Real Life MMD: Friends won't sponsor me, should I say something?

Ratburger_III

Whilst I accept that there are a lot of under-funded worthy causes out there you cannot strong-arm anyone into supporting your cause via sponsorship, irrespective of their wealth & circumstances.
Personally, I get fed up of being pestered & pressured for sponsorship, especially if its for things like "little Jimmy's school band need new instruments" etc. which I consider to be the responsibility of others or my contribution already comes from my taxes.
By all means mention the cause but don't take offence at a refusal & leave the emotional thumbscrews out of it!!!
Personally, I set myself a budget each year for charitable donations & sponsorships - when its gone its gone.

flakmagnet

I have to say I'm another that's dissapointed by the recent choices of MMD's, surely the point of these is tocreate some kind of debate or to inspire people with different views to come together and discuss the politely?

The furthest I can get to empathising with this is that having done fundraising for charity last year and asking (once) for sponsorship, was that several people who I had sponsored (some multiple times) before did not sign up to sponsor my own endevour, but honestly, despite this, I still found myself agreeing with every single person before me in saying:

1. Just because you think it's a good cause, doesn't mean that someone else will.
2. You may think you know someone's wage and financial situation. Unless you're getting their bank statements, you don't.
3. Even if they had the spare money, it's not your call what they spend it on. If they want to spend it on frivolities, that's their money to do so.

Personally, there's no grey area in this one, no matter what you are doing (and that wasn't mentioned in your post) whether it be fun or hardship, no one is duty bound to sponsor you.

unsure

If you want to raise money for charity that is your decision. You should not automatically expect others to support your decision to do so. They may have other financial/charitable commitments or they may choose not to support the charity of your choosing(or any other one). It is their decision entrely not yours. You may of course raise it with them but be prepared to lose friends if your assumption that they should pay to support your charitable goals causes offence.

Personally I wouldn't give to church or animal charities. I would probably give for disaster relief or development depending on my financial situation at the time of asking. I won't ever give to any charity that uses street "chuggers" (charity muggers!) to coerce the public into making a direct debit payment (this sadly includes several charities like Save The Children and The Red Cross whio used to get my donations). That strikes me as an unethical high pressure sales technique which discredits any charitry prepared to resort to such measures. I do give a significant amount direclty to a family in a devloping country, that rather depletes my avilable donations but I know it's all going where it's needed and has an effect.

I would resent a friend or acquaintance assuming I have to to support their charitable choice, since I don't expect them to contribut to mine ( I have invited a few chuggers to do so but they've all declined!). Tread carefully and sensitively would be my advice!

purple.sarah

I understand you are passionate about your cause but it might not be your friends chosen cause for a variety of personal reasons and pushing them to support it will just push them away.

Augustus_the_Strong

How is 'saying something' going to help? It's great you are doing something for charity, and if people want to support that charity, great! But if they don't, that's up to them. Don't take it personally. You might think they're a bit mean, but keep it to yourself.

robnye

No - people have the right to not sponsor if they so wish.

I wouldnt if you hassled me either

kevanf1

There are millions of charities out there in this country alone. Nobody can be expected to even give one penny to every one of them so we all have to choose which, if any charities we support. It is totally unfair to judge another person just because they don't wish to donate to the same charity that you, yourself support. I would say that those who have not replied are simply to embarrassed to say no which I think perhaps shows that you are perhaps a bit too overbearing?

flying_teddy

No, no, a thousand times no, for all the reasons given above.

There is no dilemma, therefore there is no debate...

hayleythedaisy

No. And I can't believe you feel that they should do...

LisaW123

I wouldn't say anything to your family or friends. We are all increasingly bombarded by requests for charity donations or sponsorship; to the extent that we now regularly have chuggers knocking at our front door. We could dispose of virtually all our income if we gave to every charity that asked. We now restrict donations to charities that are important to us because of family connections, although we will give generously to these organisations. I think sometimes people who, for example, run marathons or whatever, do this as a personal challenge and the fundraising is a bit of an aside or a way of gaining them entry into a race. At a couple of our local supermarkets, you can often find young people from private schools packing customers' bags with a bucket collecting towards their expedition to Chile or somewhere equally exotic. I would never give in these circumstances as I believe it is subsidising peoples' life choices, and choices the vast majority of us don't have to boot.

Basically, you can't and shouldn't shame someone into sponsoring you when they don't want to. You don't know how much they are contributing to worthy causes already.