AIBU to not "get" charity sponsoring for marathons, bike rides, walking Great Wall of China or whatever?

[shirleybasseyslovechild]

friend decides to run marathon " in aid of cancer" asks all friends on social media to donate .

???

I don't get this at all. ( I nearly always donate though)
run a marathon if you like.
give money to cancer research if you like. I'll do the same.

but why link the two ?

Nothing like mumsnet to turn something positive to a negative, this is not something she has took on lightly, months and months of her own time training, I agree that the work should be sourced local but it dosent happen,

Going those are really interesting links. A friend's daughter is going to Africa for Gap Medics as she wants to study medicine. I've happily sponsored her as I felt that she was going to be helping others. At the same time it gives her a taste of what being a doctor is like (which she couldn't do here). It never occurred to me (and I'm sure not to her) that she might be putting a qualified African doctor or nurse out of a paid job.

lived I think the above posts are just pointing out the reality, they are not trying to turn a positive into a negative. It's no different to posters making other MNers aware that the likes of Samaritan's Purse et al are not as virtuous as their PR makes them out to be.

If the money your daughter has raised was donated locally instead of lining the pockets of the tour operator, a lot more good could be done than would be by your daughter.

I can totally see why she would want to do this, that it would be a once in a lifetime, fulfilling experience..but if the aim is to do good, then the reality from people on the ground, as opposed to the PR machine of a business, is very different.

Nothing like mumsnet to turn something positive to a negative Actually I'd like to do the exact opposite. Turn the view people have of Africa as backward, war-torn and deskilled place, into the reality; a vibrant, fantastic continent, diverse and full of committed, educated, hard-working people who can be their own solution.

They didn't need colonialism, they didn't need neo-colonialism and they probably don't need well-meaning charitable youth from Europe. I'm sure your DD will have a fabulous, very informative, incredibly enriching time. I love visiting myself. But I know that Africa will be the source of Africa's solutions, not me.

Sadly I do think, and have heard that, many schemes where young people and other volunteers go out to teach and build do fall flat. Kids end up getting taught the same English phrases over and over rather than progressing, building work is slow and unskilled.

However. Not all schemes are like that and there are many good ones who utilise the talents they have and I hope the dd in question is going to make a difference as well as learn herself. I have a friend who did great work in rural Russia. I have another who went to an orphanage in chile, there is a scheme in Senegal that is local, grass roots led that places people where they can be of benefit and where you know that every penny you bring goes right into the local economy because it isn't run by bunac or similar. Another friend worked with a children's home in Rwanda for several years and still has ties there. It can be done well. Other friends lived elsewhere in the African continent, fully funded by their own savings and then by donations from supportive friends and family. They used their skills in healthcare and business to help streamline the charity and to lead the training of women, so that they could leave behind an organisation that was working of a sound business model and that could be self sufficient and continue to flourish and to leave behind women who had the skills to teach and train others. There are many, many skilled people in developing countries but they do not have access to resources that we have. We can and should use our privilege to bring that over and to help fledgling organisations and charities on the ground in those nations to have a sound structure so that they can grow and succeed.

Did you know that the vast Majority of sanitation schemes in developing countries fail? All those pictures of new water pumps and all that jazz. They ultimately fail. A friend has been doing a lot of research into that. We are privileged but we can put that to good use to work with people rather than patronise them as Im afraid many big, expensive organisations do.

It sounds as though the dd who is going out is going with a smaller organisation that her school has worked with for a long time so that is really positive.

I sponsor things that I consider requires a certain amount of effort or training. So, someone's first marathon etc yes.

I resent anything abroad. No way. Ultimately they are going on a jolly in my opinion. Even if there is a hard part ie climbing a mountain, the people I know also go sightseeing etc.

I do often donate to friends' charity stuff. It is just that it is relative to the effort. My friend was miffed she didn't get a lot for walking a 5k Race for Life. She walks that most days anyway. If she had trained for it and jogged it, I would have given more.

If people knew how much of their donation goes to the charity directors and admin, I doubt they would donate as much. I used to fundraise for the RSPCA. The charity is divided into branches, and some are more successful at raising money than others. However, whatever the size of the branch, the first £15k of all funds raised had to be given directly to head office for their running costs. Never mind that they had a local rescue centre to keep running. So all those tin shakers stood out in all weathers to keep RSPCA directors in leather chairs. It boils my piss.