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?

I agree. It actually annoys me on a smaller level when people who I know are regular runners start asking for regular donations.

I'm running two marathons and four halfs this year but I'm doing it for me as I love running and like the challenge- I wouldn't dream of hitting up friends six times because I'm doing it for charity. I know somebody who does this and takes some of the money towards the entry fee.

So I did world challenge and had a gap year teaching English and I do think I was rather naive in terms of what we were actually contributing. World Challenge especially was completely an adventure holiday with very little value for the local residents.

That being said i didn't get anyone to sponsor me. I raised the money through my weekend job and face painting at fetes in the summer. (Made a fortune from this. Sometimes consider taking it up again!) my parents bought my equipment which was about £300.

I paid for my gap year by working for 6 months. A lovely couple from my church gave me £100 which I spent on teaching materials for the kids. Again looking back I feel that I was completely useless as an English teacher however I have total respect for the lady who ran the school. She knew what she was doing. We were extra to the normal teaching staff and for the price of food and accommodation each year she has had a steady stream of relatively well off MC kids come through who have a loyalty to the school and now many of us sponsor students or fundraise for them in other ways. Good value in the long term!

Meeep I think you might be a genius. I love the idea of a double whammy of doing something unpleasant but altruistic like litter picking and being sponsored for it. If someone asked me for sponsorship for that i would totally give.

I don't know how I feel about asking people for money to sponsor my running. Again it feels like paying for my hobby but I know that charities raise lost if money from it.

there is no way I will fund someone to do something they would really like to do but feel that other people should pay for it
as with running marathons or whatever for charity, people do that because they want to run the marathon, I like running and it makes me feel great but as with other exercise it's a recreational activity which I indulge in because it's of benefit to my overall well being.

Asking people to sponsor you to run the marathon is pretending that you are sacrificing your time and energy to help the needy.

"A dd of mine did teach English to older children in a SE Asian orphanage, but she was a foreign language graduate who had also done a very rigorous and demanding TEFL course - not one of those crappy online things. The orphanage was very close to a major tourist site and most of the jobs the children could eventually hope to get would be tourism related, where English would certainly be an asset.
She taught for free and cost the orphanage nothing, since she was in the country anyway and supporting herself by giving paid lessons elsewhere.
"

Volunteering in orphanages is harmful. Most children are not orphaned. The Khmer Rouge, for example, ended in 1999. There are thus no orphans from them in Cambodia. Any orphans are now adults. Orphanages are often setup at the time when orphans exist but they don't close down later and basically recruit children with parents.

www.thinkchildsafe.org/thinkbeforevisiting/

I think there is a lot of charitable causes young people can contribute to in this country and it would actually make a difference. For example social isolation is a really big issue, I work in voluntary sector and there is a lot of people who need befrienders but not enough people wanting to do it.

It's not just older people people who are suffering social isolation there are a lot of younger people who have social anxiety, low confidence and don't leave the house, it would be great if they would have someone to take them to the shops or just hang out at a cafe having a few hot drinks and a sandwich. If it wasn't for someone being my befriender I would be still seriously ill with mental health issues or dead, instead I'm now working and building my life. As well as being a befriendee, I've also been a befriender. The man I befriended, moved out of his parents home last year and has started going to festivals.

Why can't people do something that benefits their community and they can see a real difference they are making to someones life, instead of going to a country and most likely making the lives of the locals a little bit harder?

I once wondered whether to go out to Africa to volunteer with a charity which a friend supports. I don't have primary teaching or nursing or midwifery skills, so basically it would have been a glorified jolly. DS suggested a better contribution would have been the airfare that I saved by not going, and of course, although I gave, I wasn't quite that generous.

The friend is a qualified teacher, and goes regularly, so I think she does make a proper contribution - it is work for her, and she stumps up her own fare.

I blame Fern Britton - she was the one who publicised those cycling through India/China/Argentina holidays which are dressed up as charitable.

If you were REALLY serious about raising money there are much more efficient ways of doing it. But that's not as glamorous, is it?

I just googled Urban Saint and note they are active in Glasgow. You could get to Glasgow for a lot less than £700...

I would happily sponsor someone doing a litter pick; that's something that would actually have a positive impact on my daily life. I'd be reluctant to sponsor someone to go on a holiday they'd like to go on anyway. If they wanted to be extremely altruistic they could skip the holiday and donate the money saved directly to charity. I also agree that there are many ways that people could make a difference in their local communities but that's much less exciting and photogenic.

Our niece is going to do a volontourism thing in Kenya next year when she is 16. I think it will be great for her; whether it benefits the local community I am less sure about.

Peregrina I think qualified midwives, teachers, builders etc going out and leaving skills behind is absolutely admirable and I said upthread I'd gladly stump up for that. But I never get asked - so I'm led to conclude that the people who actually do make a difference go about it quietly.

I work in voluntary sector and there is a lot of people who need befrienders but not enough people wanting to do it
this imo is true charity, privately giving your time and effort to help those in need,
not guilt tripping other people into donating money whilst you publically big yourself up doing something which you want to do anyway but which isnt intrinsically useful.
Running a marathon takes a huge amount of effort but is essentially pointless and self indulgent

two parents in our office were discussing their (privately educated kids) doing something like the borneo trip and amazing it was for the kids but hard cos they had a to climb a mountain and walk in jungle etc.....but they were both very clear it was to put stuff on their university application forms - as you will not get into a 'good/posh' uni to be a doctor/dentist/city banker etc without stuff like this on your university form/cv.....now lots of schools do d of e they need to up the ante on school trips experiences....

they do both completely believe this is the case and did have kids doing said courses etc so I do wonder what truth there is to it....was a v depressing conv ersation and I do hope it is not the case but at least there was no pretending any charitable reason

Im only on page 4 but wanted to comment on the poster who mentioned 2 ladies who trained as midwives to deliver babies in Uganda or India. Could I ask did they actually train as midwifes or did they like a relative of mine do a course with their church group and get sent as missionary "midwives" to poverty stricken countries to preach the word of god, name the child with a christian name and only deliver babies to women who agreed to let god into their lives?

My relative was brainwashed at a very vulnerable time by an Evangelical Christian group and ended up in YWAM donating all her worldly goods and money to the church as did everyone else so she could live in a commune and study to be a "midwife" to deliver babies. The families donating to the church and her own family funded the many many missionary trips and she finally came to us to ask for even more money to go to Mexico because god told her to ask us to fund it (she had no money left). It was a hugely harmful experience to her and to her family who were worried sick and to the poor woman who in a vulnerable time being in labour or losing babies had privileged white women pray over them and name the child with a good god-fearing name. Eventually she left but she is not a trained midwife, doula or anything else.

Donate the money directly to the charity if you want to do something good. I am so glad when I came to my parents as a teen with a missionary trip they told me where to go. If your kids want to help a community, why not help their own community.

Volunteering in orphanages is harmful. Most children are not orphaned. The Khmer Rouge, for example, ended in 1999. There are thus no orphans from them in Cambodia. Any orphans are now adults. Orphanages are often setup at the time when orphans exist but they don't close down later and basically recruit children with parents.

Have to disagree with this. I volunteer at an orphanage local to me, it's a government institution and is legit. The children are victims of conflict, or children of single parents living in poverty. Some return to their families but 90% of the time they end up back in the orphanage because the parent simply can't support themselves as well as a child. In this culture, and I imagine in Asia too, there is not the fostering and adoption culture/set up that there is in western countries. Add to that a lack of education and contraception and it means orphanages are a sad fact of life.

I do realise that there are plenty of orphanages like the ones you describe though, and I have heard some terrible stories about these places "renting" children from their parents. And worse.

That sounds really interesting Captain Marvel - which charity do you volunteer for if you don't mind me asking?

Can I add that YABVU not to include people who want you to sponsor them for not having alcohol for a month? And who then post on FB every 5 minutes about their sufferings. No, just no.

Re the poverty porn - lots of responsible travel organisations offer homestays that benefit local economies and allow you to meet local people as equals, rather than forcing them into the role of supplicants for dubious acts of charity that they never wanted anyway.

My friend runs a youth club and playscheme for disabled teens (some with very complex disabilities indeed). The brilliant thing about it is each child has a 1:1 volunteer support who is also a teen - one of the unseen things about disability is children often spend the vast majority of their time with adults. It's a brilliant, brilliant model. She lives in a mixed area and it's very noticeable that the majority of the volunteers are from the less niace part of the county. The niace area children are all too busy fundraising for their gap yah, the other kids are just rolling their sleeves up and helping in their community. Brilliant kids.

YANBU.

We know several people around here who do this. One in particular does the New York marathon every year for 'charity'. In truth, he gets flights and accommodation to NY, is a runner anyway and any spare change I guess goes to charity.

He's painted out to be a saint in our local newspaper.

A couple hold party events, sell tickets, get businesses to give away free things, use the ticket money for a huge piss up party, food/drinks etc, band, entertainment... bet there's not much in the pot for the charity after that.

Understandably you do need a degree of outlay to get the money for the charity, but, I think some people take the piss, and think it's a clever way to get a free holiday whilst looking saintly

If you are BU about this, then so am I. My ex 'D'H and his gf are at this all the time. Before they got together she would do a big sponsored event for charity at least once a year, but it was always something she loved doing recreationally and would do anyway (always something sporty or exotic - camping on Kilimanjaro, cycling round Europe, climbing mountains etc). On one of the few occasions I spoke to her and asked her about all the sponsored stuff she does, she told me that it was a brilliant thing to do because it meant she could always get someone else to babysit for her a few evenings a week so she could go out and train, and it was easier to get people to agree to babysit for nothing if she was doing it for charity.

Now my ex is on board they indulge in this strategy together. It takes months to train for some of this stuff, so that's several nights out a week "training" which always seemed to involve a pub meal out at the end of the evening.

At the beginning of their relationship, he'd ask me to sometimes take care of our children on his contact evenings/weekends as he had to train, or because he had an event to take part in. I always said yes, until I got into another relationship and asked him to return the favour so I could go on the odd night out. He said no because it wasn't fair on him to look after the children so I could go off on a jolly. When I pointed out that I did it for him, he said "that's different, it's for charity and it's to do with fitness. You're just going to do something indulgent for yourself".

I don't like them much.

I have someone on my FB who is a mature student with husband and two kids. She's doing a healthcare course and wants to go to some far flung country to 'help' during her elective placement. She's asking for donations.

She's failed to let everyone know that she's also taking her family and having a holiday there alongside her minimal placement hours.

Slowly the number of children dwindled as they realised how far away they were from their individual targets. What did they do with the funds raised so far? They didn't go to charity, that's for sure - iPhones, clothes and PlayStations were the "deserving" rewards for their "charity fundraising"

I realise travelling is different as the money's needed beforehand, but this is the reason I won't hand over sponsorship money until a sponsored swim / walk, etc. is actually completed

I'm reminded of the colleague who did a sponsored slim and came to collect his money months later. He hadn't actually lost anything at all so I couldn't pay him by the pound or whatever, but "that's okay" he assured me "you can just give me the money anyway"

averythinline

I'm at uni now and whenever they offer ''charity'' visits to Africa/the rainforest/India they always tell us how great it will look on the CV.

When I was at highschool and they had similar trips for ''charity'' they mentioned everytime how good it would look on Uni applications and on CVs.

More emphasis is put on how good it will be for your CV/application and the little holiday week at the end of it were you get to do what you want than the actual charity work.

YANBU, pay for your own holiday, you santimonious bunch of spongers

She's failed to let everyone know that she's also taking her family and having a holiday there alongside her minimal placement hours
she's a con artist

It depends how it's done. If you pay all the costs and are simply being sponsored for putting yourself through a gruelling challenge - fine. But I don't want to.pay for.the trip itself.
I do think it's different though to pay towards someone who is volunteering their time to help a community project because they're not doing something touristy