Dive with Sharks for Charity!

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Do you (KidsCan) have to pay the Blue Planet Aquarium for the slots, or do they (Blue Planet Aquarium) give them up as their own charitable donation?

[KidsCan]

Do you (KidsCan) have to pay the Blue Planet Aquarium for the slots, or do they (Blue Planet Aquarium) give them up as their own charitable donation?

Hello!

We buy the Shark Dive places from Blue Planet Aquarium and then encourage people to raise the sponsorship. We don't receive any discounts from Blue Planet in that respect.

Individuals can buy a place to dive, but we find that if they take part for charity and raise the sponsorship the event can be a great fundraiser for the charity.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Do you (KidsCan) have to pay the Blue Planet Aquarium for the slots, or do they (Blue Planet Aquarium) give them up as their own charitable donation?

Hello!

We buy the Shark Dive places from Blue Planet Aquarium and then encourage people to raise the sponsorship. We don't receive any discounts from Blue Planet in that respect.

Individuals can buy a place to dive, but we find that if they take part for charity and raise the sponsorship the event can be a great fundraiser for the charity.

Bloody hell - this is, with respect, even worse than I thought it would be.

So, with £300 sponsorship raised (with each donor thinking they are giving to charity), £210 of that (http://www.blueplanetaquarium.com/divin ... unter-dive" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) is paid at full commercial rate to give someone a very expensive 'experience', and the charity is left with £90, out of which it also has to cover its expenses in respect of the assistance and material it provides to help the individual get to the £300 figure in the first place.

I know charity fundraising is very difficult, more so now than ever, but this is not good. I'm sure this is not the case, but if you were found to have links with the Blue Planet Aquarium business, it would be something of a scandal. That hypothetical possibility should be instructive when considering whether the model is quite right.

[jimbo]

So for every pound that little Doris donated to the lovely children's charity only 30p is received by the charity with the rest paying for some chap to swim with sharks and ultimately lining the pockets of the blue planet aquarium. Wouldn't Doris be better giving a fiver to charity and putting a fiver towards a new cardigan?

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

See, Jimbo gets it!

[Hoboh]

So, at worst dodgy at best ill thought out.

Sounds like a big issue.

[jimbo]

'Hi, can you give 3 pounds to a children's charity and 7 pounds to me so I can have a nice day out and dive with some sharks please?'

[KidsCan]

If you were hoping to get a place in the Zip Slide I'm afraid they've all gone!

However, we do still have places available for the Shark Dive on 7th December!
If you would like more information on how to get involved, please e-mail [email protected]

Many thanks,

The KidsCan Team

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

I guess that's a 'no comment'?!

[KidsCan]

I guess that's a 'no comment'?!

To your original post? Not at all. Allow me to continue.

The idea behind the event is for people to "face their fear" and do something with real risk in order to raise vital funds for our research. It's unfortunate that the cost is not brought down by the aquarium, but they need to cover their costs as well.

If you were to take part in The Great North Run etc, the costs are a lot higher than people realise. However, many charities charge people to take part and then expect them to raise in excess of £300 to take part.

As this is a high figure, we hope that people will be more willing and able to raise their sponsorship target as they haven't had to pay first to take part in the event.

If you aren't interested in the Shark Dive, hopefully we can find something else for you.
Thanks for your comments.

[Prufrock]

So for every pound that little Doris donated to the lovely children's charity only 30p is received by the charity with the rest paying for some chap to swim with sharks and ultimately lining the pockets of the blue planet aquarium. Wouldn't Doris be better giving a fiver to charity and putting a fiver towards a new cardigan?

[KidsCan]

The Zip Slide was a great success!
If any of you would like to see the photos, there on KidsCan's Facebook.
Hopefully that will inspire you to take part next time!

There's still a couple of spaces left on the Shark Dive on 7th December if any of you would like to take part?
Hopefully we can get some of you doing something for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month which happens to be December!

[boltonboris]

I imagine with things like under water events, the insurance costs associated with the hosts would be astronimical.. Taking up the majority of the total costs

[bwfcdan94]

Why don't you just go and by homeless person a nice hot pie. Will do more good then donating anything to the blue planet aquarium/Kidscan

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Why don't you just go and by homeless person a nice hot pie. Will do more good then donating anything to the blue planet aquarium/Kidscan

Well... Kidscan is a charity for kids with cancer, and the blue planet aquarium houses some nice sharks who through no fault of their own find themselves oceanless. Whereas, from a certain perspective, one pie for a bloke who is probably capable of not being homeless, is, on the grand scheme of things, a pretty meaningless donation towards the overall welfare of the planet looked at holistically. You are of course, as you have done ^ welcome to totally disagree.

[boltonboris]

A tramp would only sell the pie for crack though, so if you want to fuel the international drug trade, then by all means, give a tramp a pie.

[KidsCan]

Pies and tramps aside, Shelter's annual turnover is probably about 15 times as much as ours is and we're the only charity which was specifically set up to research treatments and cures specifically for childhood cancers.

However, charity in any form, be it taking part in an event for us, or indeed giving someone a pie, is always welcome.

The fact remains that 1 in 500 children in the UK are diagnosed with cancer every year.
And by "children" that means anyone aged 0 - 19 years old.
If that wasn't alarming enough, 1 in 5 children diagnosed still don't survive.

However we can encourage people to support us, whether it's taking part in an event - from the Great Manchester Run or Shark Dives to Trekking Mt Kilimanjaro or getting your legs waxed it's all very welcome.

You could even support us by simply putting loose change into some of our purple charity tins we have all over the north west, Look out for them in Bolton - post a picture of one and where you've seen it and I'll send you a wristband so you can help spread the word about our vital childhood cancer research.

[bwfcdan94]

A tramp would only sell the pie for crack though, so if you want to fuel the international drug trade, then by all means, give a tramp a pie.

Right Boris please tell me who in their right mind would buy a Pie from a tramp and even more so it what universe do you live where a Pie is worth a hit of crack, this is not Columbia this is Britain.

[bwfcdan94]

A tramp would only sell the pie for crack though, so if you want to fuel the international drug trade, then by all means, give a tramp a pie.

Right Boris please tell me who in their right mind would buy a Pie from a tramp and even more so it what universe do you live where a Pie is worth a hit of crack, this is not Columbia this is Britain.

Actually I take it back given this stuff has just hit the U.S and there is 1 report which says a doctor believes a tramp in Gloucester has used this drug known as Krokodil which only costs £5 a hit. don't click on this if your squemish. Thuis is very concerning to say the least.

[urlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/10/16/kro ... d%3D216471][/url]