To ask for sponsorship to walk a mile a day?

[Oumpkinpie193]

I saw a fundraising initiative for a local charity, you basically walk one mile per day for a month. I thought id sign up but my mum said today 'you can't ask people for money to walk a mile a day, I do that going to the toilet and back!'.

She's got a point hasn't she? Should I do something a bit more challenging. I don't want people taking the piss when I ask for sponsors.

No I wouldn't op unless you had physical difficulties..1 mile is 15 mins walking. Yabu.

10000 steps is 4.2 miles for me, and all I do is walk to work and back and walk around the house/office a bit.

I signed up and got my DH to sponsor me £30 plus gift aid - I walk more than a mile a day at work, but it kicked me up the bum to go out with the dogs in the evening, instead of letting DH do it whilst I cook our evening meal. You could tell people you're planning to 3 or 5 miles..

I find the whole concept of sponsoring ridiculous. If I'm going to give you a tenner to give to charity, it makes no odds to me whether you jump out a plane, climb mount Everest or walk a mile. I'm still down £10 and the charity is up £10.

I was meaningful walking not just steps.

My kids walk a mile a day to school so I would roll my eyes at sponsoring someone for something that’s not very challenging unless your are disabled or something.

Yeah, the idea of sponsorships has never made much sense to me. Why not just ask for a donation on behalf of the charity? It's a bit different for kids, maybe, but with adults, why would I care whether someone walks/runs/whatever to 'earn' my money? Either I want to donate or I don't (or I feel guilty/put on the spot so I donate even though I'd rather not). The sponsored activity itself feels superfluous, and I always wonder how much the charity is spending to promote and administrate the whole thing compared to how much they bring in. But sponsorships must work, since they keep doing them, so... 💁

I did a challenge a few years ago, which was 310,000 steps in October (i.e. 10k steps a day). I felt that was too easy - it’s literally the bare minimum we should all be doing, apparently 😂 - so although I shared all the challenge bumpf on social media to raise money, I also noted that I was going to aim for 500,000 steps as my total. You don’t have to actually do what the charity suggests!

I'm going to go somewhat against the grain OP and say "maybe". I don't think it's the walk a mile thing that's the challenge, it's the every day, especially given we're heading for Winter.
I did a similar thing a few years ago but it was cycling. The distance was very easily within my capability and had it been a Summer challenge it would have been laughably easy. But I did it mid Winter, and getting out on my bike on evenings when actually all I wanted to do was put my PJs on and sit by the fire, or cycling into work when I really felt like taking the car was a challenge.
Plus there's walking a mile and walking a mile! If your mile is a leisurely amble along a flat pavement then no, it not difficult for most people, but a mile up hill or off road requires rather more effort. It's almost exactly a mile from my front door to the village post box but it's an undulating mile that finishes off with a 20% hill. Not many people walk that mile in 15 minutes I can tell you!
Ultimately people give if they like you and think the charity is worth supporting anyway, but a mile a day, every day in a Winter month is not necessarily a silly challenge and if you don't currently walk regularly it will do you good.

Perhaps instead of a simple mile-a-day challenge, you could ask for sponsorship for improvements in your mile time over the course of, say, a month. So if it took you (e.g.) 25 minutes to walk a mile at the beginning of the month and 15 mins at the end you would have achieved a five-minute improvement. Sponsorship could be per minute of improvement.

That way you eliminate the 'scoffing' consequence of different levels of fitness/activity: whether you are super-fit or super-sedentary at the start you are in exactly the same position as a fitter or less fit person, just trying to improve your own abilities.

If I was asked this I'd be genuinely shocked you were not already doing this little amount of walking, then I'd totally talk about it to all the other dog owners I saw that day.

It's great you feel inspired, can you make it a bit more challenging - 5k, walking backwards, hopping?