The reason we do it....

I had a really interesting discussion with someone this week about the Highland Cross and the reason they do/don't enter events like it. For them the issue was fundraising and this made me sit up and take notice as I'd not really considered this aspect as a negative before.

Fundraising is something that is very close to my heart and something I've always been involved in one way or another: from my days at university when I was heavily involved in the student charities group RAG (organising and participating in events or running around streets with a collecting can) to my various attempts to run silly distances for charity to, more recently, the professional work that I've done with charities to help them find new ways to fundraise online. I had never really considered that fundraising might be something that would put people off entering an event. In fact, for me, more often than not, it is the whole reason for doing the event in the fist place!

The other side of the coin, so to speak, is that for people who do events like this because they enjoy them or because of the competitive aspect, then they do so many events that asking people for donations/sponsorship for each one could be seen as taking a liberty. This leads me to wonder whether there is a fine line for charities to balance between attracting the 'club' runners and other people who run for the enjoyment, and insisting on entrants raising money.

For large events such as the Great North Run or the London or Edinburgh marathons it is possible to pay an entry fee through a ballot system, if you subsequently choose to raise money for a charity then that is your choice. The events are large, always over subscribed, and have a good mix of abilities. However for smaller charity specific events is there a large section of potential competitors who just don't enter as they don't want to ask people for sponsorship, and are these the competitors who would potentially add prestige to the event and guarantee press coverage?

For the Highland Cross my understanding is that this has never been an issue as they are always over subscribed and can basically accept applications by invite only. The event numbers have to be kept to a small due to safety reasons: the cross country trail really isn't suitable for vehicular transport if there is an accident and in places the trail is steep and single track so overtaking your competitor just isn't an option; if they had more than the 750 entries it would just be too crowded. The event focuses on different local charities each year and so is heavily supported locally, all of which means that it can be self sustaining; but I wonder if all competitive fundraising events have this luxury. You only have to see the adverts that Cancer Research UK has out at the moment to try and drum up interest on the Race for Life event to realise that even large charities with this sort of event can struggle. Have people finally reached fundraising event overload or is it just a sign of the hard times that we are going through?

For my part I expect to find fundraising alot tougher this year. Colin and I have recently moved and therefore are in the process of meeting new friends and changing jobs. It seems horribly rude to meet someone for the first time and then thrust a sponsorship form under their noses! However the world of the web means that we are able to keep in touch with friends and family on email and Facebook which does help greatly; and one of the main reasons I write this blog is I like to try and prove to those folk we know around the world and who do follow us that we're earning those donations and sponsorships received. I can't say how pleased I am to see we've already reached over £100 so for those who've donated so far - thankyou very much.... and for those who've been holding off please don't forget to visit our Just Giving page. We really do appreciate it.