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 when I’ve taken part in an event in support of a charity, I’ve always funded it myself. I absolutely hate fundraisers generally and being asked to sponsor challenges that aren’t even particularly onerous just grates on me. Scarred perhaps from approaching every small business in the village in order to get sponsorship for the infant school fete 35 years ago!

I have contributed when my own kids and grandchildren have asked.

Charity bake sales are great. Also set up go fund me and share it on social media with a little spiel about your chosen charity. People may be more likely to give if you say what this charity means to you.

I really do think you have the wrong idea

Cancer research, macmillan, age concern etc all run events, half, full and ultra marathons . You run / walk for that charity only. You pay an entrance to cover the cost of the organisation of it, timings, photos food, water etc - Macmillan who I walk for charge between £25 and £40 per entrant depending on event, how early you sign up etc

You are then asked to raise a certain amount for charity - each charity specifies the amount. I walk for macmillan and I think last one I done was £250 - I raised £2k . Macmillan NI really rely on the £1m they make each year for that one days event

I did the half marathon first and 3 years later did the full marathon aged 60 . Both were huge undertakings , first one I was fat, unfit and just recovering from covid, the second was to see if I could go the distance after a year of improving my fitness

@tilyougetenough , I raise by putting the just giving link to my page on my social media , posters and sponsorship forms in my local pub and a collection box and poster in the local petrol station/shop . During the challange I post video updates , I think the one where I was sobbing with pain and barely able to walk got me the most donations :). I also do a car boot, sell on eBay and Facebook etc.

Go and enjoy the event. They are so well organised , you are well supported , its a great introduction to walking/running. Since Ive done those I now do park run . I think I will do another on my 65th , but that's for me so I will donate the sponsorship myself

@YourWinter

” Scarred perhaps from approaching every small business in the village in order to get sponsorship for the infant school fete 35 years ago!”

Yep, know that feeling.

It's a great idea to do a bake sale. It could be towards your fund and then any extra goes directly to the charity.

We had them a lot at work. Give people a bit of notice and actively try and recruit bakers. There must be a few. And people can bring in shop bought stuff if they can't cook!

If someone can't afford it or doesn't bake then they don't need to be involved. They'll probably end up with a free bit of cake if there's some leftover anyway so everyone should be happy.

If you want it to more accessible set the prices for the cakes quite low.

I’d like to see you run a half marathon and say it’s not onerous!

I will be! I donate monthly to them too.

Charity here 👋
Just to add a bit of perspective—when people run a half marathon for a cause, the benefit goes well beyond the fundraising total (as important as that is for us).
What we often see is a ripple effect. The person training and sharing their journey brings the charity into conversations it wouldn’t normally reach—friends, colleagues, social circles. That kind of word-of-mouth awareness is incredibly valuable and hard to replicate.
It also tends to bring in new supporters, not just one-off donors. People who sponsor someone often go on to follow the charity, volunteer, or give again later.
There’s a trust element too, seeing someone commit to 13.1 miles for a cause sends a strong signal that it’s worth caring about and can really strengthen people’s connection to the charity long term.
So while the fundraising matters hugely, the longer-term awareness, engagement and support it generates can be just as impactful. I completely get that not everyone wants to donate and no one should feel pressured to—but taking on a challenge for charity is certainly not the 'selfish' act some posters are making it out to be.

Not least that charities will have paid out for those places, so if no one takes them up, they have actually lost money.

Good luck @tilyougetenough !

I think it depends what you do. I know lots of runners so I'm always being asked for sponsorship/raffle tickets and TBH, unless it's someone I'm close to doing their first marathon, or a charity very close to my heart I ignore most of it, but if they organise a quiz a dance, a curry night I'll be there.

So, just asking for money no. Offering something they might enjoy that also supports you and the chairity, yes.

That's the issue with this kind of fundraising. For you it's a big challenge. I, and many others, run HM distance most weeks. Plus anyone who doesn't run sees that loads of people run these events and doesn't appreciate how much training it takes to be able to do it.

I think fundraisng by putting on events, that people want to attend, for a charity is great. Asking people to basically pay so that you can do something you want to do, not so much.

Out of interest, why did you choose an event you need to raise money to enter? There are HMs every weekend with entry fees of £30/40.

Thank you! You put it better than I could! I’m also going to be sharing my journey, I have a social media account with 1100 followers so I’m hoping that gets a bit of reach!

Well that’s why it’s done by the individual? For you challenge of this scale may be doing an ultra or something.

Quite, but I'm still not sure why anyone would want to "pay" for me to do something I've chosen to do for fun.

They’re not paying you. They’re sponsoring you for charity.

If the money goes to the charity, fundraising for a charity that matters to you is never cringe, particularly if you’re putting work into it like a bake sale, so I say go ahead. And I’d never give to someone just for them doing a run though - I’d wave towards the outside and say pavement is there and no one’s stopping you, off you go, and you can fund your own hobby.

I think that's a moot point really. From your OP "in order to take part I need to raise £375 for a charity."

Obviously they'e not payung you, but they are paying for you to take part.

I've supported loads of runners over the years with their fundraising efforts in similar situations, but they have offered something like a dance, a quiz night, a pamper evening, rather than just asking for cash.

It doesn't matter if you don't agree with me, I'm just suggesting that approach may be more successful for you.

I think it’s fine. Not everyone is struggling because of CoL. Good luck with the half! I did it once before and that was enough for me, but whenever I was going physically through a tough time (like labour 😂) I reminded myself I managed that so I can do this! It’s an amazing thing to draw upon later in life, even better if you keep it up!

Ask for donations for a tombola and do it at your local spring fete.

See if your work will match your fundraising.

Ask for donations.

Buy one of the name a Teddy sheets on Amazon. Get a Teddy, £5 a ticket, 1/2 money goes to you, half goes to winner (along with the Teddy).

People fundraise all the time for all sorts of charities. I think your colleague just doesn’t want to donate themselves (which is fine - she doesn’t need to if she doesn’t want to or can’t afford to). My Daughter recently had 14” of hair cut off and donated it to Little Princess Trust. The wigs themselves cost money to make, so we did some fundraising alongside it and the bake sale we did raised £200 on its own. We sold out in just over an hour. She raised £1300 in total.
Good luck with your fundraising and half marathon!

I don’t often stick (edit) my head over the parapet… OP is dealing with a tough audience here! Appreciate the debate and awareness this has raised about running a distance to fundraise for a charity.

Many volunteer positions rely on individuals willing to invest their time and abilities to a cause important to them. The benefits of volunteering aren’t just to the recipient charity: they are also conferred to the person volunteering. Maybe it’s a sense of community, of being helpful or useful, or to help them be in another space. I guess what I’m getting at is that it is mutually beneficial to both parties and, through their combined efforts, also to others.

So the OP has identified a charity she would like to help fundraise for. OP is also taking on a personal challenge which they are now being held publicly accountable for due to the promise made to the charity.

OP… keep running! Enjoy every moment of this fantastic journey and thank you for taking on this endeavour, raising funds and awareness for the charity, and for challenging yourself to grow. Keep healthy, rest well, consistency is key. You’ve got this 💐

PS run walk intervals might be your friend in increasing distance; less fatiguing

There are dozens of half marathons every month. If it's about the challenge you really don't need to take a charity place. You definitely don't need to be wealthy to pay entry fees for local club organised races (which are better anyway IMO) I'm doing one for £5 this weekend and it includes a beer at the finish.

I think this is true.

But nothing wrong with trying to fund raise!

I’m doing a hike for a charity in the coming weeks. I had no expectation at all of raising any money so I went with the pov of paying the actual entry fee myself, and then fundraising on top of that.

I was absolutely blown away that many people have donated and I’ve raised many times the entrance fee. But I wonder if the fact I was willing to pay up front made people more willing to donate?

Yeah surely if it was about my “ego” or whatever people are trying to say I’d just go out and run 13 miles

That would rule a lot of people out of running the London Marathon then - it would just be for rich people or elite athletes because most ordinary people can't just find the £2,500-£3K charity pledge you need to make if you don't get in on the ballot down the back of their sofas. But hey, why should ordinary, not well-off, probably mainly female runners get to run the Marathon anyway? If they can't pay to indulge their own hobby, they just can't do it.

I think this is also a valid point.

Travel up to the event, hotels, etc etc are all going to cost me money. Forking out an extra £375 on top is pretty hard. But if I even halved that, it would be really helpful.