Once in a lifetime trip disguised as fundraising for Charities

[staveleymum]

Don't get me wrong - I'm all for people raising money for Charity. People asking for sponsorship for things like Marathons, 1000 miles walked in a year, midnight walks, etc. I'm also on board with Red Nose Day, Children in Need, PTA fundraising, kids clubs fundraising and everything else that seems to constantly need money to run.

BUT I just don't get fundraising for things like hiking up Kilimanjaro or funding a trip to Borneo (for a 16 year old) to build a school or some such similar. Both these events need to raise £4,000 so they are on facebook, justgiving, etc trying to raise the money. My issue is that of the £4,000 needed how much will actually go to charity. This covers flights, accommodation, food, guides, etc - surely this is just something that they want to do as a personal thing and wrapping it up in Charity and getting others to pay for it?

I'd love to walk over Sydney Harbour Bridge but I wouldnt dream of masking it in Charity and hoping others will pay for it with perhaps 5-10% of the money raised actually going to the Charity?

I know I don't have to sponsor but I'd rather just give the donation directly to the Charity. AIBU?

YANBU at all OP - drives me mad when people want their holidays paying for under the guise of charity.

There's only two occasions I can remember which didn't annoy me:

1. Colleagues who paid their costs and anything extra went straight to the charity
2. A friend who was raising money for a charity experience and did it by asking for donations in exchange for massages (she was trained), babysitting, chores etc and I thought that was fair enough.

I don't mind sponsoring the self funded ones. Often the event company will give two methods to join in an event.

Self funded. Where you pay all your costs yourself, then whatever you raise on top goes to the charity.
Or 100 % fundraising. Where you need to raise a minimum amount, which covers your costs and leaves a charity donation.

If someone has covered the flights and accommodation themselves, I am happy to donate for the part when they physically trek through a jungle.

I'm sure that many independent schools encourage this sort of thing in order to help maintain their charitable status.

Over the years I've become more and more cynical about charities in general as I think many (most?) of them squander far too much in overheads and salaries, especially for the most senior people. Then there's the issue of overseas donations being creamed off by corrupt governments and I also think that there is a fair bit of duplication amongst some of the smaller charities in this country and that they would do better to pool their resources. It's not easy negotiating the path between "generous giving" and not simply becoming a "mug".

Yes, you don't get people asking you to sponsor them to dredge plastic bags and old trolleys out of the local canal every Saturday morning.

It's always flying away for a month to climb a beautiful mountain in an exotic country they just happened to have always dreamt of going to.

Enko And what skills will your 15 year old bring to building a house, that aren't available in the community?

This with bells on. I live in a South American country where teens are regularly shipped over to build houses, volunteer in orphanages. A couple of NGO friends say it's basically babysitting because the teens are unskilled. An unskilled teen will have to be handheld all the way through the process of building a house or teaching a lesson, which means it takes longer to get anything done. But the charities have to grin and bear it for the money they bring.

5foot5 What county are you in? (Asking for a reason as am wondering if I'm thinking of said same school!)

I agree. A relative did something along these lines. She and a friend went over to an African school to help out, and did a series of fundraising events to pay for their travel and spends. Of course they claimed to have transformed the entire country's education system and shown the teachers what to do. Those two women who'd never worked in a school before, and who managed to cram in a safari holiday between tidying up the school library and showing the children some funny photos of themselves on Facebook .

YANBU...don't get me started on the clueless 18 year olds who go to "teach" English.

To give to charity efficiently - donate directly. No justgiving etc (6% off) or high overhead jollies.

Sending entitled first world kids ( because in this context all first world kids are entitled) to do work rather than paying locals to do it is not the way. Especially not via religious missionary charities.

And world challenge - the same holiday can be obtained much cheaper when they are old enough to go alone.

I think it depends on the charity and what they are doing.

The hospice I work for gets a lot of fundraising through people doing events like climb Kilimajaro etc. Almost all the people doing it will be doing in memory of someone who has died and find it hugely therapeutic going as a group with people who have similar experiences to them.

So different to just deciding to do it on a holiday.

It's also clear how much will be going to the charity. We have a very low portion of fundraised cash going on admin, particularly compared to the big players like Macmillan where it is much higher.

However I'm always suspicious of volunteer projects - would the school not be better built by giving work to local crafts people? Would the children be better educated by people with actual teaching skills? Some of these are basically scams to get money of well-meaning travellers with minimal benefit to the local community.

I'm glad JKRowling is speaking out about this. She's great!

You have to know if the money being raised is directly for the charity or to fund the trip

Trouble is, what are the chances of getting a sensible answer? Maybe I've been unlucky but the ones I've known have all been big on talk but very short on detail

The thread's suggested a good reply, though; in future I may just say that I already support that country / charity / whatever directly

I've done a number of climbs/sky dives/had marathons for charity - not a penny of donation has funded my costs of doing so. I fund those so any donations go directly to the charity. I can't believe anyone does otherwise, so crass.

Daughter went on a trip, organised by school, and a specialised company (teachers go free, but its hard work) so many days hiking, the other days, buying equipment, and renovating a school, painting, creating a sports field for the kids, painting their toilet block etc. (Terrifically hard in the heat, and foreign language culture etc for them)
They are encouraged to fund raise for this in all manner of ways, to raise the money themselves in a way, which is why people ask for sponsorship. We always knew we'd have the bulk to pay, but couldnt afford it, so my kind mother paid a lot of it.
They did other sponsored events, which we provided the basis for, for example, bake sales, local christmas craft sales, again we provided the materials, and bag packing at supermarkets where people were very generous, and this money was used for equipment and food out there.

Although I've sponsored loads of people over the years, for all sorts of things, only 2 people sponsored her for £5 each, (may have been one, my friend promised, though I dont remember if she did pay, although I sponsored her for something else, twice.)
No one else sponsored her, and I realise everyone just thinks its a jolly for the pupils. We paid for lots of equipment and clothes, and family all kindly chipped in.
Anyway for her it has been life changing. She has gone to university, on very little money, and is working at the same time, doing a physical sporty outwardbounds type of degree, and although she had jobs she did well in at sixth form, she was never an outdoor type. So we are very proud of her.
It was life changing as they said, but with out the kindness of family, she couldnt have done it...

Even the self funded ones annoy me, personally. A colleague did a sponsored cycle round Cuba, paid for it all himself and asked for sponsorship for the charity. Honestly, I felt that if he actually cared about the charity he could do a however-many-mile cycle locally for sponsorship and donate the £3k he saved on not going to Cuba, too.
I'm horribly tight about such things though and hate all sponsored events. Want to raise money? Throw a party, run a quiz, sell some cakes, do a raffle. Plenty of things where people get something for the cash they part with and it's not all "look at me, I can run/swim/cycle".

"I think young people taking time out of studies or work to travel and work in orphanages or build schools is a great thing for the young person and the charities"

Not it is not a good idea at all Pettywoman!!. Voluntourism is full of ethical problems which many people do not consider at all.

Unfortunately these young people do not have the necessary skills to for example build a school wall. How many 16 year olds can build such a thing?. None of them have such skills. The walls are often then knocked down before the next group arrives. It also takes work away from the local people. Also orphanage visits these days are not done by charities due to ethical and safeguarding concerns. It was discovered that many of these children in orphanages were not orphans at all. Orphanages trips should be consigned to history.

My DD raised £1000 in order to go on a 10 week trip to Nicaragua to assist poorer communities in improving sanitation. it was hot and back breaking work and she slept on the floor of a hut and showered outside in a home made contraption. The food was mainly beans and rice. It certainly l wasn't a luxury holiday but she gained so much from the experience.

I'm sorry Blue but that £1000 would have been far better spent paying local people to improve sanitation.

howCanwedo12 It may have been "life changing" for your daughter but at what cost and exploitation to the community that she visited?

Excellentwork totally agree. Even the self funded ones are really about the feel good factor for the participant or the look at me factor not the charity or the have-to-be-grateful poor community abroad.

They worked with the local people and only did what they actually wanted. They stayed with the families and all parties appear to have benefitted from the experience.

YANBU it feels very self indulgent to me.

It's not altruistic.

Not that I disagree with people giving something back but pay for it yourself. There is heaps to be gained not least a new perspective from taking part in this kind of activity but I think it's more of a personal journey, not a selfless charitable act.

The only time I have sponsored anything like this is when a group of teachers I know paired up with a school in Uganda and organised going over there for a month to help them build a new curriculum for their school and other schools in that area. They funded flights etc themselves but wanted to raise some money for supplies and to fix the schools up a bit which they bought and organised while they were out there to help the schools have a fresh start. Everything about the trip was about benefiting the local community out there rather than just an ego trip for all the teachers.

I agree with all said - the benefit is to the "volunteer ". Can we all make a plea that no more parents ask us to subsidise these trips - find a more useful way to help a charity . How about encouraging your offspring to get a job - a proven way to gain extra skills and confidence. I was asked to subsidise a friends son ( at a top private school) to go off on this type of jaunt- it stuck in my throat ,as my kids were working hard to save up to go on a weeks single holiday in Europe.