Do you sponsor people for charity?

[Tapoopoo]

I decided a long time ago to not sponsor people eg charity sky dives.

If I sponsor one person I have to sponsor everyone.
I dont always agree with the charities and sonetimes actively dont want to support them.
Limited funds.
Why should I pay for someone to have a jolly? If they want to jump out of a plane, then they should pay for it.
I have seen a few people get quite aggressive/guilt trippy when people say no.
I have tried to fund raise once. The same people I have sponsored in the past were not intetested. I ended up paying most of the sponsorship myself, which I genuinely don't mind (see previous point) but it did stick in my throat.
When I made this decision I had a couple of charity DDs set up. I dont now. I do still give to charity ad hoc.
If I'm honest, I just dont want to. I dont like being asked for money.

I now manage a large number of staff, some of whom are serial fund raisers. I still don't sponsor them (luckily they have never asked me directly and I think they've realised I don't). My staff know I earn about £6000 more than them.

My manager has criticised me for this and thinks I should sponsor them. They sponsor them about £10 a go. They do this for optics, not because they necessarily support what they are doing. If I'd sponsored them at £10 a go, so far I'd have spent at least £120 this year (that I know of).

YABU - you should support your staff. Dont be so mean, it's for charity.
YANBU - you shouldnt be guilt tripped into donating money if you dont want to.

I do sometimes sponsor people, but won't if they want to go abroad and climb mountains etc.
I will sponsor people doing local runs in aid of cancer.

I don't sponsor people to do something they want to do.
I'll pay out if they organise and work hard at something for others to enjoy and don't benefit themselves.
(I donate to 8 charities every month by direct debit.)

It depends on the person or the charity. Some people I know have had devastating things happen in their lives and raining money and awareness has become a focus for them and a help to move forward. I try to sponsor as many of those as I can.

I will for certain activities and charities

eg someone skydiving for the NHS I will not encourage as varying studies over the years have found it’s more costly to the NHS than it raises when factoring in the injuries sustained during events

I don't sponsor people for the same reasons. I can't understand why I should pay money to someone to walk from A to B. I prefer to donate directly to charities I support.

I raise money for a particular charity by knitting and selling. People give me orders, knowing where the money will do. I'd never dream of asking anyone to 'sponsor' me.
Stick to your guns and donate directly to the charities of your choice.

It depends on the person and the cause.

A child doing a sponsored read - yep I will sponsor them.

Sky diving, climbing some mountain - forget it.

No I don’t but I’ve known a few people do sponsored stuff for charity and that event has cost a fuck ton of money to participate in. My thought is that the person involved should just donate that amount to charity themselves. But sometimes they’re doing it for their own gain, prestige and attention so donating directly without involving loads of other people isn’t as attractive a prospect.

So, that’s quite a negative take on it (fuelled by my own experience) and I’m sure there are a lot of modest individuals doing it solely to raise money without all the accompanying attention seeking.

Another issue to consider is the potential for dishonesty. Look at what happened with Captain Tom Moore… Someone I know donated to one of those sponsored runs and the guy didn’t even do it and I don’t think anyone got their money back.

So, in short, no: I’ll choose what I want to donate to and make that donation privately.

I feel for you, OP, because it’s not nice to have that pressure at work (and if you have to donate for people leaving too that all adds up).

I only sponsor the children in my family.

I used to work in a call centre of about a hundred people. There seemed to be sponsor forms going around every week. The day a colleague asked me to sponsor his sister, who I'd never met, was the day i stopped.

I was thinking about the leaving/significant event collections.

I also say no to those too. If I like someone enough to donate, I'd rather just do sonething privately for them.

I do appreciate that I need to change that approach for my staff and I will need to donate (and possibly organise if no one else does - shudder) but it will still be no for anything beyond that.

If they're fundraising for medical charities and the like, then I will support.

If they're off climbing some mountain just because it's fun and a life goal? No.

No. I’ve done sponsored things in my 20s and most people couldn’t even spare £1. Now I don’t even do them myself (I’m in my 40s) I’ve got a long memory so, if those same people do things now, I don’t contribute even if it’s something close to their heart. They may be my friends but, when I was doing sponsored runs, the charity was close to my heart too and they didn’t care enough to sponsor me, so they’ll get the same treatment back. It works both ways though, the few people who did support me always get a few quid.

There are local charities I donate to regularly and others I donate to ad hoc. I object when they then ask me for more, or send raffle tickets to sell. I stopped donating to one national charity because they kept phoning and asking me to increase the direct debit.

No. I have particular charities that I choose to support. I do sometimes shop in various charity shops. I don't like being asked for additional donations/sponsorship etc. Because people don't like being told "no".
People are a lot less gracious than they used to be when you decline them. Chuggers are ruder than ever. I was chased along a street by a pair of them recently, only stopped once I'd lost my temper and told them to f off.

Depends on the charity and what they’re doing. My kid doing a sponsored silence for children in need - absolutely yes! A casual acquaintance claiming to walk snowdonia to raise money for Shelter? Absolutely no way am I funding their holiday.
I regularly play our council lottery to raise money for a local theatre group. I also host a Halloween haunt where people donate in exchange for hot chocolate on Halloween. No one is expected to donate, but if they can, awesome. That money goes to children in need or this year it’s going to the local scout group!

I don't like sponsoring someone's hobby so avoid those, unless it's a close friend and it would impair the friendship not to do it.
Ditto when I was in a management job - I do think the OP's boss has a point here - if it fosters better relationships within the team, I'd have stumped up even if I was internally eye-rolling. You can't do it for one person and not for everyone then though.

I've not been asked to sponsor anything since my kids were in primary school and that was 20 years ago!

This is me exactly. I don’t sponsor their holidays but always give generously to charities that I agree with.

I wouldn't. I pick my charities to support. If your staff want to support a charity they should just get on and do it. I've had the gap year lot walking the Great Wall of China for charity and various white saviour trips to developing countries, but still no.

It's obviously case by case, isn't it? I sponsor some, not others.

It will depend on a host of factors including how well I know the person, what they are raising money for, how much they need to raise etc.

Everyone promotes their fundraising because they need to but most sensible people understand that few people can sponsor everyone they know. I've never known anyone to be unreasonable about not being sponsored.

Generally not. Sometimes friends if they're raising for something that's impacted them.

There was a terrible one at work where a team were doing several days of climbing/kayaking/bungee jumping for a cancer charity after a colleague had died, and raised a couple of grand. I later heard that it only just covered the price of the trip - until then I had no idea the sponsorship would pay for the activity, naieve I know!

If you do sponsor people, do you expect a refund if they don't do it?

One colleague was shaving her head, online sponsorship so you paid upfront and raised quite a lot and she didn't do it in the end. No one asked for their money back but it seemed a bit off?

It depends on what they are doing and the charity. But as a manager I think it's tricky to sponsor 1 person but not another.

Does your company support a charity? (We pick a charity annually and collectively raise money) If so, I'd donate to them.

I will not 'sponsor' the gang of friends who do an annual cycle in an European country each summer. Its a fucking jolly dressed up as them being wonderful and caring.

it's really easy to justify not giving with all this pseudo intellectual rhetoric but the vast vast majority of this type of fundraising supports very worthwhile legitimate charities and is done with good motive.

there is no obligation to sponsor anyone, and if you can't afford it then that's understood. Where the participant is taking the piss a bit also fine to swerve, but setting out with cynical default starting position is disgraceful.

Watch an Inspector Calls on iPlayer and revert

I sponsored once a dear friend. It was my way to support her and show her that she means a lot to me. I don't sponsor on other occasions.

I sponsor pretty much any friend/colleague who asks. I sponsor family with more. I did some sponsored things as a teenager and people were kind, so I’m paying it forward. I tend to do £10 for friends and colleagues. Close friends or family usually £20/£50. I don’t do any regular charity donations, and my husband is a bit anti charity (seems to think it’s all spent on staff, I’ve explained it all to him before….) so I make sure I donate for the both of us, which he is fine with.