To think this is just getting someone else to pay for your holiday?

[poppymango]

A friend is doing one of those big adventure holidays for charity. It's a worthy charity (although I won't be donating as I'm really trying to save right now), but having looked up the details the whole concept has really started to bother me.

You only have to pay a couple of hundred quid as an admin fee, plus the cost of flights (which in this case is super cheap) and then commit to raising a minimum amount for "charity". This is 2-3 thousand, depending on the type and duration of your adventure. However, considering everything that's included in the trip I'm not convinced that much of this will actually end up with the charity.

Essentially, I feel like I've been asked to help pay for someone else's holiday while they get to feel good about themselves.

AIBU?

I’ve known a few people to do a sponsored sky dive and thought the same. They have to raise a certain amount of money to cover the cost of the activity. Why not just raise the same amount of money and donate the lot, instead of using a large portion of it to pay for a fun activity for yourself

Agree. A colleague has done Kili, Everest MDS etc 'for charity'. The latest one takes the piss though - rowing the Atlantic not for charity but to raise awareness. He crowdfunding it. So yes basically getting other people to pay for him to do what he wants.

I say no thank you I already pay to x charity. And I choose not to support charities doing things that way.

Agree 100%!
They've been doing the rounds a while. Once in a lifetime type things- like trekking the Great Wall of China. The idea is the cost eg is 1.5K. You collect 3, and half goes to the charity, half funds your trip.
#1 Nobody tells their friends that half of every pound is for themselves.
#2 When people fall short, say collect 2.5K - the trip still costs 1.5, so an even larger proportion of each donated £ goes to pay for their holiday.
#3 I knew a girl who did this repeatedly. Once she reached her target, she ‘banked’ the rest toward her next trip. So you might think you’re sponsoring for charity’A’, but in fact it goes to charity’B’ a year later.

One friend of mine did one, to the Great Wall of China, but she said it was a unique opportunity to do such a trip. She was self funding her cost, and all money she collected was 100% for the charity. This is the ONLY way I’d contribute.

YANBU. When I worked in a large office, there was a huge fuss made about a group of colleagues (all well paid young professionals) who were going on 3 week trip overseas with loads of adventure activities etc 'for charity'. They didn't have to fund any of this themselves but had a fundraising target. They were given 3 weeks paid leave (not from their annual leave entitlement, and anyway the usual rule was no more than 2 weeks leave at a time), lauded for their commitment to the good cause when they left work early for 'training' (any attempt to leave on time for eg. child care etc was usually commented on negatively) and the rest of the office had to endure about a year's worth of expected participation in fundraising events, bake sales, sponsorship requests etc.

I can see that the charities feel that they have to do this to encourage donations that they would not otherwise receive (even if they only get 10% of what's raised, that's probably money they wouldn't otherwise get) and the business wanted the PR of being seen to support the charity etc. But I would have rather just given my money directly to the charity without having to pay for someone else's extended jolly, work even more overtime to cover for them and feel pressured in to attending constant events, making cakes etc.

I never sponsor anyone for things like this.

Same here. I won't sponsor people to do that sort of thing, holidays, walks, swims etc.. I support charities directly, ones that I know to be good and without a lot of highly paid executives.

I guess it's a way to get someone to fundraise pretty heavily for the charity, basically they get rewarded for their work. It attracts people who might find quietly donating to a charity unexciting or not showy enough.
But yeah, as you say, it'd be interesting to know the exact percentage from the donated amount that goes to the cause? (Not admin fees or the challenge etc).
I guess it might be mean spirited to raise it, but if I was close to the friend then I probably would. Not to say they were scamming me, just to point out the potential flaw. As you say, you're not donating. I wouldn't be either, unless it was literally bc I thought my mate deserved a free holiday.

YANBU

This subject has been done inside out over the years on MN, and the vast majority have agreed.

"The latest one takes the piss though - rowing the Atlantic not for charity but to raise awareness". Of what?! People's gullibility?

Challenge-type fundraising appeals to a younger demographic that is less likely to straightforwardly give cash.
It's not necessarily that profitable for charities, but it does build towards potential long term commitment of donors, so it's worth the hassle in the long run. Unfortunately the cost to the charity is often not made clear to potential participants.

That said - I work in fundraising but actively avoid community fundraising (as it's called) because I hate the guilt tripping voluntourism nonsense.

I agree OP

See also, sponsoring friends' chdren to eg volunteer in an orphanage overseas

Funnily enough, none of them volunteer at local youth groups

I might be happy to donate if they eg picked up litter or washed cars to raise cash, but they don't even do that. Just ask for the money

I think it depends.

I did one of these with a group of colleagues a few years ago. I had to pay £1000 towards the trip, which cost £2000. The other £1000 came from the money I raised, but I had to raise a minimum of £3500 or I couldn't go. You had to commit to raise at least £2500 for the charity after your own costs and there were 16 of us, so we had to raise 40k altogether. The only other thing I'd say is I was really honest about this. On my Justgiving page I put a full breakdown of the costs and how much was going to the charity etc. I also didn't just expect people to donate 2.5k, I organised fundraising events which people attended (golf tournament, bake sale, fun day in a local pub, raffles etc). So I did spend a lot of time and effort on it. Didn't get extra annual leave either as PP said someone they know did.

Nobody seemed to have any issue with it and I didn't put any pressure on anyone to donate. But I do think it's wrong when people are dishonest about how the trip is funded and just expect people to pay for it.

I agree OP

I'd either ignore the request if it was sent to lots of people, or if it was personal, I'd say my charity budget is all accounted for on direct debits.

I do donate to things like where someone's mum has died of Alzheimer's and the grieving relatives are raising money for a charity that helped them or a related charity. But no, not to fund someone's jollies.

Getting other propel to pay for your expensive adventurous holiday is exactly what this is. If they really wanted to raise money for the charity they could do it without the holiday.

For me it depends on if the activity genuinely will be a challenge for them and if the charity has personal meaning for them.

Yup! Has been going on for years. Hopefully it’s going to become frowned upon 😁 I’m all for a crowdfunder (donated to 2 just this week - local cricket club rebuild and another to search for a body, sadly), and I manage to volunteer for 2 charities without anyone funding anything for me 😅 I don’t mind donating to someone’s marathon for example either but these schemes where you go abroad and look good but are actually all a bit ‘white saviour’-ish is a no from me.

YANBU, Covid seems to have done away with all of these sponsored events at my workplace. They're not compulsory but some people feel like they have to cough up.

blaaa- whilst the person sponsored is cost covered and may benefit from the experience- the charity clearly gets what it wants from the deal. If you choose not to buy into it,thats fine. if they get to feel good about themselves,thats fine too.every little counts.

I agree. Years ago I did a sponsored (long) bike ride. We all paid any costs ourselves so any sponsorship went straight to charity. The only thing was we had a huge amount of cake baked and donated by the very kindly local WI. We all gave a donation to the charities we were fundraising in lieu of cake so that the charity as well as us were benefiting. I think it’s a massive piss take when I see messages to ‘sponsor me have this once in a lifetime experience’!

I massively hate sponsored stuff anyway. If I'm giving ten quid to charity it makes no odds to me if you walk round the park 100 times, give up wine, climb a mountain, do 2000 star jumps...I'm still down £10 and the charity is still up £10

I’m amazed anyone still has the brass neck to ask for money for these. Everyone knows they’re a narcissist’s ticket to get a holiday paid for by other people then look holy because it’s for ‘char-i-dee’.

Easy to give direct to a local food bank or a global charity and cut out the office Colin Hunt middle man.

I remember reading a comment on an article about these where a poster said that when asked by friends’ children to contribute to such a venture, he asked them how much they were hoping to raise for the charity, then offered to pay double that if they didn’t go. He said he had yet to be taken up on his offer, which speaks for itself!

It's the same when people run things like the London Marathon. Bonded charity places cost around £500 each, so when the charity says minimum £1500 sponsorship, £500 is basically to cover the cost of your place.