anyone run the marathon for charity??

baza1976 · 15-09-2008 06:00PM #1

Hi,

Has anyone run the marathon for charity before?? or for this one???
If so hopefully you can answer a few q's for me.

Would my charity cover my entry fee or b&B??

I ask this cause I'm not sure if the lads at work are rising me by telling me they would!!

I'll be running for a charity anyway regardless.

Thanks in advance

B

Slogger Jogger · 15-09-2008 06:34PM

I've gotten sponsorship from work colleagues for a marathon every year. My work pays a top up contribution to the sponsorship so the charity does well out of it. I pay my own way 100% for the marathons. That way every cent collected goes to the good cause. The fact that I was privileged to help particular charities helped me at some points in marathons when I had to dig deep. Resolve comes easier when you've something like that depending on you.

I don't believe in the sponsored treks, runs etc where a slice of funds pays for the do-gooder. That is money that could be better spent on the charity. I know of at least one person who has done the sponsored trek thing a few times and if you ask me people are subsidising their hols.

Blazer · 15-09-2008 07:27PM

And so what?
I'm doing the NY marathon for Crumlin next month and my flights/accomodation are all paid for. The flights are being sponsored as are the accomodation so it's not costing them anything.
The fact is I've raised €5500 for this run and this all goes to the charity.
And screw the begrudgers.

hunnymonster · 15-09-2008 08:06PM

I'm taking my mod hat off here because this is something I feel quite strongly about.

I think it is absolutely disgusting to take money/sponsorship off people for "charity" when a proportion of it goes to paying your expenses. If you're doing something for charity, then pay your own way, don't expect me to sponsor your holiday.

geld · 15-09-2008 09:12PM

hunnymonster wrote: »

I think it is absolutely disgusting to take money/sponsorship off people for "charity" when a proportion of it goes to paying your expenses. If you're doing something for charity, then pay your own way, don't expect me to sponsor your holiday.

HM I couldn't agree with you more. While I appreciate that charities have to think of more innovative ways to raise funds I make a point of not contributing to anyone when all of the money raised is not going to the particular charity.

Reg'stoy · 15-09-2008 09:14PM

Hi Baza there are links on the Dublin City marathon page to particular groups that you can raise money for. I personally am running for Alzheimers Ireland and they have a link to set up your own personal charity page (see mine below) on their website. Normally the choice of charity is a very personal one, mine is and I wouldn't dream of taking any money raised for my own 'expenses' but in saying that I know it's a fairly common enough practise.
I did a parachute jump donkeys years ago which was free once I raised a certain amount of money, this might be borderline in Hunnies view but I can see where they're coming from, my view would be that any money (big or small) reaching any charity from what ever means has to be a good thing.
I'll be honest here Baza, I'm running the marathon purely, because, by raising money for my chosen charity (hopefully a couple of grand) it gives me some sense of doing something about a situation in which at first I felt very helpless.

--amadeus-- · 15-09-2008 09:32PM

I've run a couple of races for charity.

First time was for Dublin for a very large charity. At the time I was pretty green about the whole thing (running, fundraising, etc). I chose that particular charity for personal reasons but I was quite impressed with the slick, professional (corporate) way they processed my application but after I registered i heard pretty much nothing. I paid for my own travel / hotel (I'm with the lads on that one) and used an online site for all donations. I was blown away by the generosity of people I didn't really know and raised a decent amount of money, considering the limited time.

Now I wasn't looking for them to fall down at my feet in gratitude but i heard *nothing* from them in the days leading up to, the day of or the days after the race. All I did get - a week or so later - was a vaguely threating letter asking me to make sure that I really had handed over al of the money I'd raised - I didn't even get so much as an e-mail acknowloging that the moeny raised online had been recieved let alone a thank you.

After that I raced Paris for a small, local charity (again I paid my own expenses). This time there was no corporate hoo-hah around teh sign up, just genuine gratitude for teh help I was offering. Again the money raised wasn't vast but the fact that I actually knew where it was being spent and on what actually meant quite a lot for me.

Moral of the story? I'm not sure there is one! But from my own perspective the big charities are basically now sales organisations and around events like the London marathon they compete with each other to snare runners with better and better incentives (t-shirts, pasta parties, glossy magazines, private massage tents). All of which cost money, which means that the amount raised per runner goes up and so it goes on and - I believe - the point of it all gets a litle bit lost. Runners start thinking "oooh charity X gives a nice runners watch when you sign up, I'll run for them rather than Charity Y" and it's no longer about getting off yer backside and helping someone less fortunate than you.

(Apologies, long rant, not aimed at the OP but partly caused by frustration at teh "charitisation" of running - no-one asks a GAA player who he's raising money for in his next match but people hear you're doing a marathin and the first question is "ohhh, which charity?")

Running Bing · 15-09-2008 09:43PM

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

And so what?
I'm doing the NY marathon for Crumlin next month and my flights/accomodation are all paid for. The flights are being sponsored as are the accomodation so it's not costing them anything.
The fact is I've raised €5500 for this run and this all goes to the charity.
And screw the begrudgers.

Hang on you took money off other people to pay for a flight and accommodation to New York so you can run in a marathon?

You think this is justified because in addition to this you raised money for charity?

To me that is disgusting and exploitative. I am utterly shocked:eek:

Why not just run Dublin and give the money for your holiday to charity? There is no way you can justify that.

911sc · 16-09-2008 05:58AM

I have raised money for Crumlin Children Hospital from my running, particularly the Connemarathon. Every cent donated to me went to the CMRF.
I covered myself every expenses associated with the event (fee, petrol,accomodation, etc..). I set up my own website for PR, registration & hosting kindly sponsored by Register365.
www.doitforthem.ie

If people feel so strongly about raising money for charity, they should cover at least they own cost, and not use the money which has been donated to them for anything else than donation to the cause they support. But in the other hand, these people are still raising more than those doing nothing at all.
Just my opinion..

hawkwing · 16-09-2008 07:46AM

I agree with HM, i think even the marathon fee should be paid for by yourself if you are asking people for money for charity. The satisfaction of completing the event,t-shirt etc are enough reward i think.

Blazer · 16-09-2008 09:35AM

Babybing wrote: »

Hang on you took money off other people to pay for a flight and accommodation to New York so you can run in a marathon?

You think this is justified because in addition to this you raised money for charity?

To me that is disgusting and exploitative. I am utterly shocked:eek:

Why not just run Dublin and give the money for your holiday to charity? There is no way you can justify that.

Get off your fvckin high horses. Every cent I raised went to Crumlin.
4 of us are doing it and we raised €22500 between us. All of this went to Crumlin.
It's not my fault that Crumlin organise this every year and provide flights/accomdation which they get for free.
Eamon Coughlan organises the Team Crumlin which composes of approx 90 runners each of whom raise €5500.
So you're talking about 500,000 euros raised all of which goes to Crumlin.
What's wrong with that?
i busted my ass during the year to raise this.
You think if people was paying their own way that each and every one of them would raise 5500?
2 of the guys with me have done this for Crumlin for the last 9 years and it's the only guaranteed way to get into the NY marathon.

hunnymonster · 16-09-2008 09:38AM

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

it's the only guaranteed way to get into the NY marathon.

no it's not. run fast enough and you get a guaranteed place.

baza1976 · 16-09-2008 09:46AM

I can see value in everyones point.... even Mats

911sc · 16-09-2008 11:46AM

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

that Crumlin organise this every year and provide flights/accomdation which they get for free.

That's interesting...Are you 100% sure of that? i thought if was taken from the €5500 min to be raised..and that the €650 non refundable deposit was actually the cost of flights/accomodation.

Peckham · 16-09-2008 12:01PM

hunnymonster wrote: »

no it's not. run fast enough and you get a guaranteed place.

...or buy a place through Sports Travel International.

...or enter the lottery. If you fail to get selected on three lotteries in succession, then you get a guaranteed place the following year. Admitedly you need to set your goals a long time in advance though.

Would be surprised if Crumlin are getting free air-fares, hotel accomodation, insurance etc. Surely this is coming out of the money raised? Of course the fairest way to do it if running for Crumlin or one of the other charities would be to make a personal donation equivalent to the price of flights, hotel, accomodation etc. - otherwise those donating money are funding a holiday for the runner (albeit a holiday involving a lot of training!).

Have never raised money from running, and never intend to. I see it as my sport, that I do for my own personal competitive reasons.

rovers_runner · 16-09-2008 12:24PM

hunnymonster wrote: »

I'm taking my mod hat off here because this is something I feel quite strongly about.

I think it is absolutely disgusting to take money/sponsorship off people for "charity" when a proportion of it goes to paying your expenses. If you're doing something for charity, then pay your own way, don't expect me to sponsor your holiday.

Find this to be a bit of a power trip to be honest.
How can you expect to moderate a board and then start a free for all argument based on your own opinions?

https://www.cmrf.org/New_York_Marathon.HTML
The link above will tell you all you need to know.

Your Requirments

Meet with a Development Executive to discuss the event.
Complete your official Registration forms and pay a non refundable deposit of €650.
Raise a minimum of €5,500 prior to departure.

Considering Flights in a booked group are far cheaper than €650 per person and accomodation wouldn't top that for 2/3 nights then the charity is at no loss after a deposit is paid by a fundraiser/runner.

Please try to be objective if you are going to moderate a forum.

gaf1983 · 16-09-2008 12:26PM

--amadeus-- wrote: »

(Apologies, long rant, not aimed at the OP but partly caused by frustration at teh "charitisation" of running - no-one asks a GAA player who he's raising money for in his next match but people hear you're doing a marathin and the first question is "ohhh, which charity?")

Spot on there.

I also think the moral of your rant is that if you know of a small and effective charity where you can see that your money is being put to work your better off raising money for them rather than a gigantic one that gives loads of goodies to runners and funds massive PR campaigns around their charity events.

Blazer · 16-09-2008 12:44PM

I can see some people's point in this.
Yet this is my first marathon with no prior experience of running.
I picked the NY one because the other 3 guys that do it did it last year and 2 of them have been doing it for the last 9 years.
I've also ran for several other charities throughout the year in 10k runs and all money raised went to the relevant charities.
Would you prefer I not bother my ass doing anything for charity.
Crumlin is a good cause and I'm glad to help them out.

Euchrid · 16-09-2008 12:49PM

I have to say I'm with Hunnymonster and others on this. There is no way 650 covers a flight to NY, accom and all the other stuff listed including gear and VIP receptions and transfers - group discount or not. At least some of that money is going to fund someone to have a half-arsed effort at a marathon and then 3 or 4 days on the beer in NY.

I used to feel bad refusing to sponsor people I know who have done this kind of thing (See also treks in Nepal etc etc) but these days I have no problem telling people to pay for their own junkets.

I'd be interested to know if most people who do this actually pay the 650 from their own pocket or ffrom the money they collect? I know of at least one who took it from contributions as "It all goes to charity anyway, because the flights are free!" Maybe the OP can give their thoughts on the policy there?

The link above will tell you all you need to know.

Eh, no! Where are the details on where the money goes? The exact breakdown of expenses? It's not there because the charities are embarrassed to show it!

I'm not saying the charity does not do well out of it and they undoubtedly do good work, but if you want to help Crumlin Hospital, blind dogs, Cork folk, whatever, give to the charity, not to someones holiday fund!

And on a final point, curious to hear the opinions of the people who think this is a good thing, on the clipboard brigade looking for your bank details so that they can get 30/40/whatever % of your charity contributions?? Because having people fund your holiday in NY is the exact same thing!

Euchrid · 16-09-2008 12:53PM

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

I can see some people's point in this.
Yet this is my first marathon with no prior experience of running.
I picked the NY one because the other 3 guys that do it did it last year and 2 of them have been doing it for the last 9 years.
I've also ran for several other charities throughout the year in 10k runs and all money raised went to the relevant charities.
Would you prefer I not bother my ass doing anything for charity.
Crumlin is a good cause and I'm glad to help them out.

And I don't mean my post as anything personal against you. You clearly believe in this kind of thing, and good for you. But my opinion is that this whole charity industry is very wrong and it shocks me that so many people give without questioning...

Running Bing · 16-09-2008 01:03PM

Notice you have conveniently raised €5500 too....the minimum for the free holiday:rolleyes:

hunnymonster · 16-09-2008 01:08PM

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

Would you prefer I not bother my ass doing anything for charity.

Personally, I don't have any right to dictate what you do but as you asked for our preference, I would not sponsor you on this trip because some of the money is not going directly to the charity. If you said, I've put in €1000 myself to cover the costs then I might reconsider.

Personally (again my opinion) I have only done one race for charity and that was because so many people wanted to give me money for running and I felt I would do it once so that they could. All the money went to the charity.

We actually came up against this issue recently in another context. It cost us €5000 to finance the English Channel swim. We had to struggle to get together the €5000 extra needed but we did it. Quite a few of the other swimmers doing the channel this year were using charity money they had raised to pay their way. I had no problem telling them my opinion, just as I have no problem saying it here.

Because of the nature of open water swimming (safety considerations mostly) we were organising a number of swims as practise runs. We charged people to enter these races and paid for the expenses ourselves (again mostly safety but also some tea and sandwiches afterwards and souvenirs for the volunteers). All the entry fees went to charity, we paid for the practice swims and the main event out of our own pockets.

Running Bing · 16-09-2008 01:14PM

rovers_runner wrote: »

Find this to be a bit of a power trip to be honest.
How can you expect to moderate a board and then start a free for all argument based on your own opinions?

Since when are Mods on here not allowed to give their own opinion?

baza1976 · 16-09-2008 03:23PM

I think it makes good business sense for a charity to pay/ly the loss of a marathon entry fee for in return a large sum of a couple of grand. There isn't a bank in the world that would provide that return on investment.

Put you business cap on!!!;)

911sc · 16-09-2008 03:44PM

Babybing wrote: »

Notice you have conveniently raised €5500 too....the minimum for the free holiday:rolleyes:

Come on, give Mathew a break. While you may not agree with the amount of overheads associated with what he is doing, the bottom line is that he still has raised some money for a charity, money that the charity would not have gotten otherwise. Like yourself, I don't really like these "overseas sponsored events" b'cos of their overheads, but i still respect people doing it ... i simply don't contribute much to their fundraising.

Tell us what you have done in the past as fundraiser? maybe that will give us some new ideas to support whoever/whatever we believe in.

Blazer · 16-09-2008 03:58PM

911sc wrote: »

Come on, give Mathew a break. While you may not agree with the amount of overheads associated with what he is doing, the bottom line is that he still has raised some money for a charity, money that the charity would not have gotten otherwise. Like yourself, I don't really like these "overseas sponsored events" b'cos of their overheads, but i still respect people doing it ... i simply don't contribute much to their fundraising.

Tell us what you have done in the past as fundraiser? maybe that will give us some new ideas to support whoever/whatever we believe in.[/QUOTE

Thanks mate..
And for the record I've been off the booze & cigs since last Jan.
I've sacrificed a lot of my time for training, missing nights out at the pub, Soccer/Tag Rubgy in case I got injured and be damned with anyone that thinks I'm only going to make a 1/2 half arsed effort. Or anyone else on this trip.
As far as I'm concerned I deserve a break and this way both myself and Crumlim win.
Of course I could do like all the hypocrites say and do Dublin next year, raise a grand and pat myself on the back.
New York will be an experience.
Dublin I'm doing it with 4 other 1st timers next year and we'll be raising money for charity. All of it will be going to whichever charity we pick but more than likely it will be Crumlim.
But will I come on boards acting all santicmonious? Not a chance.

Peckham · 16-09-2008 04:29PM

I think everyone here respects Matthew for what he's doing, i.e.:
(a) He's running a marathon
(b) He's raising money for charity

Most of us are just doing (a), he's doing both.

I think the difference of opinion lies in the fact that some people (myself included) don't like the lack of transparency in these charity fundraisers, i.e. people donating money, part of which is being used to pay for a free trip to NYC for that individual. The consensus amongst the objectors seems to be that the individual should contribute towards the cost of the trip so that the charity gets all the money its entitled to.

Running Bing · 16-09-2008 04:35PM

Peckham wrote: »

I think everyone here respects Matthew for what he's doing, i.e.:
(a) He's running a marathon
(b) He's raising money for charity

Most of us are just doing (a), he's doing both.

I think the difference of opinion lies in the fact that some people (myself included) don't like the lack of transparency in these charity fundraisers, i.e. people donating money, part of which is being used to pay for a free trip to NYC for that individual. The consensus amongst the objectors seems to be that the individual should contribute towards the cost of the trip so that the charity gets all the money its entitled to.

I agree with that.

I know Im coming across very harsh on Matthew but as Peckham said I respect the running of a marathon and the raising (a very significant sum) for charity. So well done for that.

I suppose I am just taken back a bit as I never heard of this before. Just seems a bit weirrd to me. I would love to go to NY and run in the marathon and it is something I would like to do some day but I certainly wouldnt look at it as a chore or expect others to pay for it.

Blazer · 16-09-2008 04:53PM

It's just the way Crumlin run it. No idea why but I was told by the other lads who've done it before that Crumlin get special offers on flights/accomdation and a lot of it is sponsered by companies and other people.

Every year they send a team to NY. It's supposed to be an unbelievable experience which is why I signed up for it.
Some of the pictures I've seen of it look amazing and the atmosphere is supposed to be fantastic.

Izoard · 16-09-2008 07:19PM

Mathew,
Don't let the tangental debate on "charitization" take away from what you have signed up for.
NY is a cracking marathon and Crumlin rely very heavily on what they raise through this venture.
Each of your contributors had the choice to give/ not give, but they felt strong enough about what you were doing to contribute.

For the record, I went with the travel company (which were great), but by the time I landed in JFK, I was wishing I'd gone the Crumlin route.

Slogger Jogger · 16-09-2008 07:29PM

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

Get off your fvckin high horses. Every cent I raised went to Crumlin.
4 of us are doing it and we raised €22500 between us. All of this went to Crumlin.
It's not my fault that Crumlin organise this every year and provide flights/accomdation which they get for free.
Eamon Coughlan organises the Team Crumlin which composes of approx 90 runners each of whom raise €5500.
So you're talking about 500,000 euros raised all of which goes to Crumlin.
What's wrong with that?
i busted my ass during the year to raise this.
You think if people was paying their own way that each and every one of them would raise 5500?
2 of the guys with me have done this for Crumlin for the last 9 years and it's the only guaranteed way to get into the NY marathon.

MR - I see your point but you are on bit of a high horse yourself. I say this from the point of view of having raised money for Crumlin and Alzheimers and Aware and others other the years. I'm not aware that the charities get free flights and accomodation - someone has to pay for them. The airlines aren't charities.

There are other ways to get into NY without paying a premium. I'm guaranteed entry to NY next year as a result of a lottery rejection 3 years in a row.

ekevosu · 17-09-2008 08:38AM

I presume you payed the €650 euro deposit out of your own pocket and then raised the rest of the money through contributions? I think someone asked that there earlier but I didn't see a response.

Fair play on the training and raising that amount which probably took a lot of work and good luck with the remaining weeks left. New York should be a great experience.

Krusty_Clown · 17-09-2008 09:35AM

I did the Longford Marathon for myself, but collected for charity at the same time (for a charity that meant a lot to me). It was my first marathon so I felt it would be a good opportunity to also collect some funds for the needy cause and people are delighted to sponsor you for a first marathon.

Mathew - I don't know how you managed to collect 5.5k. That's a huge sum and I'm sure Crumlin will be delighted to get it. Were I in your position, I would take huge heart from the fact that you had achieved so much for the charity, however, all the hours of hard work you have put into the training is really for yourself, and not for the charity. How you perform in the marathon on the day is a separate issue. On the day itself, the sponsorship will help a little with the motivation (particularly from miles 20 onwards! Just think of having to give all of that money back!). Anyway, best of luck on the big day.

To the op (Baza), I recommend you keep the two things logically separate (i.e. charity collection and marathon) and pay your own expenses. You'll feel better for it, and it'll work out easier for your next marathon, where you likely wont have the added motivation of the charity donations.

Blazer · 17-09-2008 09:51AM

ekevosu wrote: »

I presume you payed the €650 euro deposit out of your own pocket and then raised the rest of the money through contributions? I think someone asked that there earlier but I didn't see a response.

Fair play on the training and raising that amount which probably took a lot of work and good luck with the remaining weeks left. New York should be a great experience.

Yes I did.

As for raising the money the other lads have been doing this for 9 years for Crumlin and are pros at it.
You'd be amazed at the generosity of people who've either been in Crumlin or had kids in Crumlin.
You can also get t-shirts/merchandise from Crumlim themselves (you pay a set fee) and sell them on to raise more money.

Slogger Jogger · 17-09-2008 10:10PM

Hats off guys to all who have raised well needed funds. If you're running a first marathon its an ideal opportunity to do so for a good cause.

I have fond memories of my first marathon which was a comparatively slow 3.50 (but I was carrying a bit more weight then). I raised over 3K - the generosity of work colleagues was astonishing. I distinctly remember though putting in a hard last effort to get the time I did as a guy had promised me to double his pledge (and it was only an extra tenner) if I did 3.50 or under. Its funny how even small amounts can give you an extra impetus.

earlyevening · 17-09-2008 10:59PM

[QUOTE= Its funny how even small amounts can give you an extra impetus.[/QUOTE]

Leaving aside the charity thing for a second, I find that my small gentleman's bets with my fellow running friend helps me to go out and push harder, longer, faster etc to win silly 5 pound bets.

anyone run the marathon for charity??

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