to consider taking the cost of participating in a charity event out of the money raised?

[juicychops]

just wondered what people thought. i have been looking into different running events such as the great north run, great south run etc and they cost up to £45 just to participate which i think is quite a lot. i dont have any money as it is but would like to consider taking part in some of these runs to raise money.

would it be frowned upon to take the cost of participating, or part of the cost of participating out of the money raised?

your thoughts please...

You can't do it juicychops, but of course you shuldn't be out of pocket either. Sponsored charity events that cost lots of money for the participant are stupid, imho. I'd just as soon the participant asked me to donate some funds while they don't take part but donate their possible costs instead. Would make much more sense than sponsoring someone to cycle to Paris or around Indonesia or whatever.

ibbydibby yeah think you should of had to pay its £28 for athletics club runners or something like that, and £32 for normal people. was you on the virginlondonmarathon.com site? maybe ring them?

as my opening post said, i was looking to find out what people's opinions are and now i have i dont think i will consider this idea any longer!!!!

i shall just have to run in events i can afford. and its not just for personal gain either, its to help a charity that is starting to become important to me on a personal level and it would be great to help as much as i can. i have never done anything much for charity before so this is my starting place

juicy - before you give up, have you spoken to the charity yet to see if they can help on the entry fee?

Juicychops, that's strange - have just checked my confirmatory email from Virgin London Marathon, and it says

"If you?re selected in the ballot we?ll also contact you asking for your entry fee payment."

So you have had to pay this morning? I didn't have to give bank details or anything like that. Maybe I will phone them..

Do you know, if a close friend or family member spoke to me of this dilemma, i wouldn't hesitate to donate part (part because i simply cant afford the £45 in this situation)of their entry fee. I would probably stipulate that i wouldn't then sponsor them on their offical form but still feel like i had contributed. And in the long run the charity will get more as the person would actually be taking part, rather than not bothering because they simply cant afford it.

Have you mentioned this to family/friends? Maybe one/some would offer to do this?

I think YABU really - I look at that fee as my contribution to the charity. They have to pay to put it on, obviously.

ibbydibby i recon i know what it is...

did you not tick the box which says you dont want to donate the fee if you dont get a place?

i ticked it to say i will donate my money even if i dont get a place so thats prob why i had to pay.

if you are only paying if you get a place and not if you dont then that makes more sense to save them having to refund you

for future events i will contact the charity direct about participation fees. i only started this thread to see what people's opinions are

ibby, you have 2 options when you enter the marathon
You can either pay your fee up front - if you don't get a place, your fee is a donation to them, but then you also get entered into another ballot for extra places, plus get sent a free jacket
Or you can pay for your place when you get it
I always do the latter (and have never got a ballot place!)

Thanks wasabipeas and juicychops, was getting a bit concerned there....back in the "olden days" (2002 - when I first started applying) you had to send a cheque and it was only cashed if you got in, unless you were donating it. If I had donated it every year I applied, I would now be at least £100 worse off - rejected for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Accepted in 2007. Did not apply for 2008 but rejected for 2009.

When I started applying in 2002 (for 2003 event) I was really hoping I would not get in as DS2 only 2yrs. I just wanted to "bank" some rejections in order to increase my chances of getting in later. It worked for me that time....

Sorry seem to have gone off subject a bit.

juicychops - another consideration in all this is that it may all be academic anyway. You say that your motive in doing races between now and the marathon is to raise money - but imo all you'll do is take away from the marathon donations. Your friends' purses have a limit - and I don't think you'll actually extend their donations this way. If you try to raise money using several interim events they'll have got a bit fed up with it all by the time the marathon comes round. best to save it all up for one big event. you can easily train for the marathon without entering any races.

hatwoman - thats a good point

the chances are i wont even get a marathon place though thats why it would be nice to do at least one other run in the mean time