To be fed up with people asking me to sponsor them?

[Peachy27]

I have a monthly direct debit set up to a charity, one which is close to my heart for personal reasons. It is for the amount I have budgeted I can afford to give to charity on a monthly basis.
Yet I seem to be continuously asked to sponsor friends, work colleagues etc for various runs they are doing. Whilst I get they are trying to raise money for a charity close to their hearts, should I stop giving to the charity I chose so that I have money to give to the charities they choose?
I can see that running a marathon or whatever is an admirable thing to do, for some this is going to be more of a hardship than others. People that actually enjoy running or want to get fit I almost feel like I'm paying their charity choice for them to do their hobby. Part of me thinks why don't they eat baked beans for a month or stop drinking alcohol and give the money they save to their charity rather than expecting their friends to pay...
I suspect I am being a little unreasonable but so many people have asked me recently and I feel really awkward not really having the money, especially as it is invariably to help a charity which has helped a close family member.....

Yanbu! I cry a little inside when someone asks me to sponsor them.

I think it is fine to not sponsor them. If asked (which you probably wouldn't be, especially if it's just a group email sent out), you could just say that you support one particular charity every month and are not able or willing to sponsor people for other things as well.

I still feel guilty about asking people to sponsor me for the London to Brighton bike ride years ago; I was just a keen cyclist going on a long bike ride. I would be more inclined to sponsor someone for a marathon or something that is very hard work and may require a lot of training and dedication. I can see why charities do them as they must be an effective means of raising money. But then I wonder why there are no sponsored litter picks or something that might have some benefit to the wider community.

SiL (before I went NC) would do a sponsored run thing and text daily reminding me to sponsor.

Other people want to be sponsored for really bullshit things. Giving up alcohol or a week, for example.

Being nagged for money is boring.

Yanbu I feel exactly the same as you.

Thanks, that's good to know. Just felt really bad for the most recent one as it was for the hospice which had looked after my friends sister...I was really close to her at the time it all happened but we've kind of drifted apart since and only catch up a couple of times a year...but once I've given some money to charity I'd be taking money away from getting things for my kids to pay to anyone else's charity....

I can see that running a marathon or whatever is an admirable thing to do

Is it ? Why? What's admirable about it?

Oh and YANBU

yanbu it drives me mad. i'm glad you made this thread as it makes me feel really mean normally when I say no...

I HATE anything on FB asking for donations. I already give to 2 charities of my own choosing and don't like being accosted into more alongside doing stupid stuff..

Totally agree. I got text after text and email after email to remind me to donate money for someone having grown a moustache. It's hardly an achievement.

We have a large open office and a big rules poster, one of my favourites is you are allowed to send out a group email/yammer asking for sponsorship, donations, raffles etc but you are not allowed to chase or ask people directly. Works well.

Im glad my colleagues are sensible. If not i might urgently need to toilet. Charity giving is personal, being pressurised is wrong. There are a few charities i refuse to support (rspca to name one as hated what they did to to a neighbour and dont get me on dogs trust and their chuggers who sign up my patients with learning disabilities onto monthy direct debit at an amount their cant afford her month) and those i support (hospices, macmillion angels sorry nurses)

I raised nearly £1000 last year doing a run. I'm not going to apologise to my friends for posting requests all over email, social media etc. If they choose not to sponsor me then that is fine but I'll post because others might sponsor me even if a few friends won't. A thousand pounds for my charity is a lot of money which will hopefully do some good. To be honest I don't give a tiny rats ass if it pisses a few people off.

Wish I'd asked this a long time ago. I feel better already!

I've sponsored a few, but no more. Running is their hobby, otherwise they wouldn't be able to run a marathon. I'm not going to sponsor anyone else to do their hobby. They only corner you afterwards and tell you how many times they nearly shit themselves doing the run ( apparently it does that to you?). YANBU.

Nothing wrong with not sponsoring, it's only a request. But nothing wrong with people asking either!

Will you sponsor me?

Sorry

Yeah, Movember is another one. So you've grown a tache? Who the fuck cares. I get one if I don't shave for a week, hardly a major achievement.

Actually I prefer the online Just Giving approach, much easier than when someone was hanging over you with a much folded sponsor form and a plastic bag full of cash.

Just polite say that you used up your sponsorship budget this month and wish them well.

I like sponsoring close friends who are doing stuff but do pick and choose, it's impossible to do everything.

Yeah random, I'll sponsor them for Movember when they sponsor me for Fanuary..... Hmm. Thought not

It gets on my nerves too.

We had a girl in our small team that did about eight different charity challenges in a year. I paid for the first five, by the sixth I took comfort in saying I would leave a donation in just giving.org and hoped she thought one of those many anonymous donations was mine .

At the end of the day, I want to have the freedom to give to my selected charity.

I did a sponsored run a few months ago. Running is not in any way my hobby. I hate running; it hurts. However, someone suggested it and one thing led to another...

I made one post on Facebook with a link to my Just Giving page, and that was that. Some people sponsored me; some people didn't sponsor me but still left messages of support which I really appreciated!

I don't know why it has to be a big deal, as long as people aren't pushy about it - chasing and repeated emails are pretty tacky. You should ignore those as a matter of principle!

I raised $11,500 running a marathon for the royal marsden and our local chemo unit here. I never expected to raise so much, but i ran as I'd just lost my brother to cancer and the royal marsden gave him amazing care.
Training and running that marathon hurt. And hurt bad. Especially with a 9 month old, and a full time job and 3am training runs (live in the tropics) - I had no bother asking people for money and was grateful for every penny.
I agree that it's totally different if you're a natural and regular distance runner (which I wasnt!!) and honestly I wouldn't dream of asking anyone else to sponsor me for another marathon, because I never want to do another one!
But if someone is stepping way out of their comfort zone I will sponsor them, like a marathon or triathlon. Pushing yourself beyond anything you have dreamed for yourself is admirable and I'm totally behind that. Not so much growing hair, but I appreciate that it raises a lot of money for cancer charities and whilst I don't generally sponsor that, I'm always grateful for the awareness.

Err forgot to say YNBU - sponsoring someone to not drink alcohol in January? No, fuck off.
But sponsoring someone who is willing to take on one of the biggest challenges of their lives, yes I would do that.
(I sponsored friends of mine in a charity head shave for local children battling some debilitating cancers and bloody hell did I cry cheering them on - $250k raised and I was so proud to donate to that cause)

can you sponsor me please?

I decided to eat an entire box of jaffa cakes every day next month so need money to buy jaffa cakes. Tesco value ones are fine.
thank you very muchly

YADNBU- i don't like this either and it makes for lots of awkward situations.

As an aside I don't really get the whole "is it a hard thing to do" or not when it comes to sponsorship. I always see sponsoring people as basically just making a donation to charity and making a symbolic gesture for a friend. Either you are willing/ able to give to that charity or not- I don't really care whether someone is climbing Everest or eating Jaffa cakes.