Paying for skydives and holidays in the name of charity

Skydives etc. and volunteering abroad are two things people often collect money for.. I fully support when engineers/builders and doctors/nurses go to poor places in Africa or Haiti but other than that, I don’t really think it’s right. If you want to do a skydive, save the few hundred euro yourself imo.
Too much of the time, it’s a blatant “you pay for my fun” money collecting exercise and in these cases, I think people’s donations to charity could be better put to use.

At the moment, I’m working and saving to go to a country where I’ll hopefully teach English as a means to support myself if needed. I know a few people collecting money to go to the same country to “volunteer” but they have no skills that could help anything really. At least if they were going to Haiti, it’d be ok but this country has a massive tourism industry keeping it going.
It's one of the most beautiful places in the world and I'm sure the conversation started with "where will we go this summer? and where will we get the money?".. not "will we do charity work? and where most needs our help?".

Makes me wonder why I’m trying to pay for the trip myself. What are peoples thoughts on this type of charity?

BizzyC

Well assuming that the charity gets what was promised, I dont see a problem.

In the case of a skydive etc, they get the money raised so everyone's a winner.
In the case of getting paid to go on a trip, I think it depends on the people doing it.
If I knew the person going over was committed to helping and making a difference I'd be all for it, if they just wanted to do it for the craic then I'd say they're cheating people out of their money and the charity.

we'llallhavetea_old

two of my frriends are volunteering this summer, they're trying to fundraise so they can go. i don't really see the problem with it. they are going over to try to help the best they can, in anyway. you don't need to be a nurse/teacher to help out.

and they're not like, omg, holidays! if they wanted a holiday, they'd go on one.

Clanket

If you don't agree then dont sponsor them.

Alofthedunnes

Alofthedunnes wrote: »

If you don't agree then dont sponsor them.

I'm not funnily enough.. What's that got to do with the thread?

bluto63

I remember looking into it a while back and it was 350 for the skydive lessons and a skydive if you pay for it yourself, while it's 550 if you do it for charity. It says they expect you to pay the 350 yourself while you raise the other 200 for charity. So I assume that only 200 of the money you raise (or more if you raise over 550) goes to charity. I'd say that people will be turned off the idea of a skydive for charity if they realise they're supposed to cough up 350 of their own money

WindSock

I wouldn't feel comfortable asking people to give me money so I can go off on a holiday in the name of charity.

krudler

By that same logic you can lump in guys who always fancied getting a leg waxing but felt they needed to tack a charity to it to give the event some gravity

Wile E. Coyote

I collected €4,500 for the National Council of the Blind by doing a Skydive. The money paid to the skydive company is minimal and the rest goes to charity. Whats wrong with that?

ScumLord

These charity things need grunts though. It only takes one architect to design the house 1 or 2 skilled people to do the skilled labor and grunts to do all the **** work inbetween. I'm sure it's mostly a way of getting money more than anything, give a a young person a cause and they'll run after it doing all the hard work.

tootired

Totally disagree with the notion of sposoring someone so they can go on a "trek in Peru" for some Irish charity. Surely the money for flights, accommadation(which would be a lot of money) can be used for actual charity work and not for putting someones bum on a plane seat to go on a walking holiday.

flanzer

A few in my company did the Keith Duffy Machu Pichu climb last year. I couldn't come around to donating to them.

When they came back after their week away, they were going on about how tough it was while having the times of their lives. This then confirmed why I didn't sponsor them. Try living on the streets of Dublin for a week and see how tough it is. Try climbing Crough Patrick in the depths of Winter and see how tough it is.

I put my tenner into the Irish Autism Action charity box instead.

Gillington

I done a skydive for charity a few years ago,it was 400,200 of which we had to pay ourselves,think we raised near 4000 between the four of us.We met people who felt the same as OP did so we just gave them the name and address of the charity if they wanted to donate something themselves if they didnt so be it,we couldnt force them and didnt want them to feel pressured.

I dont see the problem as long as the charity gets its cash really.

InKonspikuou2

Deleted User wrote: »

Skydives etc. and volunteering abroad are two things people often collect money for.. I fully support when engineers/builders and doctors/nurses go to poor places in Africa or Haiti but other than that, I don’t really think it’s right. If you want to do a skydive, save the few hundred euro yourself imo.
Too much of the time, it’s a blatant “you pay for my fun” money collecting exercise and in these cases, I think people’s donations to charity could be better put to use.

At the moment, I’m working and saving to go to a country where I’ll hopefully teach English as a means to support myself if needed. I know a few people collecting money to go to the same country to “volunteer” but they have no skills that could help anything really. At least if they were going to Haiti, it’d be ok but this country has a massive tourism industry keeping it going.
It's one of the most beautiful places in the world and I'm sure the conversation started with "where will we go this summer? and where will we get the money?".. not "will we do charity work? and where most needs our help?".

Makes me wonder why I’m trying to pay for the trip myself. What are peoples thoughts on this type of charity?

You do know that when you sponsor somebody to do a sky dive that they pay for the sky dive also? The money raised is what is supposed to go directly to the charity. Not to fund the dive itself. It's the same for sponsored cycles in Spain or wherever.

And i've never come across anybody collecting money to fund their volunteering. I've seen people collecting for a volunteering organization that they have paid money to partake in and the money they collect goes to the organization which should give the money raised to the cause. It's not to fund their flights, accommodation or spending money.

krudler

The skydive thing I dont mind, but I drew the line at a woman who was doing a "5k sponsored walk" around her home town and was asking for a fiver from us at work, i politely told her to **** off as I wasnt giving her money to take a stroll around town, fcuk sake I walk 5k around my area a few nights a week

Wile E. Coyote

tootired wrote: »

Totally disagree with the notion of sposoring someone so they can go on a "trek in Peru" for some Irish charity. Surely the money for flights, accommadation(which would be a lot of money) can be used for actual charity work and not for putting someones bum on a plane seat to go on a walking holiday.

Have you ever asked yourself how much was raised that went directly to the charity from these type of trips? If it wasn't benificial for the charity they wouldn't be doing it. Unfortunately, people need an incentive to raise or donate money and thats what these trips etc offer. Without them finances would be well short of where they need them to be.

we'llallhavetea_old

krudler wrote: »

The skydive thing I dont mind, but I drew the line at a woman who was doing a "5k sponsored walk" around her home town and was asking for a fiver from us at work, i politely told her to **** off as I wasnt giving her money to take a stroll around town, fcuk sake I walk 5k around my area a few nights a week

5 kilometres????? sure you'd clock that up walking round the house.
was she immensely fat or something? was it extra hard for her to do it?

krudler

we'llallhavetea wrote: »

5 kilometres????? sure you'd clock that up walking round the house.
was she immensely fat or something? was it extra hard for her to do it?

nope, your average middle aged woman, 15k would be something, but 5? pfft

Wile E. Coyote

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

I collected €4,500 for the National Council of the Blind by doing a Skydive. The money paid to the skydive company is minimal and the rest goes to charity. Whats wrong with that?

That's fair enough, alot of money raised so well done. I guess I'm more aiming this at people who have no money but still want to go off around the world for the summer..

we'llallhavetea_old

krudler wrote: »

nope, your average middle aged woman, 15k would be something, but 5? pfft

i would have laughed at her, jesus, thats bad

Clanket

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm not funnily enough.. What's that got to do with the thread?

Oh Im sorry. What exactly were you asking?

Wile E. Coyote

Deleted User wrote: »

I guess I'm more aiming this at people who have no money but still want to go off around the world for the summer..

I see where your coming from but why do people have to have money to volunteer abroad. A lot of money is raised for very good causes this way. As I said there needs to be an incentive to get people fundraising and there has to be an actual goal at the end. If someone just came up to you asking for money cause they were going to send it off to a charity you'd tell them to f*** off cause you could do that yourself. When you can see that there's a legitimate reason for asking for the money people are more inclinded to give it. IMO

Alofthedunnes

Alofthedunnes wrote: »

Oh Im sorry. What exactly were you asking?

Your opinion on this type of charity work.

InKonspikuou2

InKonspikuou2 wrote: »

You do know that when you sponsor somebody to do a sky dive that they pay for the sky dive also? The money raised is what is supposed to go directly to the charity. Not to fund the dive itself. It's the same for sponsored cycles in Spain or wherever.

And i've never come across anybody collecting money to fund their volunteering. I've seen people collecting for a volunteering organization that they have paid money to partake in and the money they collect goes to the organization which should give the money raised to the cause. It's not to fund their flights, accommodation or spending money.

That's all fine and well but from knowing differant people who've done this type of thing, alot took some money of the top to pay for flights etc.
Disagree with me if you like but I've seen it first hand.

Wile E. Coyote

Deleted User wrote: »

That's all fine and well but from knowing differant people who've done this type of thing, alot took some money of the top to pay for flights etc.

Ah thats a different topic altogether. Maybe you should rename your title 'Stealing from Charity to pay for skydiving and holidays'.

InKonspikuou2

Deleted User wrote: »

That's all fine and well but from knowing differant people who've done this type of thing, alot took some money of the top to pay for flights etc.
Disagree with me if you like but I've seen it first hand.

That's them taking money off the top and is not what is supposed to be done. I wouldn't disagree with you about shít like that happening. I was more so talking about that i've never heard of an organization that offers free trips to Peru or offers free sky dives if you raise x amount of Euro. It's supposed to be you pay for the trip which is possibly subsidized a bit by some major sponsor and then you raise money separate from fees which should go directly to the charity beneficiaries.

Wile E. Coyote

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

Ah thats a different topic altogether. Maybe you should rename your title 'Stealing from Charity to pay for skydiving and holidays'.

Yea, I guess so actually..

cashback

Signed up to do one of these charity skydives years ago. Had to pay the 250euro for the jump ourselves and then raise money for charity seperately. Don't see any problem with this but the whole charity cycle in Cambodia is something I wouldn't be keen to pay for.

In the end I never even got to do the jump and never got my money back for it either. Oh well.

30txsbzmcu2k9w

What's getting me is this easy route of organising a charity gig to pay for a trip to Haiti. There's a few people organising these kind of nights that wouldn't be seen dead packing bags at a shopping centre to raise a few quid.

ScumLord

Eliza Deafening Target wrote: »

What's getting me is this easy route of organising a charity gig to pay for a trip to Haiti. There's a few people organising these kind of nights that wouldn't be seen dead packing bags at a shopping centre to raise a few quid.

If it's any consolation if they think going to Haiti is going to be a holiday they're in for a rude awakening.

SugarHigh

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

I see where your coming from but why do people have to have money to volunteer abroad. A lot of money is raised for very good causes this way. As I said there needs to be an incentive to get people fundraising and there has to be an actual goal at the end. If someone just came up to you asking for money cause they were going to send it off to a charity you'd tell them to f*** off cause you could do that yourself. When you can see that there's a legitimate reason for asking for the money people are more inclinded to give it. IMO

It's funny that you see skydiving as a legitimate reason instead of the charity's cause.

Do you really think people would tell you to **** off if it wasn't for the fact you were doing a sky dive?

I just can't imagine someone not wanting to donate to charity but then changing there mind because you are going to go skydiving. I'm guessing they're are only donating because they know and because they're are too embarrassed to say no.

If you collected all the money and then just gave it to charity without doing the sky-dive do you think people would say "what a waste of money helping the poor kids when a guy didn't even jump out of a plane" ?

I agree with you it does raise money but the reasons people do you fundraising is for selfish reasons yet they act like saints.