To find constant requests for sponsorship tedious?

[HarrietKettleWasHere]

I mean, they just seem never ending.

And of course it's great to raise money for charity, but if I donated a tenner every time someone I know does one of these requests, I'd be skint in no time.

Latest one is, a close friend of mine has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Some friends we have in common (we all know each other from uni although I'm not close with this particular group) have set up a sponsorship page to raise money for cancer by doing some run through some mud or something. Fair enough and I planned to chuck them a tenner nearer the time. But the demands for it are getting on my wick. 'THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL YOU LOVELY PEOPLE WHO HAVE DONATED. IF YOU HAVE'NT, WHY NOT?! IT TAKES SECONDS. STEP OUTSIDE YOUR BUBBLE CANCER MIGHT COME FOR YOU ONE DAY!'

It might, but my tenner donation isn't going to change that or make my friend better is it so why make people feel shite about it?!

I sponsored a mate for doing the marathon recently- fair enough- but a month on and he's doing the moonwalk as well so the bombarding for donations has started all over again.

And don't get me started on the younger sister of a friend who is asking for donations to go out to Malawi on a gap year to 'help' build a school.

I am supporting my friend in other ways and I will sponsor but AIBU to think the constant donation and sponsor fishing is just bloody irritating?!

Rag

A same sex couple in my town have set up a JustGiving page to 'make our baby dream come true'. Except... they're both women, of child bearing age, with no medical issues. So basically they just want money to buy sperm. I think that's peak CF tbh.

I get fed up with kids in my local coffee shop asking me to sponsor them. Every few weeks,there's a clutch of them in there,doing the rounds. The staff sometimes tell them not to,but more often than not,they don't even notice. And am I correct in saying that when you sponsor someone,you give them the money AFTER the event? i.e. you sponsor them per lap walked/length swum etc and pay them accordingly? I am asking because the aforementioned kids are asking for the money UPFRONT. When I was at school and did sponsored events,we collected the money after. Or has it all changed now?

At work, people now bring in sponsor forms for their kids! They bring the forms to your desk and put you on the spot so you can't say no.

Of course you can.
You can go with pp's reply on P1 of "That's not one of my chosen charities this year" or you can say "It gets too much when people start asking for sponsorships when you don't even know the person, doesn't it? So I won't, thanks" or, as they say regularly here on MN "no" or "No thanks" as it is a complete sentence.

My dc is having to fundraise for a trip abroad, and I point blank refuse to do / allow her to do anything that involves asking people for money when they don't get anything back (ie sponsoring her, or gofundme and so forth). All her fundraising involves putting on events which people can choose to come to, and that they obviously only buy a ticket to, if they enjoy that type of event, or doing jobs such as babysitting where people are paying for a service. I can't see any reason why other people should be expected to fund her 'trip of a lifetime'.
That said, I d on't mind people putting on FB they are doing x, y, or z to raise money for a cause. If I don't want to sponsor them - I just scroll past.

This irks me enough that I have a rule set up in my work Outlook that automatically deletes all emails with 'marathon' in the subject line.

I've done a few things for charity the past few years & it's always the same people who are happy to sponsor me I do feel a bit guilty asking though so that's it for a few years for me now.

The ones I hate & absolutely refuse to sponsor are those who say they're climbing say Kilimanjaro & need to raise a certain amount, fook off I'm not paying for you to do something I'd love to do & will eventually when I've saved enough money. Pay for it yourself & I'll sponsor you. Neither do I want to pay for you to do a sky dive! Boils my piss. people should fund themselves for the event then get sponsors where 100% goes to charity.

Reply with I'm sorry I only donate to local charities of my choosing

On the subject of sponsored "events" ... walks, swims, whatever ... how come so many expect the cash upfront now? (And anyway surely that's a donation rather than sponsorship?)

Back in the day you'd put your name down for a chosen amount per mile walked, etc, then settle up after they'd done it; doesn't anyone do that any more?

YANBU. It's relentlessness.

DH and I have a rule, we don't respond to sponsorship requests unless it's close family and definitely not crowdfunding requests from CF's that have nothing to do with charity. Instead, we each chose two charities and decided on an amount we could afford to give them each month and stick to it.

I will sponsor close friends - ie ones that I see IRL, especially if they have a particular connection to a charity through personal circumstance. Dh did a sponsored event a few (7-ish) years ago and got a reasonable amount of funds, but this was before the gofundme thing exploded.

I’m doing the moonwalk next month, to raise money for the people who looked after my dad during his cancer treatment. I post on Facebook, if people want to sponsor me that’s great, but I don’t shove it down people’s throats. I know someone who is doing something akin to a bungee jump for charity, and is asking people outright why they haven’t sponsored her yet. Cheeky! Like a PP, I wouldn’t ask for sponsorship for something I would do for fun. 26 mile walk is not fun....

I'm getting a bit fed up of the ever increasing fb status where people have a Birthday looming and pick a charity for their friends to sponsor. I have a relative who has admittedly been through an awful time and been greatly helped by a particular charity, so she feels she wants to support them as often and as much as she can. I totally understand this, but her constant FB requests that her friends do the same is making life a bit stressful.

My family have also had a very difficult few years with cancer, so we want to support charities that cover that, rather than the charity that my relative wants us to support.

Totally agree with the not sponsoring parachute jumps etc - totally ridiculous

DeathBy I know a 26 mile walk isn’t fun but equally it’s something you’ve chosen to do because you know you can do it. You could sit in a bath of beans for 24hours but you choose not to do that’s racist it’s not really a challenge for YOU. It’s just a bit silly and pointless —like a 26 mile walk in the dark is—. I just don’t see why you need to DO something. If you asked your friends/ family to donate to a cause then I don’t see why you can’t just do that. Cut out the middle man.

I don't sponsor anyone. Nope. Sorry, I can't afford to.

When I've been doing something myself I have never asked for money, I pay out of pocket (£50+). I'd rather pay that than have to beg others to do it.

I wish others would do the same thing tbh.

*because not racist!

I don’t mind a one off, moderately worded (ie not the cancer might come for you one day shite that PP mentioned) request. I will then sponsor or not depending on who it is, what they’re doing and they lie chosen charity. I don’t then feel obliged or put on the spot. However when people keep on and on at you about it, i do find it annoying.

I saw one the other day to sponsor a friends child to do 'tasks'

The child in question is 8 months old FFS!

To be honest I probably spend a tenner a month on sponsoring someone for something, I used to have a direct debit to a charity once a month but then stopped it and prefer to do it this way instead - it spreads my donations around a lot more and helps support people I like doing charitable things.

That said, if it was the same person every time asking for donations I would get annoyed. I take part in a few sponsored events a year but only ask for sponsorship if it's big (once every few years maybe?). The rest of the time I'll just make a big donation to the charity I'm doing the event for myself rather than asking other's to do it. Ultimately I'm doing the event because I want to, so I should be the one to stump up the cash!

STEP OUTSIDE YOUR BUBBLE CANCER MIGHT COME FOR YOU ONE DAY!'

This sort of crap is enough for me to cut loose a friendship. I choose what charities I give my money too.

This. Exactly this.

A woman in my old work asked us to sponsor her husband to go on a mission to Malawi once. I gave £10 and have never forgive myself for being such a sap.

Kids packing my supermarket stuff at the till annoys me too. I don't give a shit about your football/street dancing club!! And I certainly dont find you cute. Get off my shit!

They put an 8-pack of coke cans onto a loaf of bread

After a lifetime of not doing very much sponsoring, this i’ve decided to be a bit more generous, so at least once a month I’ll sign up to give a tenner or twenty quid to someone I knoe if its for what I consider to be a worthwhile charity.

I do feel better for doing it and it helps me not to feel guilty about not giving to those charities or events I feel are less worthwhile.

YANBU. I only sponsor family and close friends, even then its not every time. Otherwise I’d have nothing left to myself!

One of my old colleagues passed round a sponsorship form at a meeting once and told us all to “put our hands in our pockets for once”. CF.

I give to a local animal charity & that's it. Just put a few coins each week into their collection box, so no direct debits involved. Those days are gone for me. I sometimes give to kids wanting sponsorship, but mostly I don't answer the door to them