to think that these "challenges" people do for charity are basically holidays?

[ohbugrit]

I know people who've done parachute jumps, abseiling, etc, but also some folk who're raising money so they can walk the Great Wall of China for charity. How does this work? Aren't they just getting us to pay for their walking holiday then also presumably getting us to sponsor them to do it? Or AIJB a miserly bag?

I think they have to pay the initial outlay and then sponsorship then goes to the charity but I may be wrong?

I've got a relative who is a repeat offender on this. Every year we're expected to sponsor him to do some amazing feat of edurance. I'm flippin' sick of it. Want money for a charity? I am happy to donate if asked, and I promise to give double if you just hand it over to the charity without cycling up a mountain backwards first.

I am sure most people have to pay to do these things though unless they get oodles of sponsorship.

I never sponsor people for this sort of jollies. In some cases people may the initial outlay but in general they get to do the trip or event out of the sponsorship money. I'd rather the charity I was supporting got to benefit from every penny I contributed.

This is a very divisive subject though - almost came to blows when it came up on a girly holiday as some people think they're a great idea!

Gotto agree really - I've yet to see someone ask for sponsorship to work in a soup kitchen for the homeless for every evening for 6 months - I get plenty for the exotic (great wall, andes etc etc)

Mind you I hold the same opinion re 'gap years' which should include some element of 'charitable concern' if a CV is expected to be treated seriously. Everyone wants to bugger off distributing mosquito tents in The Gambia or (this was a classic!) teaching St Lucians to play cricket (Now, the day a West Indian needs to be taught how to play cricket!!!!!!!)... but no one wants to go riverway clearing, dedicating time to Shelter, or indeed perhaps time with inner city kids in sporting past times.

I've done 2 cycling challenge trips.

The company I used gave you the option of paying a flat fee for the trip yourself (which was as much as the trip would have cost without the charity element) and then raising as much as you could in sponsorship to go to charity. Or opting to pay for the whole trip out of fund-raised money, in which case the cost was much greater (about 3 times greater I thing). In that situation the trip wouldn't cost you anything except vast quantities of time and effort fund-raising.

Well, I am head of fundraising for a national charity and we are signed up to some of these "challenge" events, although we haven't done lots of them yet. Yes, it's true that participants do get to climb Kilimanjaro/trek an Icelandic volcano/walk the Great Wall etc. and I see how you might see it as a holiday. But, they have to raise a lot more for the charity than it would cost them if they just went on holiday. There are specialist travel firms who only deal in charity challenge events and if the total cost of the trip is (just for example) £1800 then the charity will probably get £1500 of that.
It's basically a way for someone to get to see/do something amazing but also raises a massive amount of money for charity as well. Having said that, I completely understand why some people wouldn't sponsor someone for that kind of event where they might sponsor someone running the London maration for example.
Charities are having a really tough time fundraising at the moment (well, the ones who aren't the massive £20m+ income ones with massive nationwide recognition) and this kind of event can really really help as the person fundraising has a real incentive to raise the money (they aren't allowed to take part if they haven't raised at least 80% of the total 8 weeks before the departure date).
So YANBU (from a personal point of view) but YABU (from a professional point of view).
That doesn't really help, does it??

So you bloody ought to be Mary, she'll go far. Shame there aren't more people with her firm principles if you ask me.

YANBU. I can sort of see the point, as the fundraiser lady posting earlier explained, but I too prefer to give directly and cut out the smug holidays.

Bah humbug.

A lot of them are frankly a joke.

I had a woman come and badger me to sponsor her to walk the great wall of china which was her 'trip of a lifetime'. She knew nothing about the charity. Cheeky cow.

Ds1 cycled across the alps for help for heros after his A levels. It was just six of them. They paid everything themselves by working to buy flights and gear. They slept in youth hostels and by the road side and in one very nice Italian ladies garden shed . they then thought 'we could get some sponsorship' and asked help for heros.
They raised a couple of grand which was great.
But the number of people who assumed it was some hotel based jaunt did inhibit their fund raising. It really did.

YANBU I am of the age where this was common in my group just two or three years ago.

One friend did one to Namibia and ended up completely disillusioned with the whole thing. She found the orphanage had been set up to give gap year students something to do. She also had to find £1500 to get over there. Fundraising of course. She felt she should have just sent the money and the cost was extortion for what it was. And that was set up by uni not a gap year company.

Friends of mine who did sponsored cycle rides across Britain raised more money and all the money went stright there rather than on flights etc.

I can see why it works for the charities, it is an income stream, but if someone wants me to pay for them to achieve something it should require challenge, difficulty and some commitment.

Good on your dd maryz.
Ds1 helped at a local disability youth group. He loved it.

Sleepy, any chance can you clarify? I once looked into a parachute jump type event, and as I remember, it said that I would have to pay (say) £80 to do the jump, plus any sponsorship money. But if I raised over £150 the jump was free. I was a bit because I read it as meaning that £80 of people's hard donated cash would be paying for me to do a parachute jump, thus less money directly to the charity. And I would have been a bit annoyed if i'd sponsored someone and my money was actually going towards their air fare/parachute jump etc instead of to the charity. So am I wrong about that?

Totally agree. If I want to go on holiday, I'll bloody well pay for it myself. I've heard of a minimum sponsorship deal before, of about £3000 I think for Great wWall / Inca Trail type things, but I honestly think the participant should have to pay the whole amount for the trip themselves before scrounging money off other people.

My dd wanted to do the World Challenge thing but it meant finding money up front and then getting sponsorship. i hate pestering people for money TBH and I thought she had enough on her plate so I said no.

My friends DS is going with his school and they did a concert to fund raise which was a good idea but it does involve alot of effort and being a bit pushy.

YANBU. They also cost the NHS a fortune in things like broken legs from people doing parachute jumps after a 10 minute 'crash' course.

YANBU about some things, but I admit until this thread I didn't know about what sleepychunky says.

However, I don't think that anyone apart from the person doing the challenge should pay for the actual event. So if £1500 of £1800 goes to charity, then that person should pay the £300 difference.

I was once asked to sponser someone to do a skydive. It cost £150 to do the skydive and then anything after that would go to charity. I declined and said I would donate direct to the charity. They thought I was tight, until I pointed out they were basically asking for people to pay for the skydive and wouldn't contribute anything to the charity if they didn't get above £150!

She was thick though and still didn't get it.

I think these events are a bit less popular now that more people think it's sponsoring someone's holiday.

I believe that some projects in developing world have been set up purely because people in wealthier countries are willing to fund them via sponsorship for Gap year projects, not really because there is any need for the school to be repainted......

YANBU. Pisses me right off. I am no longer on speaking terms with a former friend who badgered me for donations for his fucking cricket team to go to some cold country to play ice cricket. It got to the point where, after sending me about a dozen emails about it which I had ignored, he called me and said I should sponsor them because I earned more than he did. I explained why that wouldn't be happening, and we haven't spoken since...