run for a charity?

dodgyknees

just a question for the marathoners decided im going to do dcm again next year[toenails still havent grown back from the last one] but i was thinking i might do it for a charity do moast of you guys run for a charity ?or do you not bother?

RayCun

dodgyknees wrote: »

just a question for the marathoners decided im going to do dcm again next year[toenails still havent grown back from the last one] but i was thinking i might do it for a charity do moast of you guys run for a charity ?or do you not bother?

I looked for sponsorship for the first marathon I ran, last year, but won't bother again. I'm not doing this for the fundraising.

pconn062

RayCun wrote: »

I looked for sponsorship for the first marathon I ran, last year, but won't bother again. I'm not doing this for the fundraising.

I'm in the same boat as you, just running for myself, and I donate to charity in my own way. Plus it is getting increasingly difficult to ask people for money nowadays, as they simply don't have it.

rainbow kirby

I dislike the assumption that people run marathons just to raise money for charity, and I also dislike the assumption that those who don't run for charity are being selfish in some way (not referring to anyone in particular, just a reaction I got off some non-runners while I was training for my first 2 marathons). I run because I like to run, nothing more, nothing less.

hardCopy

I did a couple of charity races when I first started out but you can only go back to the same people so many times.

Also, I don't think people are as impressed by the challenge when they know you race regularly.

ecoli

hardCopy wrote: »

Also, I don't think people are as impressed by the challenge when they know you race regularly.

I think this is an important point. Usually people raising money for charity take on something that they are inexperienced at. I mean when you are giving money to someone as sponsorship which are you more inclined to sponsor

- A novice runner who finds it difficult to complete the challenge and is doing it simply to raise money for the charity

or

- Experienced runner with a great passion for the sport who has put in years of training and is going to be doing the race either way

If my aim was to raise money for a charity personally I would aim for a charity swim or something where I am actually getting out of my comfort zone in order to benefit the charity. I would feel I kinda cheated asking people for money for something I love doing and would be doing either way

That may just be a personal opinion however

meijin

I didn't really think about running for charity, but in the end I've decided to setup a page for donations and send it to some of my contacts by mail. Only very few decided to donate anything and I actually found it a bit disappointing, even though I very much appreciate the few donations I got and words of encouragement. Anyway, it wasn't my main goal and I didn't spend too much time on this - I don't like asking people for money. I don't think I'll do it again.

PaulieC

I did it for charity this year and raised 2330 euros. I doubt I'd get anywhere near as much if I did it next year, but I have already decided not to seek sponsorship next year

nerraw1111

It's great that running can raise so much for charity but there's no way I'd give a runner money so they can run the New York marathon or the Great Run Ethiopia. Feck that. Nor would I ask.

Bit like someone asking me to sponsor them to walk in beautiful Cuba. Or a mate in Sunday soccer league asking for sponsorship as he's playing a match.

Brianderunner

The worse you are, the more likely you are to run for charity.

rom

I did a comerical race in Cork that boasted that it had raised X thousands for the years it has been held. From what I work out it was all fundraising by the entrants who pay 50 euro for the race. Its a large charity and basically all the race organizers do is send a sponership card out in the race pack and take all the profits from the race and make no donation to the charity. Never again. Will never run a race for a charity. Would run for someone that needs to get an operation or something like that but not a charity. Most big charities have very well paid employees.

robinph

Don't think I've ever run for charity, may have back in the mists of time but not sure. Do far too many races for it to be a sensible thing to be doing going round to try and collect money for yet another race. Also when the people you know who you'd be trying to collect money from are more than likely going to be running that very same race you ain't going to be very successful.

I would consider running for a charity in a marathon, but only one very specific charity, and only if they were the only way for me to gain entry for that race. They would need to approach me and offer me free entry so they could use me in some publicity or similar. though.

shels4ever

Brianderunner wrote: »

The worse you are, the more likely you are to run for charity.

Maybe I should pick a cause this year then .

TFBubendorfer

hardCopy wrote: »

I did a couple of charity races when I first started out but you can only go back to the same people so many times.

Also, I don't think people are as impressed by the challenge when they know you race regularly.

I found exactly the same. My first 5 or 6 marathons were all for charity, after that I started getting the hint when people said "you again!".

In addition to that, I resent the fact that a lot of people assume you must be running for charity if you're doing a marathon. I don't. I love running marathons.

robinph

rainbow kirby wrote: »

I dislike the assumption that people run marathons just to raise money for charity, and I also dislike the assumption that those who don't run for charity are being selfish in some way (not referring to anyone in particular, just a reaction I got off some non-runners while I was training for my first 2 marathons). I run because I like to run, nothing more, nothing less.

Maybe need to tell these people that you'll run for charity, if they make a direct debit to your nominated charity for €50 for every race of 10km or further that you do.

Then give them your race schedule

neilc

I actually fundraised for the first time this year for my run in the Berlin, my third marathon. It's something I never intended doing, I got into running as lifestyle choice, a way to get fit, maybe repair some of the damage of many years of smoking, meet new people etc, etc...

However someone suggested doing this one for charity because of some personal circumstances. And it went extremely well, I managed to raise €4086.20. Never in my wildest dreams did I figure I'd raise so much. I reckon the personal stuff and the fact that it was a foreign one contributed to its success.

It was definitely a once off for me though, as someone said earlier you just can't go back to the same people year after year. I also believe though you can't judge people by whether they do or don't fundraise, fundraising doesn't make you more or less a runner. Unfortunately the way our country is at the moment these charities, who do fantastic work are losing more and more state funding and depend so much on fundraisers. One golden rule I had though was to take care of all my own expenses, no way could I ask anyone to contribute to my trip like some of the organised ones do.

Sorry for rambling on for so long, just my opinion.

aburke

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

My first 5 or 6 marathons were all for charity, after that I started getting the hint when people said "you again!".

In addition to that, I resent the fact that a lot of people assume you must be running for charity if you're doing a marathon. I don't. I love running marathons.

Then why did you feel the need to raise money for the first 5 or 6. Just curious.

TFBubendorfer

aburke wrote: »

Then why did you feel the need to raise money for the first 5 or 6. Just curious.

Excellent question. Basically, since everyone around me automatically associated running marathons with raising money for charity I felt I would have to do the same.

It was definitely related to not wanting to appear selfish and all that. It has been touched on this thread. I have since come to the conclusion that not raising charity money for every marathon I do does not make me a worse person.

Pisco Sour

It doesn't really matter if the runner raising money for charity is a plodder who is taking up a monumental challenge, or Craig Mottram running a 10K in Melbourne as a training run, as long as the money raised goes to the place intended then that is the most important thing!

The very first road race I ever did I did for charity (partly for that reason, but mainly for myself). I've always been bothered by all the sh1t I've seen on TV about kids dying in Africa so thought this would be as good an opportunity as any to do anything about it. But if you're going to raise money then you are either all in or all out. No point in putting up some online rubbish on mycharity wbsite. People ignore that. I've ignored plenty of them. So instead I literally asked everybody I knew for money. Work in particular was great for it. When one person gave money the next person felt they had to so they wouldn't look cheap. I know it's guilting people into giving money but who cares to be honest. Ended up raising around 1400 euro.

Havent raised money in any of my races since. I looked at it as a once off thing. I hadnt done it before so people were very generous. But to do it again and again, you wouldn't get such a positive response.

If somebody wants to or doesnt want to raise money for charity, it is entirely a personal decision, and should not be judged by others for their decision. In the end of the day running is a sport, so why should there be an expectation for somebody who takes part in the sport to be only doing it for charity? You wouldn't see people showing sich attitude towards people who compete in rugby or soccer, for recreational purposes.

Stark

If there was a particular charity that I really wanted to make money for, I'd do it. I wouldn't do it just to tick a "I raised money for a random charity, that makes me a less selfish person" box. (On the basis that it's coming out of other people's pockets, not mine so it's not making me a better person).