Bit of a rant really

mehefin

Peed off with boys school and sponsorship matters.
Monday comes home with form and letter to take part in Kick for Clicsergeant - a charity for kids with cancer/leukemia etc. No problem with that as I like to encourage him to be responsible and have feelings for others less fortunate than himself. Last night he informs us that he needs to take the money in today - before doing the event .
To my mind this is unethical - I've been stewing all day about it so decided to plonk it on here to see what others think.
I dont mind him doing charity things, i dont mind putting my hand in my pocket (within reason) but i do think it is wrong to get the money before doing the task. its glorified begging- or they should ask for a 'donation' rather than 'sponsership'.
Am I being over sensitive?

AnnieH

No I think that what they really want is a donation. Sponsoring someone to do something is dependent on them actually doing it. If they don't do it then you are not obliged to pay up.

That is my opinion anyway. They should not ask for sponsorship money before the event. Out of order.

KizzyK_2

I don’t think so, its worse when schools run competitions to see which student can raise the most money (and then that student gets a book voucher or similar).
I use to just about scrape £10 in sponsorship and then there where the kids who took the from into ‘daddys place of work’ and be able to raise hundreds (Don’t even ask – he was the bosses son so everyone in the firm had to give a tenner each)

I think my mum liked the Smarty tube charity fund raising (bring the Smarty tube back with cash in side) as no one could see how much was in there :rotfl:

She works in a school (non-teacher) where the price for a non-uniform day is now £5 :eek:

hobo28

I've noticed now that on some sponsorship forms, there's two columns. One for donation, the other for sponsorship. I agree tho that its out of order to ask for money beforehand.

My daughter's school recently did some mass sponsored event, some kind of walking bus thing and the kids were taking their sponsor money into the school. The head sent a letter home asking parents to let the kids go in with only £1 and leave the rest of the money for another school event where the money will go to the school. I thought this was well out of order.

L_D_N

hobo28 wrote:

I've noticed now that on some sponsorship forms, there's two columns. One for donation, the other for sponsorship. I agree tho that its out of order to ask for money beforehand.

My daughter's school recently did some mass sponsored event, some kind of walking bus thing and the kids were taking their sponsor money into the school. The head sent a letter home asking parents to let the kids go in with only £1 and leave the rest of the money for another school event where the money will go to the school. I thought this was well out of order.

Was the first event for a charity? Isn't that a) conning those who sponsored the kids and b) stealing from the charity? I'm shocked but not a bit amazed at what schools will do for funding!!!

Thriftylady

I agree with others, sponsorship depends on doing something, and I think its wrong to ask for money in advance.

KizzyK, you have brought back such memories for me (not altogether good ones either!!). My dad was self employed, so had no work colleagues to pester (not that I'm condoning that either!), so at primary school I remember every time we did a sponsored walk or whatever, I went in with about two names on the form - my mum and my dads. Every time........used to be so:o Funny how wee things like this are such a big deal when you're wee !!

culpepper

Golly ,I wouldn't have sent it in then, I'd have sent a letter saying that somehow DS has got muddled and thought it had to be given in before hand but ofcourse that coudn't be right as he hadn't done the task yet.
Leaving the teachers to realise that they are being unethical without actually telling them they are.

jenniferpa

I really really REALLY hate these things. If it's a product sale, I object because in this day and age you can't expect a child to go door to door selling something (and anyway, every one else is doing the same thing) and a sponsored run, walk etc seems so pointless. How about a sponsored clean up? So much for each bag of rubbish picked up? Anyway, to the OP: no I do not think you should be expected to hand over the money before hand - I like culpper's suggestion.

misty

KizzyK wrote:

She works in a school (non-teacher) where the price for a non-uniform day is now £5 :eek:

That is completely out of order - how on earth do they justify that? My son pays 50p for non uniform day. They seem to have them every half term and that must add up if you have other kids in school too. I also disagree with rewards for the Tesco/Sainsbury vouchers things too. We know the staff at the local T express really well and they always give extra vouchers to us. Your not telling me that kids with parents or relatives who work at Tesco or Sainsbury take in more vouchers tahn the others.

As for sponsorship - I think it is setting the kids the wrong example. They are supposed to do the event and then count the money they have collected from their efforts - not get the money no matter what. The schools are so cash strapped ethics have gone out of the window.

KizzyK_2

Thriftylady wrote:

KizzyK, you have brought back such memories for me (not altogether good ones either!!). My dad was self employed, so had no work colleagues to pester (not that I'm condoning that either!), so at primary school I remember every time we did a sponsored walk or whatever, I went in with about two names on the form - my mum and my dads. Every time........used to be so:o Funny how wee things like this are such a big deal when you're wee !!

Hehe, I know now looking back on it that I must not had been the only one but as you say it seemed like such a big deal when your only 3 foot something :P

Misty - its a private school but dont ask me how they justify it, maybe extra insurance for all the designer names that walk around the school on the back of 5 year olds :rotfl: My mam have said that some people only send in £1 and the teachers can't take it out on the kids so thats all they get.

mehefin

Thanks guys for all the comments. It turns out that they had to do some sort of penalty shootout - he managed 7 goals out of 10 attempts so not too bad - but it still comes down to the sponsorship/donation thing. If i'd sponsored him a figure per goal I could have been well out of pocket - or not!!!
Think next time he comes home with something like this I will make get more information from the school before I agree to him taking part. Wouldnt stop him - but might shake them up a bit.

Just read what I've written - sound like a right tight ar*e. I'm not ( honest guv) just a bit wound up by the 'assumption' that parents etc will just cough up. I feel for the OP with the selfemployed Dad - so much unnecessary pressure brought on kids in these situations. Smarty tiube is a great idea especialy for younger kids.