Sponsor meeeee. :(

Fluffy Cat 88

In the past few months I've been approached by family, friends, and enemies looking for sponsorship for everything from "Hell and Back" to 5 kilometre strolls. One of my nieces wanted money to read books :O

I'm probably a right tight ar$ed stingebag for thinking this way but - I'm sick of it. One particular family (his feckin brother's 4 offspring) are always whipping out a card and chanting "sponsor meeeee". €5 is the expected amount - not a huge amount but it all adds up when its so frequent.

Chuggers - while annoying and a nuisance, are easy to either ignore or say no to. Extended family, not so convenient. Is there any way I can avoid being shook down for money?

Surely parents are sick of their kids constantly badgering them for sponsorship? A lot of it seems to be school related activities.

Would love to read people's opinions and experience of this nonsense.

Senna

Fluffy Cat 88 wrote: »

One of my nieces wanted money to read books :O

The wee bitch

RustyNut

I think the money mostly goes to charities. They need it.



How else can the directors afford the new audies and ponies for little tarquin....

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Fluffy Cat 88 wrote: »

In the past few months I've been approached by family, friends, and enemies looking for sponsorship for everything from "Hell and Back" to 5 kilometre strolls. One of my nieces wanted money to read books :O

I'm probably a right tight ar$ed stingebag for thinking this way but - I'm sick of it. One particular family (his feckin brother's 4 offspring) are always whipping out a card and chanting "sponsor meeeee". €5 is the expected amount - not a huge amount but it all adds up when its so frequent.

Chuggers - while annoying and a nuisance, are easy to either ignore or say no to. Extended family, not so convenient. Is there any way I can avoid being shook down for money?

Surely parents are sick of their kids constantly badgering them for sponsorship? A lot of it seems to be school related activities.

Would love to read people's opinions and experience of this nonsense.

Well, no - becuase the kids bother every one else except their parents!!

Beyond that, it's just a fund-raiser. If it was a worthwhile cause it wouldn't btoher me, but I don't remember being inundated wit hthe things.

Spanish Eyes

I don't give to charities anymore now.

But for schools I give E25 for my two nephews at the start of the year or thereabouts, that would be E50 in total. On the understanding that THAT's it folks for the year and don't come near me for any sponsorship in the meantime

I'm only the Auntie after all.

And a tenner X 2 for the Christmas fundraising. Inevitable.

So that's E70.

But they won't be kids forever.

Free education my ar$e.

By FAR the worst kind of fundraising is the supermarket bag pack. That invasion of the most private of spaces; the end of the conveyor belt. Get out of my space, and take off the stupid T-shirts.

No, the Ballygobackwards Irish Dancing School Of Camogie, Pole Dancing And Wizardry is NOT a charity.

Leave me alone, back off, and get your hands off my shopping and out of my wallet.

Spanish Eyes

Candie wrote: »

By FAR the worst kind of fundraising is the supermarket bag pack. That invasion of the most private of spaces; the end of the conveyor belt. Get out of my space, and take off the stupid T-shirts.

No, the Ballygobackwards Irish Dancing School Of Camogie, Pole Dancing And Wizardry is NOT a charity.

Leave me alone, back off, and get your hands off my shopping and out of my wallet.

Even worse when the poor exploited kids who need so much money, put your bread in the bottom of the bag and fire the bottle of bleach on top of it.

However, I always throw them a euro.

Who gets the euro though, is open to question!

Poor kids, fair dues to them, but it must wreck their heads.

fatknacker

Tell the kids to fck off and use their confirmation money.

Fluffy Cat 88

fatknacker wrote: »

Tell the kids to fck off and use their confirmation money.

Love your username ^^^

I actually say this in my head, one day it will come out of my mouth.

It'll be grand I'm sure

Lyaiera

My parents refused to let me do this. They'd send a note with me to school telling the school I was excused from this, and my parents and relations donate to charities of their own choosing, not the school's.

My parents did give me a fiver so I could do the Simpsons quiz (which was for charity.) A written quiz about Simpsons trivia (a seriously hard one too, and it was before the internet and the simpsons guide books came out.) And they always gave me a pound for the non-uniform days.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Just recently I encountered a sourpuss collecting money on the street (small town) for some charity. I truthfully told him I had no change when he asked and he shot me the most filthy look imaginable.

The cheek of the bastard. He looked like a right thug too, I say he was pocketing half of it.

Lady is a tramp

Worst is a teacher friend of mine who pesters us every year to give her money to go teaching in Africa or India. I didn't mind the first couple of years, but it's every feckin summer. F*ck off and pay for your own summer holidays! :mad:

mansize

Senna wrote: »

The wee bitch

I pissed myself at this comment.

I'll always sponsor family esp my nieces and nephews and close friends- anyone else can chug off.

DEFTLEFTHAND

The parachute jumps or Kilimanjaro exhibitions are the ones which really push it.

It's actually quite disgusting using charitable donation to fund such activities. If you want to do a climb or a jump to raise money for a charitable cause fine but pay for it out your own pocket and donate 100% of whats collected.

jimbobaloobob

i think alot of them fund themselves to go to those far off destinations and the money raised is directly accounted for by the charities here. At least thats how its portrayed.

topmanamillion

Some of these collectors can be really pushy.
I was in work a while ago and an elderly lady came in. She knew the boss and was given free reign.
So she came into the office with her bucket said her piece i.e "I'm collecting for x, it's a great cause, close to my heard blah blah".
That's fine. One or 2 people went up to her discretely and donated. That left a few of us that didn't give anything for our own various reasons.
She proceeds to ask everyone individually that hadn't "are you going to donate?"

Absolute cheek. No one was impressed and as I found out later it actually made up a few people's minds not to give, that were on the fence about going to the car for change or going to their coats.

That pushy stuff drives me nuts.

I have to say I gave to Medics Without Borders recently because I liked their approach. A well presented man came to my door, explained their work and a little about them. He then told me I could research them more and if I wanted to I could set up a direct debit.

The days of people pushing buckets under your nose should be numbered.

Lyaiera

I hate collectors that come into pubs, and I hate the pub managers even more that let them. If a pub wants to collect for charity put a box on the bar, and people will donate if they want to. I've donated to causes personal to people in the bar when they've left a box there, and I've donated to causes personal to the bar owner when they've left a box. But coming around annoying customers is not on.

mansize

Lyaiera wrote: »

I hate collectors that come into pubs, and I hate the pub managers even more that let them. If a pub wants to collect for charity put a box on the bar, and people will donate if they want to. I've donated to causes personal to people in the bar when they've left a box there, and I've donated to causes personal to the bar owner when they've left a box. But coming around annoying customers is not on.

They get more asking people- its called pester power.

Lyaiera

mansize wrote: »

They get more asking people- its called pester power.

I do understand that asking people for money will result in more people giving or being embarrassed into giving money, I just think it's wrong of a pub owner to allow people to do it.

jimbobaloobob

I agree it just leads to more knowing it's an easy target point for sponsors.

Elliott S

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Just recently I encountered a sourpuss collecting money on the street (small town) for some charity. I truthfully told him I had no change when he asked and he shot me the most filthy look imaginable.

The cheek of the bastard. He looked like a right thug too, I say he was pocketing half of it.

Once I was walking down the street in Dublin carrying a tin whistle I had just bought from a music shop for nostalgic reasons. Not playing it, just holding it. There was some chugger on the street, he asked me for a donation, I said no. He looks pissed off and as I'm walking past says "I'd give you a donation not to play that fúckin thing". I just kept walking but honestly I just wanted shove it somewhere that he could play it in a new and exciting way! :pac:

sullivlo

I am guilty of doing charity events. I only ask for money for one of them, and that is a gruelling 400 km cycle.

However I always cover the entry fee myself, and any money raised goes to the charity. I also rarely ask for money directly - I tend to organise a bake sale or a table quiz so that at least the people donating get something out of it.

The exception is my current request. A friend of mine was in an accident recently. He was hit by a truck and left with life changing injuries - he is paralysed from the chest down. They're currently fundraising for him to fund the renovations needed to their house to allow him to come home. In that case I'll do the event and just share the sponsorship link.

I do think that people are taking the p1ss with the events that they're doing and asking for money for though. A marathon? Sure, have some funds. A 5km stroll in the Phoenix park? I'm gonna think twice.

flazio

I'm running next week for

Care for the
Aged,
Sick and
Homeless.

Please make out donation cheques to the initials running down the name.

Urgh.

People who seek donations for doing something they really want to do anyway.

Just...no.

And Mickey Mouse stuff like to Hell and Back or Tough Mudder or 5km walks...worse again. Though all pretty bad.

pajor

Candie wrote: »

By FAR the worst kind of fundraising is the supermarket bag pack. That invasion of the most private of spaces; the end of the conveyor belt. Get out of my space, and take off the stupid T-shirts.

No, the Ballygobackwards Irish Dancing School Of Camogie, Pole Dancing And Wizardry is NOT a charity.

Leave me alone, back off, and get your hands off my shopping and out of my wallet.

We had to do charity bag packing as part of Transition Year. Hated doing it. But Friday evenings in M&S were a cash cow.

The money went to fundraising for a trip for a group of students to India, to 'witness first hand' the work of this charity. If you wanted to go you had to do an interview with members of the charity's board. I wasn't picked to go. Basically the biggest ass holes were picked.

Samaris

Argh, bagpacking. Did it with the school and with Brigins and once as a job. It is the most tedious, mind-numbing, brain-draining activity out there. Especially doing it as a job. Seven hours standing there, smiling at customers, being scowled at because people rarely actually want their bags packed and are trying to be nice to the dumb teenager that is sure to put the bread under the raw meat (I didn't, but it's expected!). Argh. Never again.

My parents didn't particularly approve of school-encouraged begging for money, both for safety reasons and because of the begging for money aspect. There were also a number of us from the same street in the same class in school, so the neighbours probably got pretty sick of it too. I did take part in the Readathon (that'd be the reading books for money thing :P) and I'll sponsor that if kids are doing it. It's all very well if you're a bookworm (as I was), but it's as tough as a marathon for kids that hate reading. It is very cheatable on, mind you, but still.

Also, it's nice every so often to have a competitive-type thing that the non-sporty kids have a chance to excel in.

Howard the Duck

Working in an Office there is always someone doing something. I try to give about 1% of my wages a year to charity if i can, I do this mostly through online donations so i never really give money in the office unless it is a really good cause, people probably think i'm very stingy.

D0NNELLY

my mate wanted cash to run the nyc marathon.. i asked him how much was he fronting?... not a shekel.. just wanted a free holiday.

conorhal

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

The parachute jumps or Kilimanjaro exhibitions are the ones which really push it.

It's actually quite disgusting using charitable donation to fund such activities. If you want to do a climb or a jump to raise money for a charitable cause fine but pay for it out your own pocket and donate 100% of whats collected.

That's the one that gets me too. "Hi, I'd like to go on an all expenses paid exotic holiday! Would you care to pay for it for me?" :mad:

Macy0161

It's the sponsored holidays that are the worst. Sponsor me to run, for example, the New York Marathon - feck off, plenty of marathons you could run locally for much less cost with more money to the charity, if it's genuinely about running the 26.2 miles rather the freebie weekend in New York.

snubbleste

Sponsor my marathon or I'll give ye a fine
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/garda-who-sought-donations-cleared-of-corruption-charges-1.2451727

smash

People always want sponsorship to do things they'll enjoy, like a once in a lifetime experience, and I just won't pay for that. Now if someone wants to look for sponsorship to be left in a barren wasteland for a week while predators hunt them for food in support of starving kids in Africa then fcuk it, I'll give them a fiver if them manage to survive.

GLaDOS

Candie wrote: »

By FAR the worst kind of fundraising is the supermarket bag pack. That invasion of the most private of spaces; the end of the conveyor belt. Get out of my space, and take off the stupid T-shirts.

No, the Ballygobackwards Irish Dancing School Of Camogie, Pole Dancing And Wizardry is NOT a charity.

Leave me alone, back off, and get your hands off my shopping and out of my wallet.

One benifit of shopping in Aldi, no space for that nonsense.

Winterlong

Ye are all a bunch of tight wads!

beach_walker

Fluffy Cat 88 wrote: »

One of my nieces wanted money to read books :O

Ha! Who else remembers the MS Read-a-thon? I'd forgotten all about that. Was dead chuffed on getting a certificate from them saying I'm a great lad. Was so successful that next year the school banned it and instituted their own read-a-thon for raising money... suffice to say numbers participating dropped dramatically.

maudgonner

When I was a child my parents would give me a few quid for sponsorship but wouldn't let me go bothering anyone else.

At the time I thought they were spoilsports and wished I was like everyone else and allowed to pester neighbours, relatives etc to look for sponsorship. Now I realise how sound it was of them.

It takes a few decades before you appreciate some of the lessons your parents teach you, or the example they set.


(ETA: I'm still annoyed with them that they wouldn't let me get a pet bear though. Spoilsports :mad:)

gramar

I don't mind people using a run/cycle/24 hour egg and spoon race for raising funds for a good cause but if I thought they were
using part of the money raised to pay entry fees or travel/accomodation then they can **** right off.

Lyaiera

Macy0161 wrote: »

It's the sponsored holidays that are the worst. Sponsor me to run, for example, the New York Marathon - feck off, plenty of marathons you could run locally for much less cost with more money to the charity, if it's genuinely about running the 26.2 miles rather the freebie weekend in New York.

Run around your garden enough times to hit 26 miles and I'll give ye a tenner. I'll give you 20 if you let me have a bbq there while you're doing it.

T-Maxx

Well mannered kids, yes.
The type that just stick the form in your hand while mumbling "sponsor me", eh no.

Sky King

Candie wrote: »

By FAR the worst kind of fundraising is the supermarket bag pack. .

Yet another reason I shop in Aldi.

RTighe

Fluffy Cat 88 wrote: »

In the past few months I've been approached by family, friends, and enemies looking for sponsorship for everything from "Hell and Back" to 5 kilometre strolls. One of my nieces wanted money to read books :O

I'm probably a right tight ar$ed stingebag for thinking this way but - I'm sick of it. One particular family (his feckin brother's 4 offspring) are always whipping out a card and chanting "sponsor meeeee". €5 is the expected amount - not a huge amount but it all adds up when its so frequent.

Chuggers - while annoying and a nuisance, are easy to either ignore or say no to. Extended family, not so convenient. Is there any way I can avoid being shook down for money?

Surely parents are sick of their kids constantly badgering them for sponsorship? A lot of it seems to be school related activities.

Would love to read people's opinions and experience of this nonsense.

This Does my head in, I do a lot of the mentioned like tough mudder hell and back etc, but I cannot bring myself to ask others for money directly. I cant!

I don't know their financial situation and I don't know if the even agree with the charity in question if I picked one.

What I did last month for the first time was basically say "I'm doing this for fun, but if the idea of it entertains you, then I would like it if you went to this page and if you felt like it, maybe make a donation of time materials or time (it was an animal shelter).That way no-ones asked directly and its up to them, and if they did donate, great, if not, no-one knows!)

but I agree with the OP. it is getting a bit much this year with the constant give us the cash!

Ciaran_B

Some kids came to my door earlier this year looking for sponsors for something. But they were collecting name on an iPad!. They weren't swiping credit cards or anything, just recording names and amounts, but that's the next step for sure. I said no and closed the door.

Pawwed Rig

Another is sponsorship to build houses for poor people in Colombia.
Wait a second you are in college doing music and philosophy. The guy you are building the house for is much better able to take part in the construction than you.
ie we pay for her holiday and the holier than thou facebook updates.

topper75

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Another is sponsorship to build houses for poor people in Colombia.

They can't help build homes for Irish people who are less well off - because they are citizens of the world see.

In truth, these schemes are a way of rich Irish folks getting their college-going kids out of their hair in the summer months.

I see this nonsense less and less thankfully. And the Himalayan trek type thing is also pretty much history.

Now if we could only eliminate the city centre footpath botherers and the bag packers looking for me to fund THEIR sport or hobby... 'because we are a community organisation'.

Elliott S

T-Maxx wrote: »

Well mannered kids, yes.
The type that just stick the form in your hand while mumbling "sponsor me", eh no.

Ah I dunno, that could be a mix of shyness and mortification at looking for sponsorship. I know I always hated asking people as a childer.

rainbow kirby

Pile of ****e tbh. I've been running for years and I hate that people's first response when I say I'm doing a race is "Who are you doing it for?" - their expression changes drastically when I say "Me". The idea that people might participate in endurance sports because they find them fun is totally lost on people.

Elliott S

My friend's son is autistic and she is doing a fundraising walk in Spain to raise funds of an autism service charity. Makes her sound like one of those people just looking for people to pay for her holliers. Well, she paying for her flight and accommodation out of her own pocket and she has organised a very fun sounding garden party with games and food and prosecco in exchange for a sponsorship of €15 a head. I'm very happy to attend as it'll be good craic and she is actually giving something back to the people who give her sponsorship, rather than "Just gimme money to go abroad and save cute animals. No, there's nothing in it for you". Also, she is an incredibly generous person who does so much for her friends and family despite being a self-employed single mother, so everyone is very happy to support her. You reap what you sow and all that.

So many charity fundraisers come across as completely self-serving though.

Lyaiera

Misery/grief/disaster tourism are all things.

spurious

'Do you want to do a sponsored run with me?'
'Um...not really'
'Go on, it's for children with disabilities'.
'Oh OK then, I might have a chance'.

Ba doom tish.

Elliott S

Remember once driving through a town down home with my dad and some people were out with baskets collecting money from passing cars. My dad slows down to ask what it's in aid of. "The local handball club", they said. "Will ye feck off, I thought it was for something worthwhile" said father and off we drove. Gotta love that plain-spoken generation! :D:D

Sterling Archer

If anyone every ask me for a donation for doing X I'll always ask them how much they are donation or fronting,
I did a skydrive for CF, you need the price of the jump x 2, paid for the jump myself and the rest was donations,
This idea of "I'm doing it for a great cause" is really annoying, some people are genuine and donate themselves or are truly doing something completely beyond there norm or capabilities others just want free stuff or to be known and seen to be "helping people" ...