What will you do in 2014 to help children beat cancer?

[KidsCan]

I feel there's some carefully worded "avoiding of the question" going on here. So after all the help and assistance, if they still only have £50 what happens?

Everyone who we've had to give a bit of extra help to has managed to raise it so there's no worries there.

If you're not interested in supporting the charity, that's absolutely fine, but could I remind you that I only came on here to offer people the opportunity to take part in some great events to help raise funds for research into cures and treatments for children's cancers.

This research is not funded by the government, the NHS, children in need, comic relief or the national lottery.
We offer places in these events to try and raise as much money as possible for the research.

I respect that and actually admire what you do, but I do think that collectively we need to think of a better way of raising money for good causes than paying the majority of money raised to commercial providers of 'look at me' experiences.

In all honesty, if you have any ideas, we would love to hear them.
Being a small team, organising events ourselves can be quite costly in both time and money.

We would love more community events to get off the ground, but I suppose it's a case of finding the right bunch of brilliant volunteers who would like to help.

[KidsCan]

Did you know that the ballot for the Great North Run closes today?

Why take that chance? You can have one of Kidscan’s places for FREE!
We don’t charge people to take part in either the Great North Run or Great Manchester Run!

Get your place by clicking here!
http://www.tinyurl.com/Kidscan-GMR" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for the Great Manchester Run - 10km on 18th May
http://www.tinyurl.com/Kidscan-GNR" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for the Great North Run – Half marathon (13.1 miles) on 7th September

Thanks for your support!

[bwfcdan94]

Did you know that the ballot for the Great North Run closes today?

Why take that chance? You can have one of Kidscan’s places for FREE!
We don’t charge people to take part in either the Great North Run or Great Manchester Run!

Get your place by clicking here!
http://www.tinyurl.com/Kidscan-GMR" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for the Great Manchester Run - 10km on 18th May
http://www.tinyurl.com/Kidscan-GNR" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for the Great North Run – Half marathon (13.1 miles) on 7th September

Thanks for your support!

That's not the full story though is it.....

[Annoyed Grunt]

Did you know that the ballot for the Great North Run closes today?

Why take that chance? You can have one of Kidscan’s places for FREE!
We don’t charge people to take part in either the Great North Run or Great Manchester Run!

Get your place by clicking here!
http://www.tinyurl.com/Kidscan-GMR" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for the Great Manchester Run - 10km on 18th May
http://www.tinyurl.com/Kidscan-GNR" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for the Great North Run – Half marathon (13.1 miles) on 7th September

Thanks for your support!

That's not the full story though is it.....

It's free......unless you can't meet the minimum £150 sponsorship.......

[Bruce Rioja]

Can this guy not post anything without getting ripped into? He's trying to raise money for what appears to be a very worthy cause, not facilitate those that were either too stupid or too idle to get their entry together. If people want to get involved then do. If not then climb down off of your white chargers and give the guy a break. Please!

[Harry Genshaw]

Can this guy not post anything without getting ripped into? He's trying to raise money for what appears to be a very worthy cause, not facilitate those that were either too stupid or too idle to get their entry together. If people want to get involved then do. If not then climb down off of your white chargers and give the guy a break. Please!

Admirable as it is what (s)he's trying to do - is he a Wanderers fan or a football fan? Or is he just a charitable version of them that come on here selling k itchens or sampions lig highlights?

[Prufrock]

If you're going to come pestering folk for money for charity you can't complain when people want to know how much of that money would go to the actual cause.

[Bruce Rioja]

If you're going to come pestering folk for money for charity you can't complain when people want to know how much of that money would go to the actual cause.

Oh absolutely, Pru. That's not in question.

[KidsCan]

Can this guy not post anything without getting ripped into? He's trying to raise money for what appears to be a very worthy cause, not facilitate those that were either too stupid or too idle to get their entry together. If people want to get involved then do. If not then climb down off of your white chargers and give the guy a break. Please!

Thank you, Bruce.
We are a Greater Manchester charity, with supporters all over the north west.
As it happens, we have some fantastic supporters in Bolton and the surrounding area.

Admirable as it is what (s)he's trying to do - is he a Wanderers fan or a football fan? Or is he just a charitable version of them that come on here selling k itchens or sampions lig highlights?

Personally I'm a football fan, I've even been to The Reebok a couple of times!
But, I'm on here representing the charity to let you know about our events and how you can get involved.

[Lennon'sEleven]

Can this guy not post anything without getting ripped into? He's trying to raise money for what appears to be a very worthy cause, not facilitate those that were either too stupid or too idle to get their entry together. If people want to get involved then do. If not then climb down off of your white chargers and give the guy a break. Please!

Admirable as it is what (s)he's trying to do - is he a Wanderers fan or a football fan? Or is he just a charitable version of them that come on here selling k itchens or sampions lig highlights?

He's posted in the "Owt Else" section of this forum, which is the right place for such a post, I'd say.

Let's not worry too much about the £150 minimum sponsorship problem folks. First, I don't think any of us are quite at that point.

Second, it's pretty normal for a charity to state such a figure. Not sure why everyone's so concerned about what would happen if they fail to hit that sum - what do you want him to say? "We will hunt you down and kill you"? "We have some powerful connections in theMafia and if you don't pay up, you will be sleeping with the fishes"? "You will never work again and we will destroy your credit rating"?

Jeez...I suspect what would happen if you came up short would be some kind of discussion about what to do next. It might not be the charity for you, but he's answering everyone's questions in a civilised manner.

[Prufrock]

I may be confusing this '£150' with something mentioned in another thread, but I think the understandable concern people have is that the money they donate to these sort of enterprises doesn't actually go toward helping the cause but instead goes towards paying a number of unnecessary overheads only generated by the doing of the 'event' in the first place, and often just amounts to subsidising somebody's day out.

And whilst I get that what he is doing is in pursuit of a very good cause, there was some very iffy evasion going on last time round.

If an aquarium was charging £50 for me to go swimming with sharks and accordingly my minimum target was £50, I'd feel pretty sheepish looking folk in the eye if I managed to raise, say £60, and could tell them that a good £1 in every 6 they donated actually went towards helping kids with cancer.

Now it might be that in this case the actual admin costs are tiny, and the vaaaast majority of this £150 goes towards the ends intended and the number isn't set only to cover costs, but given the past discussion on aquariums, and the evasion last time this came up, I can see why folk are sceptical!

[jaffka]

What are the salaries of this charities staff?

[Lennon'sEleven]

I may be confusing this '£150' with something mentioned in another thread, but I think the understandable concern people have is that the money they donate to these sort of enterprises doesn't actually go toward helping the cause but instead goes towards paying a number of unnecessary overheads only generated by the doing of the 'event' in the first place, and often just amounts to subsidising somebody's day out.

And whilst I get that what he is doing is in pursuit of a very good cause, there was some very iffy evasion going on last time round.

If an aquarium was charging £50 for me to go swimming with sharks and accordingly my minimum target was £50, I'd feel pretty sheepish looking folk in the eye if I managed to raise, say £60, and could tell them that a good £1 in every 6 they donated actually went towards helping kids with cancer.

Now it might be that in this case the actual admin costs are tiny, and the vaaaast majority of this £150 goes towards the ends intended and the number isn't set only to cover costs, but given the past discussion on aquariums, and the evasion last time this came up, I can see why folk are sceptical!

Fair enough - and the debate about charities and how much of the money that they receive is spent on the cause they promote is an important one. I think all charities have to declare this figure (I could be making this up, but my wife works for a large charity and they work very hard to ensure at least 80p in the pound goes to the cause. This is considered the magic number!).

Can't vouch for KidsCan, would love to know their figures (and would find out before donating). Just thought some of the questioning on here was missing this point and was a bit too focussed on the fact a charity has a minimum pledge when handing out event places, which I think is pretty sensible practice.

[Harry Genshaw]

Can this guy not post anything without getting ripped into? He's trying to raise money for what appears to be a very worthy cause, not facilitate those that were either too stupid or too idle to get their entry together. If people want to get involved then do. If not then climb down off of your white chargers and give the guy a break. Please!

Admirable as it is what (s)he's trying to do - is he a Wanderers fan or a football fan? Or is he just a charitable version of them that come on here selling k itchens or sampions lig highlights?

He's posted in the "Owt Else" section of this forum, which is the right place for such a post, I'd say.
.

I think this misses the point. I don't think he should be posting on here at all! I come on here to read the various musings of Bolton & football fans and to find out which towns are 5hitholes.

Nice chap as he may be, he's coming on here to promote his charity. At the moment cos he's on his own, I can ignore it when I see such a thread. However, I think we'd all be pretty fed up if several other charities, k itchen companies & God knows what came on here just to promote their own cause. If I wanted to get chugged I'd wander down Bolton High St!

[Worthy4England]

Can this guy not post anything without getting ripped into? He's trying to raise money for what appears to be a very worthy cause, not facilitate those that were either too stupid or too idle to get their entry together. If people want to get involved then do. If not then climb down off of your white chargers and give the guy a break. Please!

Admirable as it is what (s)he's trying to do - is he a Wanderers fan or a football fan? Or is he just a charitable version of them that come on here selling k itchens or sampions lig highlights?

He's posted in the "Owt Else" section of this forum, which is the right place for such a post, I'd say.
.

I think this misses the point. I don't think he should be posting on here at all! I come on here to read the various musings of Bolton & football fans and to find out which towns are 5hitholes.

Nice chap as he may be, he's coming on here to promote his charity. At the moment cos he's on his own, I can ignore it when I see such a thread. However, I think we'd all be pretty fed up if several other charities, k itchen companies & God knows what came on here just to promote their own cause. If I wanted to get chugged I'd wander down Bolton High St!

I agree. As far as I can tell, as an organization they donated £57k last year based on an income of £277k. That seems like a lot of overhead not going to charity (80%)

[CrazyHorse]

I think this misses the point. I don't think he should be posting on here at all! I come on here to read the various musings of Bolton & football fans and to find out which towns are 5hitholes.

Nice chap as he may be, he's coming on here to promote his charity. At the moment cos he's on his own, I can ignore it when I see such a thread. However, I think we'd all be pretty fed up if several other charities, k itchen companies & God knows what came on here just to promote their own cause. If I wanted to get chugged I'd wander down Bolton High St!

KidsCan did the right thing and sent us a PM when they first joined the site asking politely did we mind if they posted every now and again appealing for help. Obviously we said yes. Cos y'know they're helping kids. With cancer.

Feel free to support them or not but like Bruce has said already, can we please just give the guy a break.

[Lennon'sEleven]

Can this guy not post anything without getting ripped into? He's trying to raise money for what appears to be a very worthy cause, not facilitate those that were either too stupid or too idle to get their entry together. If people want to get involved then do. If not then climb down off of your white chargers and give the guy a break. Please!

Admirable as it is what (s)he's trying to do - is he a Wanderers fan or a football fan? Or is he just a charitable version of them that come on here selling k itchens or sampions lig highlights?

He's posted in the "Owt Else" section of this forum, which is the right place for such a post, I'd say.
.

I think this misses the point. I don't think he should be posting on here at all! I come on here to read the various musings of Bolton & football fans and to find out which towns are 5hitholes.

Nice chap as he may be, he's coming on here to promote his charity. At the moment cos he's on his own, I can ignore it when I see such a thread. However, I think we'd all be pretty fed up if several other charities, k itchen companies & God knows what came on here just to promote their own cause. If I wanted to get chugged I'd wander down Bolton High St!

Understandable concern, albeit one about something that might or might not happen. Seems this guy did ask first, and has been pretty polite about the whole thing, so fair play to him. I too would be annoyed if it meant this board became some kind of market place.

Oh - and just to give you what you came for, I'm a Bolton fan and I'm not a big fan of Luton as a place.

[Bruce Rioja]

I agree. As far as I can tell, as an organization they donated £57k last year based on an income of £277k. That seems like a lot of overhead not going to charity (80%)

OK. Let's look at this another way. Let's say that someone owns a local company. At the end of the year his company makes a profit of £57k on a turnover of £277k. He decides to give every penny of his £57k profit away to children fighting cancer.

Yeah, let's forget his charitable donation or where it's gone to, let's stick the boot in instead for him not actually contributing enough due to the size of his overhead. Really? I mean - fecking really?

[Worthy4England]

I agree. As far as I can tell, as an organization they donated £57k last year based on an income of £277k. That seems like a lot of overhead not going to charity (80%)

OK. Let's look at this another way. Let's say that someone owns a local company. At the end of the year his company makes a profit of £57k on a turnover of £277k. He decides to give every penny of his £57k profit away to children fighting cancer.

Yeah, let's forget his charitable donation or where it's gone to, let's stick the boot in instead for him not actually contributing enough due to the size of his overhead. Really? I mean - fecking really?

Yes, really. The two scenarios are not the same. In one, someone has a business doing something else, no one's paid him to raise the £57k, he has a surplus and decides it's going to charity - well done that man. Amount donated to charity £57k. Amount received by charity £57k. This is different. In goes a quid and out to charity pops 20p.

So for my £150 to do a moonwalk or whatever, circa £120 of it on that percentage isn't helping any fooker. Whereas some folks might believe it is.

I'd rather give my £150 direct thanks.

Yes. Really.

[Bruce Rioja]

I agree. As far as I can tell, as an organization they donated £57k last year based on an income of £277k. That seems like a lot of overhead not going to charity (80%)

OK. Let's look at this another way. Let's say that someone owns a local company. At the end of the year his company makes a profit of £57k on a turnover of £277k. He decides to give every penny of his £57k profit away to children fighting cancer.

Yeah, let's forget his charitable donation or where it's gone to, let's stick the boot in instead for him not actually contributing enough due to the size of his overhead. Really? I mean - fecking really?

Yes, really. The two scenarios are not the same. In one, someone has a business doing something else, no one's paid him to raise the £57k, he has a surplus and decides it's going to charity - well done that man. Amount donated to charity £57k. Amount received by charity £57k. This is different. In goes a quid and out to charity pops 20p.

So for my £150 to do a moonwalk or whatever, circa £120 of it on that percentage isn't helping any fooker. Whereas some folks might believe it is.

I'd rather give my £150 direct thanks.

Yes. Really.

You may well do. But you're not representative of everyone. No really - you're not!

If someone offers a service / range of activities that raises £57k for kids with cancer by giving willing participants the chance to race round Oulton Park or whatever you don't find it worthwhile? Really?

Maybe our contributor should just come on here and beg for money straight out instead so as to avoid rebukes from the dwellers of the high ground as, of course, you'll all be too busy writing out cheques instead.