MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Would you ask for the sponsorship money back?

robo4711

Palastine would be a very good place to start.
Don't you think?

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Unfortunately, people don't often give to charity without a reason to do so.

If someone walked round your office and asked for 10 quid to give to charity X, would you give them it? No marathon, no bungee jump.. just pure old Tzedakah (hebrew for charity). I'm guessing the answer would be no from most people.

I'm gonna borrow a list of kinds of 'charity' from http://www.jewfaq.org/tzedakah.htm for this.

1. Giving begrudgingly
2. Giving less that you should, but giving it cheerfully.
3. Giving after being asked
4. Giving before being asked
5. Giving when you do not know the recipient's identity, but the recipient knows your identity
6. Giving when you know the recipient's identity, but the recipient doesn't know your identity
7. Giving when neither party knows the other's identity
8. Enabling the recipient to become self-reliant

This list is from the Hebrew Talmud and goes from least meritorious to most.

This ethical question all depends on what kind of 'charity' you want to have - it is fairly rare that people give to charity without being asked, so the 'charity runner' is helping you give by providing you with a reason.

To all those people who want to 'get out' of paying your money to charity.. why did you want to give in the first place? Did you feel obliged or did you honestly want to give money to a worthy cause?

h34v3ns3nt

taka wrote: »

No I would not ask for the money back... Its going to a good cause and I'd chosen to support it by sponsoring my friend. I have to say I'd be a bit annoyed with my friend about the hangover getting in the way of the marathon though and depending on the friend I'd probably try and guilt trip them into doing something else for the charity to make up for it! :rolleyes:

I agree with this post ^

wobbo99

gibby wrote: »

I wouldnt throw my money away to Cancer research in the first place

they admitted last year that they have got no further forward and that 99% of their research is a waste of time

donating to cancer research means you give to very highly paid scientists to test on animals - often without care of pain killers
they do this massively, cats, dogs, rabbits, primates etc

despite billions being ploughed into CA and similar firms there are more ppl dying of cancer than ever before

80% of US Drs claimed they would not take current cancer cures as the treatment kills more ppl than the cancer does

for alternative research groups check out the EMP or dr hadwen trust

sorry to be negative but it annoys me when i see money wasted on CA etc and ppl dying when other methods are far better -


G

1st post on this forum and have to admit this comment has appauled me!

clearly you have never been affected by cancer or know anyone that has, in the last 9 months i have lost a child and nearly my girlfriend to a rare form of cancer. I am 100% behind CA and the work they do, cancer is something that you do not choose to be involved with and it just happens and without the research and help from everyone involved in research and treament i am pretty sure i would have lost everything dear to me last year!!

On the forum topic, yes i would be annoyed that my mate went out and got drunk and did not finish the marathon. Having completed the marathon myself this year and doing so with a ruptured ACL finishing well over 1.5 hours longer than i was due to and in incredible pain. I was true to my word and kept the promise of the 70 odd people that sponsored me over £2500.........to say my efforts and 4 months training was a waste of time as it was all for Cancer Research is a comment i would expect from a small minded, self-centred person.

spider31

I would not ask for it back, but I would tell him that he should sponsor £50 to cancer research.

ryandj

wobbo99 wrote: »

On the forum topic, yes i would be annoyed that my mate went out and got drunk and did not finish the marathon. Having completed the marathon myself this year and doing so with a ruptured ACL finishing well over 1.5 hours longer than i was due to and in incredible pain. I was true to my word and kept the promise of the 70 odd people that sponsored me over £2500.........to say my efforts and 4 months training was a waste of time as it was all for Cancer Research is a comment i would expect from a small minded, self-centred person.

I am still annoyed about the person saying that 99% of the research is a waste of time!! I am sure all the people who have survived cancer thanks to the treatments would not say that. Or their families, loved ones and friends.

Well done on the Marathon! I myself have done two now for charity, and the majority of people would not have donated the money to charity if I had not inspired them to do so. Being sponsored for manning phone lines is a good idea as well, someone mentioned earlier,

My girlfriend did the London one with me, and finished it despite fracturing her foot with a stress fracture and hobbling to the end. I feel the same that all the training and sponsorship is wasted if you do not finish it.

[Deleted User]

Rather than give money back etc.. the friend could do a 'forfeit' - in fact, i think that should be a standard principle with all 'sponsor me X to do Y[ and if i don't, i'll do Z]'

pattie-supper

I'd be mightly annoyed at my friend for not taking his challenge seriously. He'd whistle for a sponsorship in the future, but I'd never ask for my donation back as it would be made according to the importance I placed on the charity.

Phuddles

I wouldn't ask for the money back, as it was going to a good cause, but the 'friend' could whistle next time he asked for sponsorship and would have the p**s taken out of him for months to come! I hope the £50 was gift aided so that the charity got the tax back on it!!

scrooge678

No, I wouldn't ask for it back as it's the charity I'd be supporting, not the person himself who is doing something which has no value whatsoever except for his personal pride. I've never understood why people don't organise something useful (like the Samaritan idea mentioned above, although that requires training) - how about a sponsored litter-pick or graffiti clean-up or gardening or decorating for elderly people? Be honest, what does a marathon contribute except for a lot more litter? Great for the people involved, yes, but they're not usually the ones giving the money.

Aspal

Agreed, the friend should never have gone drinking the night before, but why should the charity lose out? Most sponsorship is given because people support the charity, and the run/swim etc is just an excuse to ask for donations.

My friend has signed me up to do Race for Life this year, which although "only" 5km, will probably kill me as I'm the most unfit person I know!! (My Dad's reaction when I told him I'd been signed up was "you can't run!! Still, they've got another race in the afternoon, you'll perhaps finish first in that one!!") I haven't started asking anyone for sponsorship yet (although if anyone wants to sponsor me feel free to pm me for the link to the sponsorship page) but since I have already started training for the run by going to the gym twice a week (which if you knew me you would realise is in itself a massive achievement) I would hope that even if I didn't finish the course people would still honour their pledges to recognise the effort that I had put in, although if it takes me all morning and I have to crawl to the finish line I swear I'll finish it.

I really don't consider this run something that I want to do anyway (!!!!!) as some people have suggested, and am seriously only doing it because I feel that it is a really good cause having lost several family and friends to cancer. We had to pay an entrance fee to cover the costs of the race, so all of the sponsorship money goes directly to Cancer Research and isn't spent on organising the race so I can have a "fun" morning!!

I'm sure the friend would't have backed out lightly, and would also be painfully aware that a night out drinking wasn't the best training plan!! Can't see much point in adding to the guilt by trying to get the money back.