AIBU to think that you don't email a 13 year old to ask them to sponsor you?

[Sunnymeg]

Friends are doing a sponsored event in a couple of months. They have a just giving page and have daily begging updates on Facebook. As a family, we were more than willing to donate nearer to the time of the actual event. However they have now emailed DS to ask for a donation. Am I right to believe that this is completely out of order and forget to make a donation to them and give the money to another charity instead?

I would be perfectly fine if my friends contacted my 13 year old to ask them to sponsor them in a charity event.

They probably just selected 'send to all' and didn't think much about it.

Not a big deal really.

But just out of interest, why shouldn't they ask a 13yr old if they want to sponsor them?

It's not a threat or demand for payment.

It's probably fine if the message wasn't a threat or anything like that. For the future, ask them not to email your son about this kind of thing and email you instead.
But if you have already said yes to donating as a family I agree thats its a bit unreasonable to send that email to your son.

They emailed a whole load of people on a bulk email, so my son's email address has gone to everyone on that list as well. DS only has his pocket money and I think they were emailing him for money as they have our email, so it would have been easy to contact us. I had already said I would donate nearer the time and they sent the email 3 days later.

If you've already said you'll donate nearer the time then they're being rude.

I wouldn't donate now. The FB begging would also put me off.

In this case the friends are being too pushy and therefore BU.

However in general 13 is probably old enough to be approached without pressure for sponsorship, understanding that if they do sponsor it might well be using family money rather than their own - eg: to sponsor a school-friend or even maybe a scout leader etc to do something.

It does seem odd to approach the 13 year old rather than you if you are the closer relationship to the person needing sponsoring though.

yanbu

It was probably a mistake on their part. I think it's rude to send out bulk emails listing everyone's email address - I'd send them a friendly email telling them that you will sponcer them later (if you want) that they accidently included your DS's email and that you suggest they use the 'BCC' function when they next send out mass emails as it's more secure.

I send an email to the sender when anyone sends me a big group email that lists everyone's email suggesting they send them 'BCC' as it's safer. I'm friendly and polite - I think some people don't know it's an option.