Fundraising Friend

[creamteas]

A friend of mine likes running, it is her passion. She started off doing small races and now is seriously into marathon running. She is running, at last count, 20 this year, and I really do admire her for doing this. But she expects all her friends to sponsor her in every single one.

I regularly give to charities, and I have a few that I prefer to support more than others. I am happy to support her fundraising a couple of times of year, but when I tried to politely explain that I wouldn't support all her races as I had my own preferred causes, it went down like a lead balloon. She stated that she was putting so much effort in, and that I was uncaring by not sponsoring her.

AIBU

[VoiceofUnreason]

I hate this too. I have specific charities I already give to and so I use that as a reason for not sponsoring although if someone was doing something that I knew was a real challenge or effort for them, I would sponsor.

What annoys me are those events where the participant has a jolly time which we have basically paid for. A friend of mine did a "driving day" to "raise money for the firefighters charity" (which does exist, and I approve of as my uncle was a firefighter). But it basically was her getting to drive a JCB, a fire engine, a truck, a bus for an afternoon. So, people were sponsoring her to have a good time - sorry, wrong, and I told her so.

[mrsjay]

yanbu I know somebody like this it is wonderful they enjoy what they are doing and want to raise money but she does every single race in a 50 mile radius and expects people to sponser her for it all , I ignore her just giving page most I will sponser her once a year ,

[doublecakeplease]

Yanbu - i went to China on a Great Wall trek. It was an amazing HOLIDAY which i scrimped to pay for myself. It was an organised group trip - i couldn't believe the number of people there who had used sponsor money to get there!

[HousewifeFromHeaven]

Tell her she's becoming a chugger!!

That should rein her in a bit

[Didactylos]

I refuse to sponsor skydives for any cause
and give them a copy of this article
Id rather just give money directly to charity than sponsor anyone Tbh

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020138302001006

[Illustrationaddict]

Maybe a taste of her own medicine is in order? What could you easily do for charity and pester her for cash for umpteen times a year?

[hobnobsaremyfavourite]

DS shaved his head a couple of years ago for a small cancer charity that was supporting his very poorly friend. He raised £300 and I was proud of him. But it was a one off, if he had asked people to sponsor him the next time he had a haircut.....and the next time.....and the next time...
you get the idea :)

[RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief]

My rule of thumb is that I sponsor for anything that has involved a huge amount of commitment etc and when it's the first time or not very often (eg they run the London marathon every year). I never sponsor anyone for anything lame, like when people I know run half marathons try to hit me up for Race for Life.

If she's running a marathon every 2 weeks or so, that's almost just her weekly run. I know people who do this every week as a hobby (hardcore trail runners), but t's just that- they dont expect people to sponsor them for it

[ChasingStaplers]

YANBU

I never sponsor 5k runs (everyone does them these days) and am very choosy about other things.
In fact, I sponsored someone for the first time in about 5 years the other week because he had gone from no exercise to doing a marathon and got into the top 100.
He did it specifically for the charity (a really good cause) as he'd had personal experience related to them and is never going to do another one so won't be asking for sponsors every 6 months.
I agree about the holiday ones and think often people do this to put on their cv or because they like being 'worthy'.
I donate money to the charities of my choice each month and it's no one else's business.

[RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief]

I dont mind the holiday/ experience ones so much if the participant is covering the costs themselves. What I hate is when they raise £2500 and £1700 of that was the costs of them participating. However, some of them are pretty touristy (Everest base camp trek etc)

I did the Marathon de Sables and I got corporate sponsors to cover 50% of my costs (in return for slogans on kit etc), paid the rest myself, and then when people sponsored me, it all went straight to charity.

[TastesLikePanda]

When a colleague and I did the Midnight Walk (13 miles) for our local hospice last year, we had a joint sponsorship form - otherwise we would have been asking the same people to sponsor both of us. That made sense to us and I ended up doing all the asking because she got all shy about it

[NinaHeart]

I work as a charity fundraiser but nevertheless agree that YANBU. Sponsorship for first marathon - great. It's a challenge and a personl achievement for someone. Subsequent marathons, not such a challenge.

And we stopped doing the "holiday" things several years ago as I agree with the opinion that it is paying for somone else to have a good time!

However, challenge events do bring in the charity I work for a net of over £50,000 a year - and we are not one of the big boys at all, so it is an appreciable sum to go towards our good cause.

[WilsonFrickett]

I have done a 'big' event and people were incredibly generous, primarily because a) I asked for sponsorship rather than gifts for a big birthday and b) I am a total couch potato.

I won't do another big sponsored event for at least another 5 years, because it's not fair to keep on asking people for money, especially when it's essentially money to fund a hobby. YANBU.

[Iggi101]

You are giving her money for something she finds fun. Will someone sponsor me to mumsnet for 24 hours straight?
I doubt it.
So many people are keen to do "events" for charities (and I'm not meaning to knock this, it obviously has its place) but it doesn't occur to most to give any of their time to a charity, volunteering rather than running or whatever.
I also think it can be quite showy, and many people work tirelessly for charities in a much more low-key way.

[Undertone]

I stick to clear rules re: sponsorship for running:

1. No more than once a year
   
2. Each time, the 'challenge' level goes up
   a) Either distance (i.e. 5k, 10k, 1/2 marathon etc.)
   b) Or comedy factor (increasingly silly fancy dress for example)
   
3. A charity I really believe in, have researched, and can tell people about if they ask me. I always run for Age UK.
   
4. Never ask people directly - there's a JustGiving page set up, that I tell people about, but never send out emails to people except work colleagues because they're not on Facebook as friends.

[NinaHeart]

I agree that many charities do need volunteers, but not all. It's a fallacy that charities are run and managed by largely unpaid staff.

Why..?

For example, the one I work for funds specialist medical research and obviously you can't have volunteers mullocking about with brain surgery! For that, we need hard cash to fund projects that will have impact on life-changing/threatening conditions.

We have a staff of 5 - hardly over staffed and as a fundrasier, being employed means I raise over five times my salary so it is cost effective.

Sorry - sounds like i am lecturing - I just get tired of defending charity practices and the assumptions made about charities and their values!

[Iggi101]

Not sure if that is to me Nina - would never occur to me that charities are run and managed by volunteers, I know a fair number of people employed in valuable roles by charities.
Lots of charities DO need/benefit from people offering to help/offering skill sets, as well as obviously from hard cash.

[LemonsLimes]

I've stopped sponsoring people on Facebook as there are so many. I just say well done instead. When people raise money, do they contribute money to the charity themselves too, or just ask for it from others and their contribution is to run the race/trek/skydive?

[MumnGran]

YANBU ... and she will get over it!!

I take the stance that if I sponsored everyone who asked, I would need charitable help myself!!

[cocoplops]

My MIL does this too. A run was a big achievement for her and its for a cause very close to her heart and all her friends seemed very pleased to sponsor her for the first few times. But she's now been doing it for a decade - same race - same distance (the distance she runs pretty much as standard at the gym most weeks!). I have no problem sponsoring her - its a family specific cause and I still think its great that she runs. But one of her friends actually did decline one year (and since) as she said she had her own charities. My MIL was uber offended. But if you think about it, these friends over the course of the last 10 years have donated between £100-500 each to my MIL's chosen charity - so I can see her friends pov! I think my MIL should do a different race, or do something different - otherwise people must get a bit eye rolly over being 'fleeced' for their annual subscription!

[NinaHeart]

Iggi - a general comment really and not aimed at you. Lots of people are under the misapprehension that charities survive on goodwill and fresh air whereas the huge majority are very professionally run outfits.
(even if we have a Dickensian office with no kitchen!)

[pigletmania]

Yanbu this is just very rude. It's her choice to run. I would be firm and if you fall out over this she does not sound like much of a friend

[ElenaHandcart]

Oh yanbu!

I have a friend whose career is charity fundraising. I get at least 5 sponsorship requests from her every year, always accompanied by a guilt-trip laden email about how she's doing all the hard work so the least we can do is sponsor her.

It bugs me for 2 reasons

1. Running is her hobby, and I spend a about 6-7 hours a week looking after her child to give her the time to go running
   
2. She's always raising money for whichever charity she's working for - when she changes jobs, her worthy cause changes too. If it was really something close to her heart would she not stick to one charity rather than her employer?
   

Of course I'm too much of a wimp to call her on these things so I just sponsor her once a year and mention that I prefer to support just a few charities which I have a personal connection to on a regular basis via direct debit.