Running for Charity

menoscemo

So I am training for my first Marathon in October and somebody at work asked me today which charity would I be running for. My honest answer was that I hadn't actually thought about it, I am primarily training for myself to get fit and for the challenge. But maybe I should collect some sponsorship before the marathon? It would definately do no harm and I guess a good few people would be willing to part with a tenner.

So My question is, do you normally run marathons for a charity? (apart from yourself). What % of DCM runners would also be collecting some money for a charity?

RacoonQueen

I only do it for big events. Did it for my first marathon, then my first Ultra. Wouldn't raise money again unless I was doing something like the Marathon de Sables or something like that. A lot of people would raise it for every marathon they do.

Slogger Jogger

Raised money for my first DCM. Raised money once a year since for different marathons I did for different charities each time. Very happy to have done it and most appreciative for the support I got.

--amadeus--

Very much in two minds about this. On teh one hand I don't like the fact that running is so strongly associated with fundraising. It's almost as if you have to raise money for charity of you race, which isn't the case with any other sport.

But...

MrsA runs the local branch of a national charity and she has an annual fundraising target to meet. Donations and sponsorship have totally gone through the floor to the point where there are people with heartbreaking stories that she can't help. I doubt she's unique, I would imagine every charity is the same, so if you can help a little then do it. But like teh folks above have said I wouldn't ratle a tin for every event, people will soon get bored of it and I certainly wouldn't do one of these raise X amount and hike the Andes type things.

chinguetti

Like Slogger Jogger do fundraising once a year, be it a run or a cycle. Usually for a cause that is personal to me and have to say people are quite good at giving the few quid. I would never harass people to give, just let them know what charity i'm running/cycling for if they ask.

RoyMcC

I'm afraid I'm just selfish in this respect. My running is for me and also I can't be arsed with the collecting bit. If given raffle tickets to sell for example I just write a cheque for them instead!

I support other runners who are raising money. Perhaps with the proviso that I'll double it if they finish the race - something like that as a running incentive.

rovers_runner

Unless you do it all the time then it's pointless, why raise for a charity if you are only going to do it once?
If you are going to commit to it pick a charity and get involved with the numerous events they have teams of people lined up for i.e. Croi, CMRF, ISPCA etc.

Munster_Gal

I'm in two minds about this as well.
I don't want to be asking people for money cause I know that alot of peopel don't have it to give at the moment but on the other hand, I know that charities are probably stuggling at the moment as well........... what to do?

Slogger Jogger

rovers_runner wrote: »

Unless you do it all the time then it's pointless, why raise for a charity if you are only going to do it once?
..

Thats a peculiar way of looking at it. If, like myself, you're silly enough to do 4 marathons a year are you suggesting I should raise money for each, just because I do it for at least one? Fundraising has an effort associated. You are going back to the same wells each time in terms of support. I get an extra incentive for doing it too in that my employer matches fundraising up to a point - this can be done once a year. I did a tot recently and saw I'd collected over 13K for charities by doing selective fundraising for my marathons. Hardly pointless.

rovers_runner

Slogger Jogger wrote: »

Thats a peculiar way of looking at it. If, like myself, you're silly enough to do 4 marathons a year are you suggesting I should raise money for each, just because I do it for at least one? Fundraising has an effort associated. You are going back to the same wells each time in terms of support. I get an extra incentive for doing it too in that my employer matches fundraising up to a point - this can be done once a year. I did a tot recently and saw I'd collected over 13K for charities by doing selective fundraising for my marathons. Hardly pointless.

Slogger, maybe I put my point across badly.
What I mean is it'd be better to lend support to them on an ongoing basis than a once off.
I don't go for this 3,000 raised to do xyz marathon abroad but what people could do is raise their own funds on the side and just donate it however small or large.

Racing Flat

menoscemo wrote: »

So I am training for my first Marathon in October and somebody at work asked me today which charity would I be running for.

The less people who run for charity, the less people will be asked this question on announcing that they are going to run some race.

menoscemo wrote: »

My honest answer was that I hadn't actually thought about it, I am primarily training for myself to get fit and for the challenge.

Honesty's the best policy. :pac:

menoscemo wrote: »

a good few people would be willing to part with a tenner.

While I don't mind parting with a tenner, I don't like when I'm made to feel obliged to do so! Workplace bullying I call it - a sponsorship form goes around the office, everyone puts their name down for a tenner, so if you don't put your name down it sticks out and you have to explain yourself, so it's just easier to put the name down and donate the same as everyone else...

Or the first one comes through and it's for a charity you would like to support. and then one comes through for something like the lifeboats and you think 'Hang on a second, this shouldn't be a charity, this should come from the Exchequer like the Fire Brigade etc.'. So by supporting them by donating, the government will not see any need to support them...

In general I feel if I want to support a charity it's up to me and I'll do so of my own accord, I don't like to be directly requested to do so. Is soliciting the right word???

menoscemo wrote: »

So My question is, do you normally run marathons for a charity?

No. Running is my sport. Soccer used to be my sport. No one ever asked me when I was heading to football training every Wednesday night what charity I was collecting for. :rolleyes:

HardyEustace

It's a recurring annoyance here.

When you run a few races a year then you can't expect your friends, family and work colleagues to be continually contributing to your charities. If I do then 1. I pick a local charity, I'm REALLY SUSPICIOUS of overseas charities, the ad's of wide eyed starving children, with fields of gold playing in the background AND NO mention of administrative costs. Hmmmm.
2. I pick one race where I work really hard to achieve a time/distance so I'm giving a genuine effort. (In this case it'll be DCM this year)

However, by the same token, you'll have a few grit your teeth moment where people will look at you as if you're Attila the Hun because you're not doing <<insert particular race>> for the "help dyslexic puppies" charity

plodder

If you don't have a background in athletics, then there is a certain novelty value in what you are doing, and you might find it's not that hard to collect money for charity. At least that's what I found for my first marathon. The idea of me running 26 miles obviously provoked a degree of amusement in some people.

I reluctantly got involved in another charity run a second time, and it was much harder to get money on that occasion. So, I've never done it again since, and don't intend to.

But I'd say, why not for the first one anyway? The big charities make it very easy, and you can use sites like www.mycharity.ie as well.

menoscemo

Thanks for the replies. I have a charity in mind actually, I do voluntary work with them every summer and I know they would be appreciative of any extra money. I just don't want to spend more time stressing about raising and collecting money than actually training and focusing on running a good time. I suppose I will just pass around a sponsorship sheet, maybe ask them to double the pledge if I get under 4 hours as this might give me a bit of incentive.

I just was a little taken aback yesterday when asked, it was like I was expected to be running for a charity. I was actually accused of being selfish for running the marathon for myself and not a charity :rolleyes:

jlang

I haven't run for charity yet but I don't mind when others do and usually contribute. That said, I do think someone emailing everyone in their address book with a mycharity link to help them raise a 150 euro entry fee is a bit much (in the lazy direction). Yes the entire fee was going to a worthy charity but in this case I think I'd have been more likely to contribute if they were attempting to raise 1000.

Slogger Jogger

rovers_runner wrote: »

Slogger, maybe I put my point across badly.
What I mean is it'd be better to lend support to them on an ongoing basis than a once off.
I don't go for this 3,000 raised to do xyz marathon abroad but what people could do is raise their own funds on the side and just donate it however small or large.

Sorry Rovers, I picked up you the other way and it irked me - ooops. I've expressed my views on those far flung fund-raisers before. As long as a charity is getting the most benefit from an event and its not a subsidised holiday then on balance there is 'good' being done...

spurscormac

Racing Flat wrote: »

Or the first one comes through and it's for a charity you would like to support. and then one comes through for something like the lifeboats and you think 'Hang on a second, this shouldn't be a charity, this should come from the Exchequer like the Fire Brigade etc.'. So by supporting them by donating, the government will not see any need to support them...

Got to pick you up on this here.
As an ex diver, and occasional surfer, I have donated to a few of their fundraisers through the years.
The Lifeboats crews do a fantastic volunteers job, and require as much funding as possible.
While I agree that the money to run them should ideally be provided by the state, by the same argument, in a perfect world, Croí, another fantastic charity I have a personal link to, should not have to exist, and their work should be paid for out of our taxes.

However, the country isn't perfect, these charities do need donations to survive and provide the excellent service they do.
I fail to see how not donating to them until the government wake up will help anyone.


I do however see your point about the whole workplace fundraiser thing. Funnily enough, a couple of years ago, while I would have preferred to send a mail to all in my office, inviting them to sign a sheet in the canteen if they so wished, the powers that be said it wasn't a company chosen charity and requested I just send it around my close colleagues.
That was far worse I thought, and since then, I've not done any event myself for charity. I'll donate to others, but am wary of putting pressure on the same people over & over again.
If people want to donate, let them do it, but I won't be asking again, unless its something really challenging.

griffin100

I like most posters am in two minds about this.

Last yeat when I did my first triathlon I rasied money for Focus Ireland (you had to raise €250 to take part in the event). Given that the thoughts of me doing any physical activity sent everyone I know into hysterics people were very willing to give. However I only asked contacts in my large suppliers to make a corporate donation, I just didn't feel comfortable asking individuals for cash. I raised just under €2k as far as I remember. Now that I am a fully fledged triathlete:P I cant really keep asking for sponsorship. You can only go to the well so often.

What does make me slightly uncomfortable is the raise €5k and come and spend two weeks cycling in south america type events. How much of that money goes towards your holiday and how much to charity? You can argue that any contribution to charity is better than nothing but I think it's a bit dishonest to ask people to contribute to charity when in reality they are funding your holiday. Just my opinion.

osnola ibax

I raised money for charit when I did the half in April. Work colleagues just presumed I was doing it for charity and so I said go on then. It was a very worthy local cause aswell and they were delighted with me. That wasn't the main goal of my run though and I did start to get stressed about it towards the end.

For that reason, I wouldn't do it again in a hurry, but maybe sometime I will again. It has been mentioned to me about doing dcm for same charity but I'm gonna b firm on it. I've raised for them already this year and it wouldn't b fair to ask people for money again. I feel kind of uncomfortable asking people for money even if it is for charity. I'm delighted I did it but won't b doing it for dcm, that one is all about me and my training!

Running Bing

Racing Flat wrote: »

The less people who run for charity, the less people will be asked this question on announcing that they are going to run some race.



Honesty's the best policy. :pac:




While I don't mind parting with a tenner, I don't like when I'm made to feel obliged to do so! Workplace bullying I call it - a sponsorship form goes around the office, everyone puts their name down for a tenner, so if you don't put your name down it sticks out and you have to explain yourself, so it's just easier to put the name down and donate the same as everyone else...

Or the first one comes through and it's for a charity you would like to support. and then one comes through for something like the lifeboats and you think 'Hang on a second, this shouldn't be a charity, this should come from the Exchequer like the Fire Brigade etc.'. So by supporting them by donating, the government will not see any need to support them...

In general I feel if I want to support a charity it's up to me and I'll do so of my own accord, I don't like to be directly requested to do so. Is soliciting the right word???



No. Running is my sport. Soccer used to be my sport. No one ever asked me when I was heading to football training every Wednesday night what charity I was collecting for. :rolleyes:

I agree with this.

I actually find it quite annoying when somebody asks me about a race and then says "which charity did you do it for?". It actually makes you feel a bit guilty when it shouldn't.

I mean I would never ask my friends who play golf or football or rugby what charity they did it for

Dont get me wrong, I think if you do something positive for charity its great but it should not be taken as a forgone conclusion just because you run a race.