Sponsorship: Help a fellow fan

Hi all.

Next May I will be undertaking a charity trek across the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. It's something I have always wanted to do and is dependent on me raising a certain amount for the Blue Cross appeal. The Blue Cross is the UK's national pet charity and specialises in rehoming unwanted pets and providing care for animals whose owners are unable to afford private veterinary care.

If anyone wants to make a donation to help me reach my target I would be very appreciative. You'll be making a valuable contribution to the Blue Cross, and helping a fellow saints fan achieve something I have always wanted to do.

Please visit my fundraising page and make a donation...

http://www.justgiving.com/rolandsmith

Thanks.

To save the predictable remarks, do you want to explain how part of this is coming out of your own pocket and that Saints fans aren't simply paying for you to go on a jolly and what's left over goes to charity (cos I looked into this myself a few years ago).

I'll sponsor if it's possible to send it by cheque.

To save the predictable remarks, do you want to explain how part of this is coming out of your own pocket and that Saints fans aren't simply paying for you to go on a jolly and what's left over goes to charity (cos I looked into this myself a few years ago).

Yeah, good point Baj.

I've had to pay a registration fee of £199 and I will also have to pay for all local airport taxes etc. I'm also going to put some more money in out of my redundancy payout when I get it at the end of the month.

Normally it would cost £1440 for the whole package if I was to do it privately (flights, transfers, trek guides etc...) so Global Adventures (http://www.globaladv.org/), who are organising the trip, have set each participant a target of £2880 (double that amount) to be raised with most of that going to the charity and the rest to cover the unavoidable costs. I've rounded that figure up and set my own target of £3000.

I'll sponsor if it's possible to send it by cheque.

You have a PM

Yeah, good point Baj.

 

I've had to pay a registration fee of £199 and I will also have to pay for all local airport taxes etc. I'm also going to put some more money in out of my redundancy payout when I get it at the end of the month.

 

Normally it would cost £1440 for the whole package if I was to do it privately (flights, transfers, trek guides etc...) so Global Adventures (http://www.globaladv.org/), who are organising the trip, have set each participant a target of £2880 (double that amount) to be raised with most of that going to the charity and the rest to cover the unavoidable costs. I've rounded that figure up and set my own target of £3000.

I hope I am allowed to give constructive criticism here.

So you are going to contribute about £250 and manage to get a sticky to encourage other forum members to pay for the rest of your holiday? Why don't you just be honest and ask people to pay for your holiday? As that is exactly what you are doing.

Why can't you pay for the holiday yourself and then raise money above and beyond the cost of it?

For example, I am going to Kenya next summer to do voluntary work in the slums of Nairobi. I am paying for the flights myself, paying all taxes and other costs myself, even though I could get 'sponsored' for it, it doesn't seem morally right.

If you raise the cost of the actual 'holiday' yourself, then count on me to donate £100, especially as I am fond of the Blue Cross, as we have a rescued dog from there.

If you aren't going to put your hand in your pocket, then you can stick your sponsorship where the sun doesn't shine.

A bit of advice..

If you are going to be made redundant....going on a "jolly up" is something you probably should not be doing....more to the point, asking us to pay for it for you.....

:confused:

OK, some pretty fair points you have raised Stu so allow me to respond...

1. It's not exactly a holiday. It's a 5-day trek across some pretty rough terrain on the Andes and it's going to be bloody hard work. I am going to have to do a fair bit of fitness training between now and then because I know I am not in anything like good enough shape to do it as of now.

2. As I already said, I fully intend to put more money into it myself once I get my redundancy payout at the end of this month. At this time I don't know how much I am going to get so I can't say how much I am going to put in.

3. I can't pay for the whole thing myself because, to be honest, I just can't afford to. I came across this opportunity in a magazine and realised it would be a fantastic way to achieve something I have long wanted to do, but never thought I would get the chance to, and to raise some money for a very worth charity in the process.

And yes Delldays, you make a fair point. I actually paid my registration fee and committed to this before I knew I was going to be made redundant. Like I said, it's not really a 'jolly-up' as you call it, and I fully expect to be back in full-time employment very soon.

Between now and May, my GF and me are going to be organising some local fundraising events. What form these will take I am not certain yet, but I will be getting advice from the organisers of the event on this. I will post details of them on here once they are confirmed.

If anyone else has any questions about this I will be happy to answer them.

1. It's not exactly a holiday. It's a 5-day trek across some pretty rough terrain on the Andes and it's going to be bloody hard work. I am going to have to do a fair bit of fitness training between now and then because I know I am not in anything like good enough shape to do it as of now.

It is a holiday. I have done this trek and it was the one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done on my travels. I loved it. To say it isn't a holiday is downright misleading. Cleaning out toilets in Kenya for charity - now that isn't a holiday. It does seem as though you are asking people to pay for you to enjoy yourself, albeit it is quite hard work going round collecting cash.

If you do do it, and good luck to you persuading people to pay for to do that, you will love it - it is amazing. Also, you won't have anything to do fitness wise either - yeah the second day is fairly tough, but it really isn't that hard and the rewards more than make up for any toughness. In fact there were a couple of 70 year old codgers in my group, who took three times longer than anyone else but ulitimately didn't have any problems whatsoever. I didn't bother exercising before hand and it was a walk in the park.

I would rather donate a fiver to the Baj and Steve Christmas fund, rather than pay for someone elses holiday.

Pikey.

This thread reads like a fraud scam!

Bexy you tried to mislead members for your own benefit.

Good call Baj.

OK, I'll re-iterate my point. I am NOT looking for people to pay for a free holiday here. I've already stated that I am going to put some of my own money into this, and I will find out next week how much I can realistically afford right now. Also, when I know how much I am going to be earning between now and May, I will put more in as and when I can afford it.

I know I can't just expect everybody to cough up their own money, and that I have do something/things to raise the sponsorship money. I have already started this. A friend and I have decided that we are going to do a sponsored bike ride along the Trans-pennine Trail sometime either at the end of next month or the beginning of november. I will post details about it once they are confirmed, and I will also find some way of showing how much I have paid in myself - you will all understand if I am reluctant to scan my bank statement and post it on here. I will also be holding talks next week with the owners of a nightclub in Sheffield to discuss the possibility of putting on a fund-raising open decks night to try and raise more funds.

AwaySaint1... Are you accusing me of fraud? I consider that to be a very serious accusation. I absolutely have not deliberately mislead anyone for my own benefit - all of the information you need is printed on the websites I have posted links to, and they are 100% legal and above-board. Would you care to provide some evidence to back up your claim? Seeing as no such evidence exists, I would respectfully request that you retract your accusation otherwise you will be hearing from my solicitor.

AwaySaint1... Are you accusing me of fraud? I consider that to be a very serious accusation. I absolutely have not deliberately mislead anyone for my own benefit - all of the information you need is printed on the websites I have posted links to, and they are 100% legal and above-board. Would you care to provide some evidence to back up your claim? Seeing as no such evidence exists, I would respectfully request that you retract your accusation otherwise you will be hearing from my solicitor.

Hello Crouchie.

So we can either give you money for your holiday now, or wait until you do a little bike ride and give you money for your holiday then?

Or we can come and watch you play music in Sheffield and give you money for your holiday then?

Why don't you go on a pub crawl and get people to sponsor you for that to sponsor your holiday as well?

I think the crux of the argument is really quite simple, and whilst I made the thread sticky and was more than willing to help Bexy raise some money through the forum, I think the point remains that if I, or anyone else for that matter, wanted to donate money to charity then we would want all of our own money to go directly to the charity.

For example, a good friend of mine is climbing Mt Kilamanjaro next month, in a very similar system to this, however she has been very open and said "I will pay all of the trip out of my own pocket", which is actually going to put her into quite a bit of debt, but shes considers the trip of a lifetime worth the debt, and if by climbing the mountain she can raise money for charity then all the better for it.

I'm not "having a go" Bexy, I wish you all the best of luck and sincerely hope that you are able to front the cost of the trip yourself AND raise a good amount of money for your charity, but I (like a lot of others I suspect) will only donate if I think all of my money goes to the charity itself.

Hello Crouchie.

LOL!!

I so wanted to be the one to post that!

I think the fact the the link is to justgiving.com sort of says it legit!

There are loads out there.

http://www.doitforcharity.com/vietnam-cycle-october-2009.aspx?ad=eventsummary4

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/getinvolved/events/fundraising/cycling.aspx?gclid=CPKV_8DB6JUCFQuJ1QodHy1VfQ

http://www.doitforcharity.com/trek-thailand-2009-1030.aspx?ad=eventsummary9

Yeah, good point Baj.

 

I've had to pay a registration fee of £199 and I will also have to pay for all local airport taxes etc. I'm also going to put some more money in out of my redundancy payout when I get it at the end of the month.

 

Normally it would cost £1440 for the whole package if I was to do it privately (flights, transfers, trek guides etc...) so Global Adventures (http://www.globaladv.org/), who are organising the trip, have set each participant a target of £2880 (double that amount) to be raised with most of that going to the charity and the rest to cover the unavoidable costs. I've rounded that figure up and set my own target of £3000.

I'm still confused.

If you raise the full £3000 - and I hope you do - how much will be donated to charity [not including the additional UK taxpayer benefit bit]?

I think it's pretty disgusting you could have the audacity to ask people to pay for your holiday. You're paying £200 for a holiday that costs £1500!

If you were to pay for the holiday yourself then raise the money for charity after then fair play to you.

As for the fundraising events - most people work to afford holidays, not mis-lead people into thinking they're donating to charity.

I pledge 1p.

I am hoping to go to Miami Beach in the spring to clear litter of the beaches. This will obviously be of great benefit to the local community and help make the world generally a better place to live in. I am hoping to recycle as much of the litter as possible and therefore help the envirionment and ultimately save the planet. My actions will stop litter being washed out to sea and prevent fish and pelicans from choking and suffering a slow lingering death. I do all of this for the sake of mankind and to help sustain the planet for my children and their children. However this will cost money, i will gladly pay for my own travel to and from the beach on a daily basis but i find myself needing help for my ticket out there and general day to day living expenses, beer and pizzas etc. I hate to ask but if any of you could see your way to helping out then please pm me, oh ****** i haven't even got a fiver for that.

I am hoping to go to Miami Beach in the spring to clear litter of the beaches. This will obviously be of great benefit to the local community and help make the world generally a better place to live in. I am hoping to recycle as much of the litter as possible and therefore help the envirionment and ultimately save the planet. My actions will stop litter being washed out to sea and prevent fish and pelicans from choking and suffering a slow lingering death. I do all of this for the sake of mankind and to help sustain the planet for my children and their children. However this will cost money, i will gladly pay for my own travel to and from the beach on a daily basis but i find myself needing help for my ticket out there and general day to day living expenses, beer and pizzas etc. I hate to ask but if any of you could see your way to helping out then please pm me, oh ****** i haven't even got a fiver for that.

To be honest, from the above you would actually be doing more good than Bexy.

I consider myself an intelligent chap, but just don't get why he thinks people should give him money. As I understand it, he wants us to pay him money to do something he wants to do. Fair enough if he was doing something he didn't want to do such as look after street children in India...

Please, can anyone explain. Why if he is raising £2500 and he's doing it for charity, doesn't he just give all the money to charity??

I am hoping to go to Miami Beach in the spring to clear litter of the beaches. .

Pedant Attack: Are you going to just leave litter where the beaches were?

Regarding Bexy's original post - frankly everyone's skint right now - I admire your intention, but you need to highlight why your charity is 'speshal', more 'speshal' than any other one.

We're all shafted financially speaking, and frankly, I don't give a tinker's toss about animals which we'd eat if we'd have to (and vice versa).

I've read some rubbish on Saints Forever et al, but the grief being dished out by the usual lot on this thread is absolutely pathetic. I'm well and truly shocked and appalled.

I've read some rubbish on Saints Forever et al, but the grief being dished out by the usual lot on this thread is absolutely pathetic. I'm well and truly shocked and appalled.

Not enough to make a donation though eh

Not enough to make a donation though eh

of course not.

Not enough to make a donation though eh

of course not.

To this....

http://www.justgiving.com/rolandsmith

I cant afford to donate as I seem to have spunked my money on solicitor's fees.

EDIT: Spunked is a word that is not in the profanity filter,think I will use it more often

OK, I'll re-iterate my point. I am NOT looking for people to pay for a free holiday here. I've already stated that I am going to put some of my own money into this, and I will find out next week how much I can realistically afford right now. Also, when I know how much I am going to be earning between now and May, I will put more in as and when I can afford it.

 

I know I can't just expect everybody to cough up their own money, and that I have do something/things to raise the sponsorship money. I have already started this. A friend and I have decided that we are going to do a sponsored bike ride along the Trans-pennine Trail sometime either at the end of next month or the beginning of november. I will post details about it once they are confirmed, and I will also find some way of showing how much I have paid in myself - you will all understand if I am reluctant to scan my bank statement and post it on here. I will also be holding talks next week with the owners of a nightclub in Sheffield to discuss the possibility of putting on a fund-raising open decks night to try and raise more funds.

 

AwaySaint1... Are you accusing me of fraud? I consider that to be a very serious accusation. I absolutely have not deliberately mislead anyone for my own benefit - all of the information you need is printed on the websites I have posted links to, and they are 100% legal and above-board. Would you care to provide some evidence to back up your claim? Seeing as no such evidence exists, I would respectfully request that you retract your accusation otherwise you will be hearing from my solicitor.

Not quite sure why I remembered this, I think it might have been going through my lengthy DSM infraction list, but just wondered how the fund raising for your holiday was going, given it's only a couple of months away.

Also, how did the case go?

Not quite sure why I remembered this, I think it might have been going through my lengthy DSM infraction list, but just wondered how the fund raising for your holiday was going, given it's only a couple of months away.

 

Also, how did the case go?

I thought i was the only one with a DSM infraction list.

Oh yeah, I think he sends me an infraction notice every time he sees one of my posts. He doesn't usually even bother to provide a reason and certainly doesn't respond to polite enquiries questioning his fascist and often hypocritical actions.

I imagine we are not alone.

I would think twice before giving one of my mates £5 to do this so the prospect of supporting an anonymous Forum Username with whom I have no personal affiliation other than that they, by some accident of birth, happen to support the same football club.....

That said, I quite fancy a trip to Hvar in the summer. If anyone sends me some money I will try and take photos of clunge on the beach and you can have a look. PM me.

£192 in 6 months raising, and only a short time to go, does this mean you are not going?

Do the people that have donated get a refund?

£192 in 6 months raising, and only a short time to go, does this mean you are not going?

 

Do the people that have donated get a refund?

Yes, I had to cancel the trek as I was out of work for too long and was not able to put enough of my own money towards it. I took on board some comments from many people, including posters on this thread, and eventually decided I was more than willing to put in the £1400, which was the actual cost of the trip, on my credit card; but being out of work for 5 months meant that to put myself in that much debt without the means to pay it back would have been utter stupidity so I cut my losses (the £200 deposit was non-refundable) and cancelled.

I contacted everybody who had donated and explained how they could get a refund. Some people already have received refunds from the charity, the rest were happy to have donated due to my friend and me completing a 60-mile bike ride along the Trans-pennine trail last november as part of my fundraising efforts, and have declined the offered refund.

Bexy, you really do noy need to explain yourself. I think that it was a very well intentioned gesture of yours, for a very good cause.

Whilst on the subject of good causes and raising funds to pay for them:

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=11060