<p>Am I the only one that finds this odd? In the past three months, we have been asked to contribute to around a dozen of these trips where the person says they are doing the trip for charity. These include climbing Mt.Ranier (still not real clear how the charity fits into this one), running in multiple marathons including the Marine Corps (not clear on if the funds they are soliciting go to the entry fee or what), three separate trips to Central America on “housing initiatives” and so on. I do know there are some volunteer things where you do have to pay a participation fee to cover your housing and food as my sons have done them in a rain forest and also working with chimpanzees, but it never occurred to me to ask other people to pay their way. </p>
<p>Is this the new norm? </p>
<p>We have not contributed to any of them and when directly asked by the participant (or their parents) have just replied that we have been asked to contribute to so many that we have just made the decision to not contribute to any of them rather than having to choose which one. A couple of people have seemed to think that we are being cheap- maybe we are. But I prefer to pick my own charities.</p>
<p>@emeraldkity- that certainly looks like a real charity- nothing like what we got which was an email saying how much it would cost to do the climb and buy all the gear and that we could contribute along with a mention that he was “supporting cancer research”. I wasn’t sure if he was just sending good thoughts about cancer research while climbing or what!</p>
<p>Marathon fundraising could be completely legit. These funds are not supposed to cover the runner’s entry fees and travel and usually get sent directly to the charity. For example:</p>
<p>Quite a few runners got their entries into this years Boston by fundraising above a minimum required threshold. The entry acceptance is the prize for fundraising. </p>
<p>Personally, I politely refuse all these travel “charity” requests as I think folks should fund their travel out of their own pockets and not call them charity. I especially would NOT fund buying climbing or other gear and can’t see how that fits any charitable purpose other than for the person who wants these things. I am happy with the charity I run and devote a lot of time and resources to that, as well as choosing ones I am familiar with that are well run and NOT for the benefit of the person(s) making collections.</p>
<p>My pet peeve too! Someone in my bike club is riding her bike across the US. That’s tons of fun. I’ve done it twice. </p>
<p>She is asking for people to pay for it. She’s not even contributing to a charity, unless you call making a movie a charity. Her justification for my paying for her ^%& vacation? She’s going to be working hard and pushing herself, and she’s going to meet and talk to ordinary folks across the US. Yeah. Everybody who bikes across the US pushes themselves and talks to ordinary people. That’s no reason for me to pay for your damn vacation.</p>
<p>Another friend just asked for me to contribute to a diabetes charity because he is doing a metric century on his bike. The justification for this is what? He gets the fun of riding his bike, and he gets to annoy me by hounding me for money, and I get to pay? No way.</p>
<p>do you mean like those kids raising money so that they can go on those People to People trips? If your parents cant afford to pay, then dont go.</p>
<p>Fundraising marathoners are supposed to be gathering money directly to the charity - not paying their own expenses. I would not see a problem if folks are asking you to donate money to the charity based on any goofy thing - i.e. 10 cents per foot of elevation you make it up Mt Rainier seems about the same as 1 dollar per lap of the school gym for Relay for Life. And whats wrong with asking you to donate to diabetes research, inspired by the guy’s bike ride - he is spending non-bike time soliciting funds for the charity - trust me he’s not having fun asking you. But I would not donate a nickel toward travel expenses. </p>
<p>It seems ethically OK for someone to fund raise for travel costs if they are going to be putting in hard labor - getting Joe Smith to guatemala to dig a well is about the same as sending money to Unicef to dig a well in Guatemala. </p>
<p>@cardinal Fang- you said it so much better than I did, but yeah, that is the kind of thing I am talking about and I feel the same way you do.<br> @mom2collegekids- People to People seems legit but I also agree with you- if you can’t afford it then don’t go. But that hasn’t been any of the ones we have been asked to contribute to. These have all been much more questionable- the Central American housing one didn’t give the name of any organization affiliation- I really think it is three teenagers trying to get a free ride to the beach by saying they are working on housing!</p>
<p>Yes, they are a pain. My son’s school has moved to the model where the parents are not permitted to pay for the Habitat for Humanity trips that they have. They are told to solicit funds. SO he did. And got what he needed. For a some of it, I’ll be donating back to causes those donors have. Like the Marx brothers trading sticks of salami for a holiday gift, but that 's the way it goes. Son really wanted to do this. It’s a thing that his school has been doing for years and the kids look forward to it. Better than a luxurious senior trip of pure indulgence, I guess. </p>
<p>Frankly, I’m not a fan. When my kids did these kinds of things, we paid or they paid out of their savings from summer jobs. Yes, they were doing charitable work, but no way were we going to ask others to fund it. </p>
<p>The problem is that his riding his bike is not an inspiration. It would be like my asking you to donate to the Nature Conservancy, inspired by my eating pizza. Pizza eating is a fun thing that is not inspiring, and riding a metric century is also something fun that is not inspiring. I’ve gone on long rides with this guy-- I know that he likes to ride his bike. </p>
<p>1) It becomes nutty when really affluent kids are soliciting money.</p>
<p>2) by having everyone solicit funds, it makes it harder for those who really need to solicit funds since there arent unlimited resources out there.</p>
<p>I wonder how many parents do an end run around that silly rule. if I were faced with it, i would write my siblings checks and then have them write my kids checks.</p>
Take a look at the books of the loathsome Team in Training. That money goes to pay their expenses, as well as to the charity. </p>
<p>If you want to ride your bike, go ride your bike. If you want to ride a supported century, pay the entry fee and ride. Don’t ask me to pay for it.</p>
<p>A few years back, we received a letter from a neighborhood girl who was asking us to give a monthly sponsorship for her two year training in developing her skills in youth ministry. My wife marched up the street, letter in hand, and asked her if she was really asking us to support her living expenses for grad school while we still had three kids to put through undergrad. She saw the point quickly. </p>
<p>She’s a nice girl, now working, but her parents are fairly well off and we would be surprised if anyone actually committed to what she was asking.</p>
<p>’‘If you want to ride your bike, go ride your bike. If you want to ride a supported century, pay the entry fee and ride. Don’t ask me to pay for it.’</p>
<p>RIGHT. I know someone who wanted to do charity marathon with her sister across the county. She asked us to help pay for her plane tix. odd.</p>
<p>I’m frankly tired of the “I’m doing this random thing so you should donate to a charity” model. I would rather just figure out what charity I want to give to, and give. Your walking, running, biking, traveling, etc in itself does not help people. Why do we need that middle man?</p>