Running for charity?

Now obviously this is partly a silly question- clearly all charities are good, worthwhile charities to run for- but i was wondering if people generally had a preference when choosing a charity to run for? do you base your decision on charities which have helped your family/friends? or do you pick a big well known charity in the hope of getting lots of sponsors? or a smaller one with the idea that they will welcome some support? just interested really.... oh and do you find that people are happy to sponsor for any length of race/event....or is it best to save the sponsorship for 'big' distances like a half marathon/marathon?

I choose to run for charities which I believe strongly in the work they do.

I would never take a golden bond place, but when I have run for charities have just entered the race (by ballot if necessary) and then chosen a charity to run for. I really don't like the way some runners seem just to want to do an event, and then just seem to pick any charity to run for which will enable them to do fulfil their own desires. Clearly the charities get some benefit, or they wouldn't do the scheme - it just doesn't sit right with me.

That means I am free to pick whatever charities I want, and am not just limited to big ones which can afford golden bond places. The last 2 I ran for were "Save the Children" - the main charity the school I teach in supports, and a local charity working with young people in our town.

Why do you want to 'pick' a charity? 

If one doesn't spring to mind, why not just run for the pleasure/challenge/training?

Usually people raise for a charity that has some meaning to them, although now I believe people would run for jsut about anything and pester everyone for money so they can walk around London in April.

I wouldn't sponsor anyone who was not actually doing something challenging. Half marathon, not a chance! marathon... well maybe if it was to the north pole or something but certainly not for a simple city marathon.

WiB...........

I would sponsor someone for a half marathon or shorter if I thought it was a challenge.something they have never done before.........

a 5k for some is harder than a marathon for others................It should be a challenge

But agree that why pick a charity.if you haven't got one that means something to you then just do it for yourself

I think WiB is right - there are SO many events these days asking for money that it's hard when so many people are asking for sponsorship.. I have a friend that will regularly abuse her Facebook page to fund whatever race/event she's currently raising money for. Don't get me wrong - she raises a lot of money for charity but being asked a dozen times a year to fund her latest trek to china/running a 5k etc. gets old very quickly

There was a girl on here saying that she was funding her only charity place at London via direct debit. I thought that was a great idea.

Seren - I see your point on whether you think it is challenging or not. For arguments sake lets take an able bodied person (not literally, I don't have a van or anywhere to store them), comes to you and they want sponsoring for a 5k/10k yet there are 10s of 1000s of other people with the same basic tools who are running 26.2 miles just in one race. Not to mention the guys and girls running 50, 100, 150 miles. 24 hours. 6 days. Across America. Around the world and so on.

It goes back to how the marathon (other distances are available) can be devalued through it being made to look easy. Obviously it isn't, and I truely think anyone who goes out and trains seriously then runs a marathon to the best of their ability is awesome.

I just think that if anyone who has never run or done any activity actually goes out and starts training and does a 5k then I take my hat of to them and would sponsor them............I wouldn't then sponsor them the next year or the next to do it.....for it to be a challenge they have to make strides forward.so either much faster or go further.........

You don't HAVE to run for a charity. I've done a few Half Marathons and I did the first one for a charity, because it was a genuine challenge for me, having never done any running before and being a lardarsed boozer at the time (possibly still am!), but since then, I've not done any for charity as I don't want to have to go around cap in hand every time I enter a race. The only time in the future I'd consider getting sponsorship is if I were to run London or an ultra. I do plan on doing full marathons before I;d consider doing London so I'd probably come up with a challenge of doing it under a certain time to try and justify sponsorship.

It does annoy me that any non runners, when I tell them I'm doing a race, ask which charity I'm running for, as if there would be no point doing it otherwise.

What MattDA said.

Wilkie wrote (see)

Why do you want to 'pick' a charity? 

If one doesn't spring to mind, why not just run for the pleasure/challenge/training?

seren nos wrote (see)

WiB...........

I would sponsor someone for a half marathon or shorter if I thought it was a challenge.something they have never done before.........

a 5k for some is harder than a marathon for others................It should be a challenge

 

But agree that why pick a charity.if you haven't got one that means something to you then just do it for yourself

 

^^ i do have a charity in mind that means something to me...it was more a general question about other people and what they did that's all  

As gemgemx says it can get a bit overwhelming with people asking for sponsorship every two minutes and you have to draw the line somewhere don't you in terms of what to sponsor and what not...so again, was simply wondering what others did

Running has been hijacked by charities. Seemingly every race makes a donation to a local worthwhile cause, which puts the price up and I already donate through my pay, but have to do so again if i want to run a race (slight exaggeration). Do cricketers and footballers make a donation every time they play? Give propoer running races back to proper runners, not bloody clowns and bears and let them run in the big charity rip offs.

Sometimes is good to just run for yourself.

ive only ever raised money or charity once, but i did so anyway and donated it all after the race, it was for a charity which helped my grandfather in the last years of his life.

the same charity offer places for london, but they want a minimum £2000 raised, and thats just too much, so id rather just get a ballot place if possible and then raise what i can on my own, 

I agree Millsy, although some of the challenges look like fun. I'd like to do one that involved a big mountain climb as I'm a keen mountain walker but would need guiding for anything that involved climbing and it would be a massive challenge for me as I'm afraid of heights. I decided that if I were ever to do something like that, that I would pay the upfront fees myself so that anything and everything raised would go to charity.