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Local or national charity?

Im hopefully going to do this half marathon in october if i get a place.

Im trying to decide whether to do it for the national autistic society, because i think ill get more sponsors, or my local charity autism anglia, because theyre struggling and ive personally had a lot of help and support from them and theyre wonderful.

Would you ever bother sponsoring for someone elses local charity, or would you not bother?
when you sponsor someone, do you do it according to the charity theyre supporting, or would you do it according to what the person is doing to fundraise, or would it purely be on whether you liked the person doing it?

ie would you be more likely to sponsor something really hard like a marathon or half marathon, than a fun run, or would it depend on the charity they were doing it for
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My friend ran the London marathon for the Surrey Care Trust and found that people hadn't heard of it and weren't keen on the fact that it only really helps people in Surrey if they weren't from there themselves.

    On the other hand some people prefer to support local charities.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I generally sponsor depending on the charity. I'm more like to sponsor a person doing something if the charity is a charity that has either helped me or my family in some way. Or related to something that I feel strongly about.

    As for the event - it doesn't matter what the event is. A friend did a marathon for Nystagmus Network and I sponsored him. If he'd done sky diving, I would've sponsored him too.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    thanks for your thoughts.

    Any more?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A friend of a friends is running a marathon for a local autistic charity, and she (and her little boy, who's autistic) have got a photo shoot today with a local newspaper... I guess if you could arrange something like that you'd get more sponsors? x
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Oh, and I'd be more likely to sponsor a local rather than national charity, as a local charity is less likely to get the money they need to keep running.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    even if it was not local to you?

    Im just wondering. I asked autism anglia if they got any support from the national autistic society and they said no, they get none, and theyre really struggling at the moment.

    I was also speaking to my mum recently who works for CRUSE, and she said that often when people want to donate, they always seem donate to the national charity, and none of the local charities get anything. It all goes to head office.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    even if it was not local to you?

    Yea, purely because I know that national charities do get a lot more money than local ones. And I think in a way local charities are more "personal" to the people who use them is nicer than how some of the bigger charities are.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'd also be more likely to sponsor someone raising money for a local charity, for similar reasons. A few of my close family have died of cancer, and I support the hospice where they died over a national cancer charity.

    The bigger national charities seem a bit faceless and I just assume they'll be fine without my cash, while I know how hard smaller charities work.

    That said, I think a lot of people would be more likely to give to a charity they'd heard of. I guess it's quite a personal thing.
  • LauraOLauraO Posts: 535 Incredible Poster
    Hey SuzyCreamCheese,
    I'm not sure how you were thinking of fundraising, but if you were going to use something like JustGiving there is a space to write a short message about the charity and why you are fundraising for them. It's always nice to read about why a particular charity is so important to someone, and if you explained what you have about your local charity on this thread to your potential sponsors I am sure they would feel willing to give. I usually sponsor my friends regardless of the charity as such, if they show why they are passionate about it and give me some detail about what the charity does it almost always pulls on my :heart: strings :)
    Fingers crossed you get a place :thumb:
    Laura
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'd go for local, both to personally support and to donate more to friends who were doing something for it.

    The national ones seem a bit big and glitzy and I can't help wondering how much they spend on stuff other than being directly helpful to people.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    In my experience people are more likely to give money to you for doing it regardless of who you are raising money for.

    I would go for the local one as well
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Wyetry wrote: »
    In my experience people are more likely to give money to you for doing it regardless of who you are raising money for.

    I would go for the local one as well

    :yes: Unless they were raising for something I object to (and I can't think of anything I object to!) I tend to sponsor anyone doing something that pushes their limits.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    thats really good to know.
    I assumed people would be more likely to give to the big national ones, and only local ones that were local to them, so im quite heartened to hear this and if i get a place in the half marathon, im definitely going to try and support my local one
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Generally speaking, if I decide to sponsor somebody, it's because I have a personal relationship with that person, and would sponsor them whatever charity they were running for.

    This is because I already have standing orders set up to a number of charities, and so when I sponsor someone, I'm not really doing it to be charitable. I feel like I already meet my obligations on that score! I'm doing it because that person is my friend (or sometimes, because they've out me on the spot and I can't say no!). So what charity they were running for wouldn't make any difference to my choice to sponsor them or not.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'd sponsor someone because they were my friend, or I thought they deserved recognition for the effort they were putting in.

    How much I'd sponsor would depend either on what that charity meant to me/what I thought of what it did, or what I knew that charity meant to that person. So one of my friends with two autistic children doing something for the local support group would get more sponsorship than someone running for Cancer Research UK in one of the fun runs, because they thought it would be fun.
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