Do you sponsor people for charity?

I do, but it depends on the person and what they’re doing. I wouldn’t donate for a skydive unless it was my closest friend. It’s generally only £20 or so and if it’s for a good cause, that’s fine

Catch me on a Friday night after a few drinks and I'm much more likely to sponsor people!

If I’m asked to sponsor something like voluntourism or a skydive - definitely no.

I tend to donate to my chosen charity directly.

Always if it a great charity and I know the person, why be so tight. One of my staff did a abseil to raise funds for a local hospice as her daughter was supported there for the end of her life, it was a very important cause.

if someone is just having a jolly then no.

It is not ok for your manager or anybody else to dictate generosity to you. No need to explain or apologise. Just say no thank you.

That isn't a cost effective way to donate for the charity. It's much better to pay directly to their bank account as otherwise they've got to organise someone to collect the donation box, count the cash and go and pay it into their bank. It's possible the cost of processing the donation will be more than it's worth unless that task is being done by volunteers.

Nope. Money's too hard to earn to give it away for the sake of optics. If it's not something you genuinely want to donate to, you shouldn't feel guilted into doing it, regardless of your income. There are many 'worthy causes', but there's also a great deal of waste and corruption among charities, and I've come the point that I resent being asked to part with my earnings.

I used to sponsor people / buy raffle tickets etc - anyone who asked at work.
Then I asked for sponsorship for my dd once who was doing a school fundraiser for cancer research six months after my mum finished successful cancer treatment.
The people who I’d donated to ignored me completely.
so I don’t sponsor any more because of total lack of reciprocation

I hate it too. My pet peeves:
-Mainly at supermarkets but charities wanting a regular, monthly DD rather than the loose change I could give there and then
-An online donation where the person can see the amount I've personally donated
-A person doing an event which is a normal daily thing such as walking 10,000 steps a day, and no, they don't disabilities or reason they can't do this anyways!

I ignore the ones that are basically a holiday for the fundraiser with the leftover after expenses going to the charity. The one exception I made was for a close friend who was doing one for a significant birthday and I counted it as her present.

You mean like to pay for their hobbies or trips abroad? Or trips in the UK? Fuck, no. I support charities directly, but only with cash - I don't do direct debits, etc. I walk into charity shops and stuff their donation boxes with cash, once a month. I allocate an amount and that is it. Plus the church, also into a donations box.

I don't tend to generally (there have been some exceptions) and I am comfortable with that as I have several standing orders and direct debits which mean I donate to my chosen charities regularly.
However I don't mind people doing these thing, and asking, as there are lots of people who will donate and that millions of £s get raised for great causes that way. Lots of people don't have standing orders or direct debits but will respond if asked directly to support a cause / sponsor someone, so that's a win win. More funding raised, in whatever way they can.

My cousin weighs over 25 stone. I sponsored them to do a 5k. Another cousin runs marathons regularly so I’d never sponsor him to run 5k

I sponsor people if it is something they wouldn’t necessarily enjoy and / or genuinely challenges them. I have a rule that I never give to animal charities.

Charities have been hit really hard recently as a result of government policy and this thread makes it evident that there is so much misunderstanding around fundraising that their tough times will go on.

For reference, if you give money, you are not funding 'a jolly' or a 'walk from a to b' or a 'mountain climb'. You are supporting a charity which desperately needs cash. The person that goes on the jolly/walk/mountain climb is doing it to both raise money and awareness, (and in part to counter the stupidity of people who think they're doing it for 'a jolly').

It makes me so angry to see people proactively being negative about something as wonderful and important as charity by sharing such ill-informed views. Please think before you type!

No. The comedian John Finnimore did a sketch on radio 4 about it... asking to be sponsored to lie on the beach!

There is a charity local to me who one year spent £22,000 to raise £25,000...I can't see that they actually do much in regard to the stipulated aims of the charity that costs much money. In fact I can't find much information about the things they do charity wise anywhere. But the fund raisers seem to have a great time. They recently changed the way they report their accounts to the charity commission to conseal the spend. But looking back on previous accounts it's clearly still happening. Most of their social media is about raising money and nothing about obtaining the help from the charity

It's up to you what you do but not all sponsored events are jollies.

I've survived cancer in the last 12 months and I'm so glad to be alive I'm doing a sponsored run to raise money for a charity relevant to my cancer.

There are a couple of reasons I'm doing it. The first is because I'm genuinely grateful for the medical research that has saved my life and I want to give something back and the second is to set myself a challenge and be part of a positive event alongside other people living with cancer.

I've paid the entry fee myself so all the proceeds will go to my chosen charity.

Generally I don’t but depends on the person and charity.

If they're funding their own activity and all sponsor money goes to charity yes.

If they're using sponsor money to fund a fun trip or an exciting activity like sky diving then only giving money left over to charity, no.

I sponsor pretty much any friend/colleague who asks. I sponsor family with more. I did some sponsored things as a teenager and people were kind, so I’m paying it forward. I tend to do £10 for friends and colleagues. Close friends or family usually £20/£50. I don’t do any regular charity donations, and my husband is a bit anti charity (seems to think it’s all spent on staff, I’ve explained it all to him before….) so I make sure I donate for the both of us, which he is fine with.

I sponsored once a dear friend. It was my way to support her and show her that she means a lot to me. I don't sponsor on other occasions.

it's really easy to justify not giving with all this pseudo intellectual rhetoric but the vast vast majority of this type of fundraising supports very worthwhile legitimate charities and is done with good motive.

there is no obligation to sponsor anyone, and if you can't afford it then that's understood. Where the participant is taking the piss a bit also fine to swerve, but setting out with cynical default starting position is disgraceful.

Watch an Inspector Calls on iPlayer and revert

It depends on what they are doing and the charity. But as a manager I think it's tricky to sponsor 1 person but not another.

Does your company support a charity? (We pick a charity annually and collectively raise money) If so, I'd donate to them.

I will not 'sponsor' the gang of friends who do an annual cycle in an European country each summer. Its a fucking jolly dressed up as them being wonderful and caring.

If you do sponsor people, do you expect a refund if they don't do it?

One colleague was shaving her head, online sponsorship so you paid upfront and raised quite a lot and she didn't do it in the end. No one asked for their money back but it seemed a bit off?