Dear all,
This summer through an organisation called ‘Childreach International’ (http://www.childreach.org.uk/) I will be climbing Kilimanjaro with a group of 30 students from Uni (Nottingham).

This is inevitably a huge task to undergo and means I’ll be climbing 5895m to the peak of the highest freestanding mountain in the world!

Our trip commences around the 19th of June and takes 6 days to climb and descend Kilimanjaro, with a 6 hour trek after 4 days walking, to reach the summit for sunrise.

Whilst a certain percentage of the money raised is used to cover costs of the trip, including flights, transfers and trekking costs, in excess of 50% of the money will be used to help out children in projects run by ‘Childreach International’ in Tanzania.

The target set to fundraise per individual by Childreach is £2,300 plus a £300 donation from each individual.

150 students take part in this trip over the course of the summer raising over £300,000 for Childreach!

Childreach help local people through projects such as; erecting toilet blocks and improving sanitation in primary schools, running vocational training centres and helping offset carbon emissions. Currently only 50% of primary schools in Tanzania have satisfactory, clean sanitation.

Having explained a little about what I’m doing and who I’m raising money for, I now ask that you would consider making a donation to myself and Childreach.

If you choose to donate will be very gratefully received. If you already donate elsewhere or feel unable to donate that’s perfectly understandable, and equally, any good luck wishes will be gratefully received!

Below is a link for my sponsorship page:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=michaelthomas

Many thanks for taking your time to read this and as said previously, any donations regardless of amount will be most gratefully received.

Really hope this isn't against forum rules (had a read and couldn't see anything).
Sincerely many thanks for reading this, taking you time over it and especially if you choose to donate!

Mike Thomas

I suspect this will get the usual frosty reception from STW, most people here would kill to do the same trip and would actually pay to have a go themselves, they'll probably see your plea for partial funding of a holiday as a bit cheeky, but don't let it put you off. Good luck!

Usually gets a frosty response and will from me. How much is your jolly costing? Its a very inefficient way to raise money for charity and is not "green" at all

Want to raise money – do something useful

Sorry? Who are you?

Edit: Maybe put some off the money from all your classified deals towards it?

I wonder if it's all rideable?

I'm with the others – these 'charity holidays' are not something I agree with.
If you want money for the charity fine, make a case for it & ask

Whilst a certain percentage of the money raised is used to cover costs of the trip, including flights, transfers and trekking costs, in excess of 50% of the money will be used to help out children in projects run by ‘Childreach International’ in Tanzania.

You want sponsorship? Pay for your own holiday.

50% it would be better if you could give 100% to the charity though!! sorry I agree with some of the others, which is why I would love to climbk Kilimanjaro but don't with a charity! Sorry no sponsorship from me on this occasion.

In the interest of balance, these kind of things are not all bad. If it gets people fund-raising who otherwise wouldn't – because they will get their own personal bit of enjoyment out of it – then great. We're not all 100% altruistic.

That said, I'm just tight and jealous

Whist it is obvious that money is used to pay for flights/accom. there is no denying that, there is the very obvious fact that this charity gains circa £300K from Nottingham University alone which otherwise would not be fund-raised.

I am not trying to deceive at all, I included the fact that some of our costs are covered from this sponsorship.

Surely around £1.3K raised for charity per individual is better than each individual sitting around and doing nothing for charity.

I totally agree with everything said, yes I'm getting a greatly reduced trip to do a once in a lifetime thing, yes Jamie I do, or did predominantly use the classified's on this website rather than other forums, you'll note did as I no longer really have disposable income since becoming a student this year, also I didn't realise it was a necessity to know someone to donate to a cause?

I have just yesterday paid £100 sponsorship money for myself as I got some money through recently and have previously paid £300 myself. This is a fair bit for a student to pay, and as such has meant the buying of bike bits has pretty much ceased.

Perhaps in monetary sense I don't give much, however I do give 10+ hours a week of my time to charity, last year I worked in a hospice once a week, last term I took part in street collections every Saturday day long, it's not just about the money.

Many thanks for your feedback though folks, I was not just asking for money and there was no obligation to give at all, it was just a request in case anyone felt like they wanted to make a donation.

Whilst it may appear I am trying to justify myself, more so I'm trying to respond to your feedback, I'm more than happy with what I'm doing, and happy to work for the sponsorship, bag packing, washing cars, doing street collections et cetera, it was merely a request in case anyone felt so to donate a few quid.

EDIT: Sorry TJ, forgot your insert; some of the money we pay ourselves is used to offset the emissions from the trip, Childreach also work to help Tanzanian's become more environmentally friendly, some of the money raised may contribute to these projects.

Thank you all for you feedback though.

Perhaps in monetary sense I don't give much, however I do give 10+ hours a week of my time to charity, last year I worked in a hospice once a week, last term I took part in street collections every Saturday day long, it's not just about the money.

Good for you. Seriously it's all good stuff, keep it up as I'm sure it's more than I (and many other on here) do.

If you came up to me in the street with a charity tin then I'd put money into it – but this really comes across as a paid-for jolly [and it's not a climb as Moyles & co showed last year] up a mountain. That doesn't impress at all.

Why don't you all spend 6 days doing something really helpful in this country? – oh yeah…… it's not as much fun.

Sorry.

Edit: Imagine 30 students each doing a marathon distance on a bike relay down the UK – would likely raise more.

Will anyone sponsor me for my two week sit on a beach reading trash novels whilst listening to my iPod and sipping cocktails?

Will anyone sponsor me for my two week sit on a beach reading trash novels whilst listening to my iPod and sipping cocktails?

With baby twins I'd sponsor you a tenner if you could get away with that for 2 weeks on a summer holiday. Does Mrs MF have an unmarried sister? 😆

With baby twins I'd sponsor you a tenner if you could get away with that for 2 weeks on a summer holiday. Does Mrs MF have an unmarried sister?

Well that is why it is such a hardship for me – I have to put the twins in childcare for two weeks and send Mrs MF to a health spa to keep her happy.

And alas no she doesn't have any sisters I am afraid.

🙂

last year i self funded a trip to do a 100k wilderness run for leukaemia research. the mere perception that someones donation funded a jolly made raising anything **** hard. the trip was paid for by me selling thigns and a corporate donation – so ALL the donations went straight to the charity, none to the trip but these bloody free holiday trips like yours have killed off any chance of raising funds for deserving charities through an overseas venture.

also, i fail to see how walking uphill in africa is a serious challenge? as has been pointed out, chris moyles goes before you, what challenge are you overcoming??

50% of something is better than 50% of nowt.

It may not be the liberal lefties favourite mechanism for charitable donation, but at least a charity will benefit.

It is a bit like these people coming to your desk and asking you to 'donate' so they can do a bungee jump or a parachute jump.

Just Say No!

(If someone came to me and said they were doing something that was a challenge – like tribal's example above – then I would sponsor them but still only if I thought the cause was worthy and the actual charity itself was reputable).

I think this is one to ask friends and relatives. You *might* get a more positive response from strangers if all the cash was going to charity and you had worked hard to pay your own way, but a frosty response is understandable when you are asking them to fund your holiday as well.

At the end of the day, despite raising it, I'm still with the OP on the overall benefit – the charity gets more cash that it never would have received at all before. That said, the fact that I'm funding someones fun put me off donating at all. If it was a friend or family member I wanted to have a nice holiday AND raise money, sure, but joe bloggs who I don't know and will use a large % just to get there – it still makes sense but it grates a little.
Gone are the times when you'd get a decent donation from a sponsored car wash, now people either don't sponsor at all or require a headline grabbing mission to put their hands in their pockets, without thinking about the mechanism.

At the end of the day it's the whole charitable mechanism that loses out and loses support, but along the way the charities gain a little and someone gets an experience.

It is a bit like these people coming to your desk and asking you to 'donate' so they can do a bungee jump or a parachute jump.

Exactly like that…

Money's generated so someone can get an experience and a charity can raise some money.

Fair enough I respect all of your opinions, they're all valid and it's been good to get some feedback, I will happily 'work' to get the money, it was just worth a mention here.

Even if the response does not get any money/positive outcomes at least it's triggered a discussion and raised awareness of these kind of things, so perhaps if a family member does do something like this you might be inclined to donate to them! Also have a read of the charity's website if you want, it's an interesting charity and this will have definitely been a worthwhile exercise even if it just raises awareness of the charity…
And yes there are many similar charities, it's a fact of life!

Money's generated so someone can get an experience and a charity can raise some money.

It might just be me, but surely the reason to raise money isn't to get an experience but to help others in need? I don't really see why you have to do something costs so much in the name of charity. IMO of course.

Sorry, I'm much the same as the majority above. I'd consider sponsoring if all the money was going to charity (eg you paid the approx 50% that covers the trip) but since it's not, why wouldn't I just donate straight to the charity?

The reason behind it isn't to get an experience no, but that's what attracts people to raise the cash, it's a means to raising money, and that's how it'll be seen to most people who do it with charity collecting as part of the experience.

Yeh of course there's no need to climb Kilimanjaro, I didn't come up with the idea it's something I want to do though and I want to raise money for a charity I believe to be worthwhile as well, there of course is no necessity to climb Kili/Skydive and all these other things but without them little money would be raised…

as a final stab, yesterday i mentioned us all doing next years Mongol Rally to my three kids. they have already talked about how they will earn what we need to pay for the trip so all the donations can go to charity… i supose they're too young to think like students yet…

Tribalchief,
I did not think up the format of this 'fund-raiser' (in brackets in case you're not happy with it being called a fund-raiser).
Your right children are a lot more generous/willing than students on the whole I'd agree whole heartedly from experiences with little brothers/helping out with kids clubs etc.

It might just be me, but surely the reason to raise money isn't to get an experience but to help others in need?

Why does everything have to be so one dimensional? Every year my old man works bloomin' hard to organises a family fun day and raft race to raise money for the RNLI. He doesn't make as much profit to go to the RNLI as simply standing in the street collecting, but a lot of people get a lot of enjoyment out of the event AND the RNLI benefit. What is wrong with that?

Timbercombe, good luck to you. I'm jealous. I would love to do something like this but I'll remember not to ask on here for donations 😆

Stilltortoise, hit the nail on the head, benefits all parties kind of thing!
Many thanks, I suppose it's been a good discussion at least!
Kept me occupied in all the free time I have as a student 😉

'quotes' (brackets)

But it was worth sponsoring the Sleb Kilimanjaro walk – there was at least the possibility that some good might come of it. e.g. the Radio 1 DJs may not have survived.

Every year my old man works bloomin' hard to organises a family fun day and raft race to raise money for the RNLI. He doesn't make as much profit to go to the RNLI as simply standing in the street collecting, but a lot of people get a lot of enjoyment out of the event AND the RNLI benefit. What is wrong with that?

I would have thought he would make much more doing that – hats off to him, he is doing something for the love of it and making money for the charity to boot. I assume he doesn't expect to have his costs covered?

I assume he doesn't expect to have his costs covered?

No, but other than time (a lot of) and a bit of petrol, there are limited costs to him. If he had to fly out to Kenya to organise this event he wouldn't want to be out of pocket though. Standing on a street with a bucket collects money that ALL goes to the RNLI. Organising any fundraising event has costs and I think a lot of people are being unfair to timbercombe here. With the arguments being put forward, countless charity events would never raise any money. Timbercombe has made a donation to this charity and is giving up his own time to raise even more. If he gets the trip of a lifetime out of it as well then good for him. Better he is doing that than paying for this trip completely out of his own pocket and raising no money, 'cos I'm guessing for most people that kind of thing is simply too expensive.

Agreed. It'd be better if expenses didn't have to come out of donations, but the fact that the charities get a substantial chunk has got to be good news. We're all just jealous.

We had better not get into the huge salaries some charity bosses get then either should we?…

At the end of the day the question has to be asked – is the OP doing this because he wants to raise money for the charity and sees this as the best way of raising lots for them or because he wants to have a jolly and this is the only way he can afford to do it.

Mastiles_fanylion, it's OK, I'm considering trying to work for a charity post-graduating, and no that's not money-motivated, I enjoy raising awareness/money/everything else that goes with charity that I've experienced so far…

Stilltortoise, thank you for your support!

One final note, yes as anonymouse says a chunk's used to cover my expenses, but in my opinion, and this is why I'm doing it, it's raising a good amount for charity and will have an impact of people's lives, as he says.

Many thanks for the support/debate etc. I'm off!

At the end of the day the question has to be asked – is the OP doing this because he wants to raise money for the charity and sees this as the best way of raising lots for them or because he wants to have a jolly and this is the only way he can afford to do it.

Not sure why this question has to be asked or is even relevant, but I guess that's why I'm with timbercombe on this one 🙂

(The answer of course is both)

I'm not sure that I completely agree with fundraising to walk up a mountain (holiday!), but fair play to you for getting out and doing something. At least it raises the profile of the charity.

Kilimanjaro isn't really that challenging though – depending on which route you're taking. If you're doing the Coca-cola (Marangu) route then its really just four days of gentle trekking. I did this route as I couldn't afford to do a more challenging one – they take longer so the Park fees are more. If you can do a weekend of hiking in the Lakes/Snowdonia/Scotland then you'll be fine – the problem is really altitude, and the company you're with should make sure that you don't go too fast. Your base fitness level should help with that too.

If you get a chance while you're in Tanzania – do Mount Meru (second highest in Tz). Great walk through the National Park at the base, with all the animals around (and your guide with a gun) and a fantastic view of Kilimanjaro from the top. Makes for a good acclimatisation walk as well.

geoffj:

50% of something summit is better than 50% of nowt.

Fixed for comedy benefit.

I think the reason people get a bit shirty about this is that it's basically 50% begging – and it's usually privileged middle class students doing that begging (not directing that at the OP, who I don't know).

Why don't people ever ask to be sponsored to do something actually unpleasant? I'd much rather pay you to dredge my polluted local canal with your teeth or something.

I'd much rather pay you to dredge my polluted local canal with your teeth or something

I might even open my wallet for that 😆

I think the reason people get a bit shirty about this is that it's basically 50% begging

Isn't raising money for charity pretty much 100% begging?