Ungrateful charities

I ran the Bristol Half-Marathon this year for Children with Leukaemia.It was the first time i had done this and was felt quite proud of myself. I spent a lot of time going around work getting workmate to sponser me. When i told my family i was doing this they all volunteered to do the same at their workplace.
In all we managed to raise over £350. Now i know that this does not compare with the thousands some poeple raise but i put a lot of time and effort in as well as running thirteen mile.
So did i get a thank you?
Not one word,no letter no e-mail no telephone call. No contact what so ever.
I was thinking of running the FLM for them but when i get treated like this, what's the point?

Comments

  • As a virgin marathon runner ,l am very keen to run this years FLM, l have bequeathed my cheque and am none the wiser yet in knowing if l've secured a place or not. Hence l've e-mailed 10 charities to state an interest in raising funds in return for an allocted "precious" place. Well to my surprise some charities have e-mailed me back stating that l am to late for the ballot and if l want to apply for a "golden bond place" l must commit to raising £2,000, l was dumb founded!! is this how ruthless it really is ion earning a place in the LFM with one of the main charities?
    It just seems ironic thats these charities can be indeed so ruthless! a minimum £2,000 is a lot of money for anyone to raise? agree or am l just being naive? and is there any hope of any charity accepting me? l feel confident l could raise between £1,000 - £1,500 !
  • I think there is such a large number of runners desperate to run the FLM that they can almost name their price.

    I have heard that some do drop their amount nearer the time as they have unfilled places, but i suspect with such high demand this is just a rumour.
  • Sonia - I would say that £1,500 is average - it's probably only the ones that are over subscribed that ask for £2,000. Some charities only ask for £800.

    What might be best for you, is after the ballot results are out, to go to the Charity Runners Clearing House, this is a selection of smaller charities who I believe in the main ask for at least £1,000 and you get a decision within 24 hours.

    Don't forget to build your online sponsorship page with us too if your charity is signed up with us.

    Free sponsorship webpages for the London Marathon.
  • HigsHigs ✭✭✭
    Sonia

    From memory last year there were charity places going late at £300 (which basically covers their costs) as they were undersubscribed. You'd be taking a risk but you could train as if you're in and hope to pick up a cheap place in Jan/Feb

  • I'm running for Anthony Nolan again: in 2001, I committed to raising £750, and raised £1350. This year, my minimum is going to be higher (I'd rather not say what, as I don't want to cause AN any grief), but I'm fairly confident I can do it. It's certainly less than £2000!
  • Mr Silly - I ran for Anthony Nolan last year, and I got congratulatory e-mail, good luck cards etc etc. Very nice of them.

    I'm sure CwL do the same things but it looks like you somehow slipped through their net. Did you get an acknowledgement that they had received your money ?
  • If Hope for Children (www.hope-for-children.org) is the sort of charity that you would like to support email me separately and I'll get the info for you (as I'm only a volunteer I haven't got the details off the top of my head). There will be a team of about ten or a dozen doing it in 2003 (I'm doing it in 2004 but hope to be there supporting you all in 2003).
  • Mr Silly I am surprised that you had that experiance with Children with Leukemia. I initially registered with them last year, but after getting a place in the ballot decided to run for a small charity where all the funds went to the charity and none went to advertising and 'free gifts'. CL continued to send me loads of info. and at the expo gave me hats for all the family on the day together with flags. I also got sent a Golden Jubilee thank you coin for supporting them. Because of thier support I sent them the surplus over my initial target. In contrast the charity I did run for did nothing, but then very little of thier money goes in admin etc. which is why I ran for them.

    I suppose you have to decide if you are running with the charity to help others or just so that you can help yourselve. The laws of supply & demand enable charities to charge what they want, I haven't seen it yet but it won't be long before you see the following advert in the January edition of Runners World! '... One marathon place 30% discount on minimum collection use by 13th April 2003...
  • I ran for Phab Kids this year - they were very appreciative and encouraging - I think their minimum sponsorship deal was about £850 from memory.
  • YUP! £850 for Phab. Lizzie (my partner) and I are running in next year's FLM with Phab.

    We have been raising sponsorship now for 5 weeks for FLM. I wrote and asked for collection tins and t shirts for a bonfire event we were attending last Saturday. I was a little worried that I hadn't had any reply for a few days. Then I got a call from Madeleine at Phab all the way from New York where she had taken time out of a hectic schedule with the New York Marathon just to let us know that she was arranging items to be sent to us that day!

    It makes you want to try harder when you feel you have that kind of real support behind you and so far we have found both Phab and Just giving really helpful and friendly. We sold all 50 toffee apples at a pound each in under half hour and made £50.00!! anyone out there with any other ideas e-mail us. We already saw the bag of sweets idea and thought it was great! Good luck to all fund raisers.
  • Thanks for the response all.
    I thought i would update you. I decided to e-mail them. Pippa Gough who heads the charity e-mailed me back. She was very apologetic and promised to send me a letter of thanks as soon as possible. She did say the reason i was overlooked was because their offices are undergoing major refurbishment.
    I expect she probably is a little fed up as well because she has had a cheque for £339 sat in the offices collecting dust for three weeks.
    I feel a little bit guilty now but my faith is restored.
    All the best
  • Is there a list anywhere of charities that have places available on the FLM? The FLM website lists plenty of the biggies - I was hoping to find a smaller charity (and not just because the amount I would need to raise might be less). The Crunch clearing house list doesn't appear to be exhaustive either. Or should I simply contact a charity direct and find out if they have a Golden Bond place available?
  • Yes donut contact the charities directly.

    There are about 800 charities with Golden Bond places, not just the large ones and not just the ones on the charity runners clearing house.

    However bear in mind that the charity had to commit at least £1,250 to get any guaranteed places at all.

    Hope this helps

    Free sponsorship webpages for the London Marathon.
  • Thanks very much Mecca - it certainly does help.
  • I ran for MS Society last year and I was committed to raise £1500, which seemed a lot at the time.

    I looked at it as an extension to my marathon training and broke it down into managable bits.

    I contacted people I was at uni with, old friends, colleageues and got some of them who to fill up a sponsor form each. They ended up having to raise about £100 pounds each. Then the great justgiving.com web site gave me a great help.

    It always sounds a lot when you start, but in the 10 weeks before the marathon a more than passed my target.

    I must also say the MS Society were great

    The had the use of the Institute of Mech Engineers, 1 Birdcage walk, where they were on hand to deal with our blister. They had masseurs, and a cup of tea, it was great, I have never been so pampered.

    SB

  • When I ran in 2001, Anthony Nolan were really supportive, though by the time I managed to hobble round (back problems), they were more or less packing up! They had the use of a building round the corner,and were providing drinks and snacks, but the decent snacks were upstairs! With no lift! I'd just run 26.2 miles - the last thing I want to be faced with is a flight of stairs!
  • I entered the 2001 FLM with a Golden Bond place through a charity called VICTA who help blind children and their minimum amount was £500 which I think is managable for most people (I actually raised £2200.00 in the end). General rule of thumb is that the smaller charities with less overheads (like TV advertising for example) will ask for a samller amount. There are a lot of charities advertising in the FLM rejection/acceptance magazine and the best thing to do is ring round a few and check out the requirments and availability of places. It also helps motivation to pick a charity that is close to your heart in some way, as a parent I always pick one that is child related.
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