 Some of the things that have persuaded me to empty my pockets this year:
An aerobathon (eh?); lots of "dress-down days"; kiddies' sponsored silence; a dancercise event (what?); someone spending the day in a wheelchair (sounds naff but wasn't)...
and I'll admit to raising money for a sponsored 10k run myself.
None of these involved anyone going on holiday. I don't care how much charities say they need the cash that is raised on these giveathon trips, I think it's just plain dishonest to imply that the "fundraiser" is doing anything other than getting a cheap holiday at the sponsors' expense.
Save money and just donate half of what you were going to give Jimmy for his sponsored "challenge" trek in the Himalaya direct to the charity. If you still feel that you would like someone to get a free holiday in the Himalaya, please send the balance to me as I will undoubtedly enjoy it more than him.
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 Im with you 100%. I think it should be made clear on the sponser form how much of the sponser money is going to pay for this ferr holiday, not that its free, the people mugged in to doing the sponsering are paying for it.
My next door neighbour has been telling me how her son ( grown man with a job0 is having to raise all this money to get the "oppertunity" to go do the inca trail, like he couldnt save up and pay like normal people. and the number of people who keep telling me I can Get my Nepal trip for "free" if i do it for charity is really anoying me. I would rather do what i am doing, work lots of overtime and save up.
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 Yup. Couldn't agree more.
Though I suppose it pays for the charities - people who would never have even known that charity existed in the first place throw a grand or two in their direction...
...though how do I know my £10 paid for the charity or for the holiday? Grrrr.
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 im surprised by all this,the only time I looked into A charity event(cycling in Jordan)I had to stump up £1000 and then raise A minimum donation(which was also considerable) to do it,as always I went independantely and spent very little.
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 We've had a few threads on here from people doing an overseas charity event and asking for donations. There seemed genuinely surprised when they were turned down for these reasons. I've had the same at work too and am usually given the 3 Peaks reply of "but it's for charity". A refusal is then met by " I hope you never need help from XYZ".
I have nothing against people doing events for charity, but can see no reason for why they need to be abroad, especially, as the article points out, the money is to be used in the UK. If fundraisers what to do a walk, then why not something like LEJOG, SW costal path et. I'll happily give to that, but not to a wander along the Inca trail, Great wall of China etc.
While on the subject of charities I see we'll have 'Saints' Geldof and Bono nagging us to "Not go to the pub, gimme your money" over the next few weeks. Again the money is for Africa, but from what I've seen recently, Africa is to blame for Africa. Yes, I mean you President Mugabe.
I see the 'great and good' of music have got together to re-record Do They Know It's Christmas again. They all shout about how they have donated their time to it, but oddly miss out how much of their fortunes have been donated.
<rant off>
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emhhhh.....the latest band-aid record,s royalties are for the darfur region in sudan which is nearer to england than zimbabwe(or similiar)and mugabe and his henchmen that have ruined/wrecked one of the most beautiful,vibrant,friendly,intresting countries on earth(yeah I love zim)
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Yes, but who caused Dafur? The Sudanese goverment of course. I can see any aid arriving in the region going straight to them
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thats always A major problem..most grain you buy on the street markets from mali to zaire says"A gift from the people of the U.S.A " on the side.good goverment is the long term answer but theres precious little sign of that!Aid agencies try in awful situations but the scale and enourmity of it all is beyond comprehension,its just piss in the sea!
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 Depends on who co-ordinates it, Darren. While it is true that Oxfam, for example, have high-ish overheads and salaried staff, and only about 80% of donations go to help the causes, they at least don't throw money at a problem, and send people out "in the field" to see what is needed and where.
I did raise money through a sponsored event this year in the UK. In total my team raised about £3500 but we had to pay to take part, (we could have applied for a refund, having raised over £2k, but we didn't), and we probably averaged about £200 each spend on kit, not to mention my petrol costs every other week to train!
It is possible, even probable, that in the future I will be asked by Oxfam to consider one of their overseas trips, and I may do it, money permitting (even if trip is paid for, there are still gear costs, admin costs etc). I think that as long as I, and the charity, are upfront about the percentage split of the donations, there is no problem. Yes, it's deceitful to pretend it's all donations, but that is exactly what the new rules are designed to prevent. If I say "£60 of your £100 is a donation, the other is paying for my trip" and the donor STILL wants to sponsor me, that's not a problem. If I raised £5k and only £3k went to the charity, that's still £3k that they wouldn't have had otherwise. It's fine to say "yes but those people could have given £5k direct to the charity" but the reality is that that simply doesn't happen unless someone (the person taking part) rattles the tins.
On the flip side, next year I am planning on doing an event (the Nijmegen March) which is NOT technically a charity event, and for which I will have to pay considerable costs, but STILL using it as an opportunity to raise money for charity.
So yes, charity events for charity, charity events for personal gain, and personal events for charity - I'll consider them all, but always be upfront about costs and motives :)
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I personally dont donate for such ventures but would rather pay monthly into charities of MY choosing.
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I think a lot of this "give me money if I do something challenging" thing has come from running.
It used to be entirely possible to rake part in races across the UK without having to pass a sponsorship form round every time - now, it's more and more difficult, especially with marathons and half-marathons. Entry to the London Marathon is literally a lottery unless you have a "guaranteed charity place".
It's always going to be a personal judgement, and it's obvious that lots of people are more than happy to sponsor someone who is "giving up" their time to do the Inca Trail or whatever (otherwise no-one would bother to organise the events) - but it's the pretext of it being a "Challenge" that I can't allow - it isn't!
If charities were truly up-front (not that daft code that means they put something in small print on the form)- and told potential sponsors in BIG letters that they were paying for someone to go and have a big jolly somewhere abroad, with some of the cash going to charity, I think we'd soon start seeing a reduction in their popularity.
I don't object to being asked for cash, just to being asked for it on false pretences - there's no difference between holidaythons and the guy that asks you for £10 for a cup of tea guv.
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 The best requests are in the back of Private Eye.
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 I agree with the it's a pile of old dogs dung this "free holiday" scam.
Whats even worse is these new travel companies that are adding an extra layer to it all.
It's almost like, I fancy a cheap holiday. Look at "charity" travel company, choose a charity that is going to where you fancy, and hey presto cheap holiday arranged.
What gets me is, people do all the fundraising to get the money to go. Why not just give it direct to the charity?
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 What and miss out on a trip to (insert preferred location here)
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you mean free trip
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Oops! so I did! Sorry :-(
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well, free to the person going anyway.
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Cynical? Us? Nah!
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 you want to do something. then moan about the time/money it takes/costs.
don't do it then.
save your time and money to do what you want to do which costs time and money........oh! it's the same thing but without the moaning.
perhaps i could get sponsorship for popping down to the shops
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7.30 tonight bbc 2 programme on zimbabwe and mugabe if anyones intrested.
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