To fundraise for a half marathon?

[tilyougetenough]

I’ve entered a half marathon next spring (I do appreciate it’s a long way off but it’s a very popular one and I wanted to secure my place!), and in order to take part I need to raise £375 for a charity.

I want to do things like bake sales, etc., to bring in some money as I think it’ll be tough to hit that amount without doing it. But one of my colleagues has mentioned in passing that it’s not in good taste to do something like this at the moment as times are tough.

I can’t lie, I do expect the majority of it to come from my family - my parents have promised £150 already and my SIL has promised some money too. AIBU to try and fundraise, or should I just stick the link on my Facebook page and hope for the best?

I've just looked at the entry criteria and it's £60 to enter with no expectation to fund raise or £20 to enter but you need to raise £375. So it's cheaper for you to go the fund raising route as well, assuming you actually manage to hit the target. It's interesting that you said 'In order to take part I need to raise £375 for a charity.'

If fund raising for CRUK which is something you are apparently so 'passionate' about was you main and sole aim, the whole wording structure of your OP would have been completely different. It would have been less about 'in order to take part I need to...' and more about 'I wanted to raise money for my favourite charity CRUK, so I entered the Bath Half on behalf of CRUK and started training for it.'

It's very clear to everyone reading this that you wanted to enter the race firstly for yourself and the option to raise funds was a secondary factor. It's not difficult to arrive at the conclusion that you chose a charity place because:

a) it gives you the added momentum and incentive to keep up the training because other people have sponsored you and are watching your progress, which is totally understandable.
b) maybe because the non-charity places had already gone.
c) maybe because the charity place worked out significantly cheaper for you, assuming you raise the money.

I have mixed feelings about this, as I often feel it’s more about the run/experience than the charity for a lot of my friends/colleagues. That being said, I’ve still given towards a few London Marathon fundraisers recently where the chosen charity was deeply personal to the runner or I connected with the cause. In each case I’ve been happy to support them - particularly after them making it through such a long training plan.

When I had to fundraise about £250 for an event I really wanted to do for personal reasons (Macmillan Might Hike), I found it really distasteful asking people to support my “experience” so I donated the minimum amount I had to fundraise personally.

I don’t give that much to charity regularly and it worked out about £20/month over a year - which I am fortunate to be able to spare.

I told everyone I’d donated to meet minimum fundraising target and shared the link in case they wished to contribute too. People were generous and the total was £575 in the end.

If your fundraising target is £2500 then I get it’s not feasible to donate all of that yourself but I think it’s important to put your hand in your pocket and show willing before expecting other people to do the same.

To frame it in a more realistic way, either i have to pay £60 or otherwise I have to pay £20 and other people have to pay £375.

Yes, exactly. The OP didn't even say she intended to pay the other 40 quid herself, which was the difference between the cost of the two places. 😂That would have reduced the cost for everyone else straight away.

It's like the old philosophical debate about altruism from Friends. It only counts if the person doing The Thing gets no benefit at all. If they so much as get a small glow/run 13.1 miles/feel proud they have been able to raise money for a charity that is researching a disease that affects so many people, then it has actually only been a benefit to themselves and it was a selfish act.

I feel sorry for @tilyougetenough I think you have done nothing wrong and you are getting a very hard time from some people who just want to stick the boot in.

Doing a run for charity is not tone deaf or selfish. I mean, there are literally thousands of charity places for thousands of runs and races across the world. Telling people you are doing it as a means of raising money is also not a bad thing to do. Baking cakes (with the time and ingredients being paid out your own pocket) and asking people to make a donation in return is not a bad thing to do. Sharing a Just Giving link is not a bad thing to do.

Nobody is being forced to donate to charity, or even a specific charity.

How mean spirited must folk be if they are calculating out how much money someone must pay before they can mention a charity? Should the OP fund the £375 herself and the ask if anyone else would like to donate? But if she has put in £375 then why not round it up to £500. Make her parents top it up to a cool £1k!

If you don't want to donate to anyone else's chosen charity you don't have to. But equally, you don't have to go into minute detail about how awful you think fundraising is. It doesn't do anything other than demoralise the runner and add more negativity into the world.

If you don't want to donate to anyone else's chosen charity you don't have to. But equally, you don't have to go into minute detail about how awful you think fundraising is. It doesn't do anything other than demoralise the runner and add more negativity into the world.

This is AIBU. She came here to ask if she was being unreasonable, given that a colleague had (actually quite bravely) said that she didn't think it was appropriate given how hard up people are feeling at the moment. Most people in a workplace or social setting don't feel so able to assert their true feelings about these things, for fear of being labelled tight, mean and an uncharitable old grouch.

An anonymous forum is the one place people can let off steam about how they really feel without fear of judgement or being made to feel guilty for not allowing themselves to be emotionally manipulated.

I don't believe most people are uncharitable. What they are is just a bit fed up of people dressing up challenges undertaken for their own sense of achievement and personal ambition as acts of altruism. On the whole, we are all capable of recognising when someone is doing this and when they are not.

When you bear in mind that this kind of thing might be asked of you several times a year in many workplaces or social settings, there is huge social pressure to say yes. Whether it's 'sponsor my 9 year old £5 to swim five lengths of the school pool to raise money to buy the teachers a new fridge for the staff room' or 'Sponsor me to run a marathon because I've lost four stone on Ozempic and have coincidentally had a miraculous epiphany about the benefits of getting off my fat arse' it can get relentless.

I have, as have all my AC. And I used to run a 10k road circuit a couple of Sundays a month just around the neighbouring villages when the lanes were quiet, 5-7k three evenings a week, swam a mile at the ladies-only session every Tuesday, cycled to work and exercised my friend’s horse on Wednesdays after our own retired. I was on my feet at work and averaged 17k to 28k steps a day.

Now I’m retired and osteoarthritis has put a stop to me running while I’m on the list for a hip replacement, but please don’t assume I’ve no idea what a half marathon and it’s preparation entail.

I didn’t seek sponsorship, but I sponsored my daughters.

OP

I think part of the problem is how you wrote your original post.

You said “in order to take part I need to raise £375”

I think if you said I want to raise money for this charity so I have signed up to do a half….

maybe people would have read it that the charity was the reason for doing it not the other way round.

It wouldn't matter to me how she put it. It's still her personal project and her choice of charity and I still agree with her coworker.

Wtf is their problem?! It's not a donation, if you're providing cakes, they are getting something.

I do feel for you OP, there really is no need for all that aggro. People are doing races for charities all the time, London Marathon just last week was named the biggest charity event in the world. Clearly it benefits charities otherwise they wouldnt do it. OP chose charity place to keep herself motivated and accountable. Half marathon is impressive distance and a big challenge, well done you! I don't think asking for donations is in bad taste if it's done thing in your workplace and you're not pushy. My company matches charity donations so ask about that too. Good luck with your training!

YANBU, at all.
Doing a half marathon, 10k, race for life or any event for a charity is worthwhile. Some people may not donate because they don’t have the money too and that’s fine. I have recently done a marathon for a charity very close to my heart. I only fundraised for this, as in JustGiving and sponsor forms. I paid privately to do the marathon and then opened a page myself. I didn’t do any bake sales etc. I just regularly posted running updates and shared my page to fb and instagram. I never asked anyone directly to sponsor me (including close family) as I didn’t want to pressure anyone to donate. I ended up raising a lot of money, people were more than happy to donate, they were helping a good cause, I was doing something I thought I’d never do and remembering my mum in the process.
If anyone doesn’t want to donate or partake in fundraising activities that’s their prerogative just as it’s yours to do these activities…
I really don’t get the issue with a bake sale as the are also getting something back?!
Keep doing what you’re doing, any extra fundraising helps, and share the link on all of your social media fortnightly (depending how far away it is I would do this less often atm and more closer to the time) with updates as to how your training is going, posts when you get your bib, number, outfit etc.

GOOD LUCK I’m sure the day will be incredible and people there especially those you don’t know will get you through, and be proud of yourself! Xxx

I agree with this.

Maybe op’s approach should have been that she’s doing a campaign to raise money further the charity, and is doing several projects - cake sales , sponsored runs etc. Not imply she had to raise £300+ money upfront to do the run.