trying to sign you up for - and often asking "Don't you care about very ill children?" or "Do you want the poor donkeys to die, then?" - when they themselves have purely got the job because they want to earn money, and they haven't even been told which charity they will be signing people up for until that morning!

You know what, that's awesome. Awesome that you've worked hard to lose the weight, awesome that you want to train to half marathon levels. Seriously, a collosal achievement, and you should feel very proud of yourself.

Still think you should be covering your own costs (including charity donation) for the half marathon you want to train for and run.

But you have chosen that challenge for yourself - and it isn't something that will actually help them in any way... unlike if, say, you'd offered to do ironing for a fee per load, which you then gave to charity.

There was one bloke who used to famously raise money for charity and publicity for himself by having a bath in a big tub of baked beans, but again, it didn't actually have any benefit for those donating; all it did was waste food. It didn't even have the Schadenfreude aspect to it, with people knowing that they were paying for something that would shock, surprise or disgust him, as he did it frequently so he soon got used to it as 'meh' anyway. I think he even styled himself as Captain Beany iirc.

So many races are massively over subscribed now, many of them are balloted and the only way to get a place and the experience of a large race is via a charity place...(and 9 times out of 10 you do still have to pay your entry fee yourself too, as you should)

I'm not attacking the OP.

I just think she should cover her own entrance fees (including the required charity donation for the guaranteed place) for the prestigious, sought after activity she wants to do.

What 'pressure to donate' do you actually get from someone sticking their JustGiving page link on Facebook? None. You can scroll past, just as the vast majority of people scroll past the vast majority of posts on FB.

God, the amount of mountains being made out of molehills on here.

Oh, give over. All charities have to find creative ways of getting people to donate to them otherwise people just...don't. Why are you attacking the OP for this?

Yes, there are always the basic costs that can get overlooked, which actually negate (or more than) the actual amount raised. Home-made cakes are invariably much tastier than shop-bought ones in a packet, but they cost you more than the shop ones, once you figure in the true overall financial costs (let alone your time).

Our DS's primary school once had a bake sale to raise funds, but the vast majority of the parents hadn't had time or the inclination to bake cakes themselves, so they'd just done their bit by buying and bringing packets of cakes from the supermarket - which were then sold by the school for less money than the parents had paid to buy them!

This. You’ve paid the token entry fee but I do think it’s a bit in bad taste to ask friends or colleagues to cough up the £375, just pay it yourself to your chosen charity. I have friends that are forever posting links to their charity runs/walks etc in WhatsApp groups and on instagram etc and unless they’re doing a once in a lifetime ultra marathon or some such event, I find the pressure to donate a bit irritating. Whenever I do runs requiring a minimum charity donation I just pay it myself and never mention it to anyone.

It is great that you want to raise funds for charity.

One request on behalf of everyone who knows you IRL:
Please, when you tell people about it/advertise your fundraising, DO NOT write one line about the charity and then an essay about you.

It has always made my funds unavailable (unless it was one of my managers who did it).

Yes, it's a challenge that you want to do for your own benefit.

The charity gets no benefit from you running a half marathon, only you do.

The charity would benefit more if you fundraised / donated £375 directly. The running of the half marathon is just for your benefit.

Some weird responses on here. I'm doing a half marathon in September and it'll be a real challenge - it's not some prestigious thing I've been dying to do. I used to run but haven't in years (since having kids, which killed my pelvic floor) and am going to have to really get my arse in gear to do it without expiring! Not sure why the OP is being treated with suspicion for her decision to run and raise money for a charity that means a lot to her. Although judging by the Parkrun threads, people on here hate runners almost as much as they do their own daughters/DILs who need childcare.

Hmmm, there is the line of thought that, if something is out of your budget, then you don’t do it, rather than expecting other people to pay for it instead.

To be fair, if you are trying to raise money to cover the charity donation you may as well pay it yourself rather than a bake sale. After you paid for the ingredients you won’t make any profit I shouldn’t think.

It’s better to provide a service than a product if you want to raise funds.