Fundraising....

I'm currently fund raising by doing a series of running races early next year. Nothing superhuman (one race every two weeks for 3 months, variety of distances), but a stretch for me (*). I was wondering what the esteemed members of the board view is on fund raising by sponsorship? Our esteemed Wizard raised a bunch of money by racing up the Strat last year, for example.

I'm happy to sponsor people doing something outside of their normal comfort zone (e.g. running a marathon, abseiling, sitting in a bath of beans for a day, shaving their heads), but dislike Charity Tourism (sponsorship for someone to hike Machu Pichu, for example, or cycling to the Pyramids). But, other people may find sponsorship crass of an adult crass, pointless or otherwise. Or maybe it's best left to the children?

How do people like to donate to charity? Not at all? In return for some token good/service? Just for the altruistic hell of it? Tax receipts? Silent Auctions?

I have no problem with asking for sponsorships in the forum. After all, I did it myself with the Stratosphere climb.

To answer the question, I prefer to give my charity money directly to the person who needs it. That way there is no organization taking a cut and I know the money is being put to good use. Otherwise, I prefer to just write an annual check to charities I like. I generally don't like gimmicks -- just let me write a check and be done with it.

An exception is things like Stratosphere climb. That was something where the money went directly to charity and I got to do something fun too.

One thing that bothers me is short "mission trips" I've been asked to donate to. For example, a friend of mine had a teenage daughter who went somewhere in Africa to do volunteer work for two weeks. She had to raise about $5,000 for trip expenses. Meanwhile, I think whatever charity it was for could have paid $50 to a hard-working unemployed adult to accomplish the same work -- and he/she would have done it better. Let's be honest and admit the trip is the for the benefit of the person going. I don't ask anyone to pitch in for my vacations, so don't ask me to pitch in for yours.

I generally concur with The Wiz, if someone has a house fire and are uninsured or underinsured, I like to go out and buy them some clothes or give them some cash. I like buying coats for things like Coats 4 Kids, or buying food to donate to food pantries and things of that nature because I don't want my donations to be going to someone's paycheck.

It's pretty much all direct donations and direct assistance/volunteering as far as I am concerned.

Quote: Wizard

I have no problem with asking for sponsorships in the forum. After all, I did it myself with the Stratosphere climb.

To answer the question, I prefer to give my charity money directly to the person who needs it. That way there is no organization taking a cut and I know the money is being put to good use. Otherwise, I prefer to just write an annual check to charities I like. I generally don't like gimmicks -- just let me write a check and be done with it.

Sometime you need to organize to be effective (thinking medical research, for example, or care programs).

Quote:

An exception is things like Stratosphere climb. That was something where the money went directly to charity and I got to do something fun too.

One thing that bothers me is short "mission trips" I've been asked to donate to. For example, a friend of mine had a teenage daughter who went somewhere in Africa to do volunteer work for two weeks. She had to raise about $5,000 for trip expenses. Meanwhile, I think whatever charity it was for could have paid $50 to a hard-working unemployed adult to accomplish the same work -- and he/she would have done it better. Let's be honest and admit the trip is the for the benefit of the person going. I don't ask anyone to pitch in for my vacations, so don't ask me to pitch in for yours.

Yeah, Charity Tourism bugs me. I don't understand why I should give someone money to cycle the Pyramids to raise money for (say) MS. Why not give direct to the MS Society? Like the ride to conquer cancer... the business fundamentals of it shows how much of the minimum entrance fee goes to the charity. I have no problem with someone doing it... but pay your own entrance fee, and let us sponsor on top. $5,000 could pay for someone to work in the US for two months... I'm not sure where that 5K is going (I'd guess 40% is travel costs... I know the airline industry runs at a loss, but I didn't think we needed to sponsor Delta just yet).

Organizations that run fund raisers on behalf of charities take around 10-50% of the top. Online fundraising companies (like Just giving in the UK) take around 5%, but this does cover financial transaction fees, something the end charity would take. The numbers I've seen suggest they are an effective source of income for the charity, as the 5% margins is made up for the efficiencies of handing off promotion and collection to a third party (and into the hands of the person doing the event).

Quote: Wizard

One thing that bothers me is short "mission trips" I've been asked to donate to. ..... Meanwhile, I think whatever charity it was for could have paid $50 to a hard-working unemployed adult to accomplish the same work -- and he/she would have done it better. Let's be honest and admit the trip is the for the benefit of the person going. I don't ask anyone to pitch in for my vacations, so don't ask me to pitch in for yours.

Amen on that. Church groups from my town travel
hundreds of miles to go on a mission trip to some
other town, while other churches from hundreds of
miles away are coming to my town for their mission
trip.

...Just about as inefficient as you can get ! And
some groups have chartered a bus for an entire
week on top of all that.

And on top of that, when they get there, some of
the "jobs" are totally useless busy-work. And
yep, I know that first-hand, because Mrs. Q has
been roped into going on some of these trips
as an adult chaperone.

I find wagers to be a great way of fundraising. I bet you that you can't _______. if you can, I' give $$ to your group, if you can't then you give money to my group. Either way, the amount of the wager is given to charity. Case in point: I haven't shaved since October 22nd. My plan is not to shave until December 1st. I'm taking part in "no-shave november" with some former coworkers. The rules are pretty simple: If I make it, a female former coworker donates money to a charity of my choice, if I fail, i donate to a charity of her choosing. The loser also has to bake cookies for the winner (after my move, I'm not sure how this will work - it makes more sense for the others since they're all in the same office). The office does this every year, but this is the first time that I've participated. Ironic, since I've left the company. But, my former employer had rules about facial hair on customer-facing staff while my new employer does not, so i'm in.

I started early because my halloween costume required scruff, and now my plans have been cancelled for tonight. Oh, well. I'm hoping this will position me well for the bet. I'm mostly through the painfully stubbly stage and into the annoyingly short beard stage. Should be smooth sailing from here, but I should probably tell the fiancee that this is happening since I'll see her mid-month.