Charity Places

I entered the ballot this year, but am thinking of applying for a charity place. Have you done this?

Ooooooh a brand new 2013 forum!!!!!!!!

Sorry, in answer to you question, Yes I ran for charity this year after applying unsuccessfully for a ballot place since 2009.

Initially the charity I wanted to run for had all it's gold bond places full so I went on their waiting list and was offered a place just before Christmas.

I registered with them (£100) and the amount I was asked to Guarentee to raise was £1750 which I have managed to exceed  but it was hard work and took a bit of dedication with fundraising events, cake stalls, tombola etc. as these events raised a fair chunk of the total rather than relying on personal sponsors.

At times I found the fundraising bit more stressful than the training but I suppose it would depend on who you had to help you.

I have entered the ballot gain this year (fingers crossed) and if I succeed will offer to raise funds for a local charity but it will be without the pressure of raising X amount, if you know what I mean?

I hope this helps and answers your question. Good luck. Anything else you need to know? I'll do my best to help.

Yay, hope we all get a place! Jillymit, it sounds tough running for charity! I have thought about it but would find it hard to raise the money. Because of my job (criminal justice) I can't go in the local paper, don't have facebook account, social media etc, so it's tough and people don't have tons of money to spare that I meet through work. My sister did it this year for charity and did well as she works in sales so got her clients to donate as they are all loaded!  It sounds really sad but my dog takes up a lot of spare time I could otherwise spend fundraising and with work and other commitments I, selfishly I admit, can't be arsed to raise the cash.  I totally admire you and others for doing it and I have seen from others how hard it is.

Hurray and very exciting a 2013 message board , ths year I will post rather than lurk

Great to see a new thread so quickly.  Funny to see how the word lurk has taken off, after me being called one!!  I inten not to be a lurker this year.  Fingers crossed with the ballot, as I ran for charity this year and yes I am very proud at raising £2100 it has been at times harder than the training itself.  Collecting the money in is also proving hard work.

Good luck and fingers crossed to everyone this year.  I would say to try and get charity place as early as possible and do things that bring the money in straightaway.  

Totally agree about getting the money in being hard work. I got caught out last year when sponsored for a half marathon. Loads of pledges but ended up about £70 down with people not paying up (despite asking) it got to embarrassing in the end and I didn't have the heart to take he money off my total so paid it myself.

I'd rather people didn't sponsor me than promise and then not pay. Aside from those who's circumstances had changed and they were no longer in a position to pay up, promising and then not giving is just mean.

This time round I only counted my total as what I had in my hot little hand rather than what I'd been promised.

I've still got around £250 to come so we'll see if I get it all this time. I've learnt not to bank on getting every single penny.

Firstly - good luck! We'll all know our fate in October.

I've not done the charity place thing as the pressure of running a marathon is enough for me without the added headache of trying to raise approximately £2k in donations. I know why they do it, it's just not for me - I, like so many others, will run for a charity but it'll be without the added pressure of a big £££ target to hit.

I was desperate to run the marathon this year so I harassed a charity I had a connection with into letting me have one of their GB places. I told them I would target £2,500 and my total is over £3,500 so it all went very well (aside from the run itself!).

Cake sales, car washes and the like work but are a lot of time, effort and hard graft. I found 'doing what you do' worked for me.

e.g. if you have a dog and exercise it regularly, offer to do the same for others in return for a donation.

You would be surprised how many people pay for a luxury under the guise of a charitable donation that they otherwise wouldn't buy.

I've wanted to run a marathon for years but for one reason or another, the timing was never quite right. I submitted a ballot for a place in this years run and also applied for charity places. Yesterday I had a phone call from my preferred charity offering me one of their charity places. They told me they like to allocate early as it gives you chance to get off the ground with the fund raising and training.

I just need to get my backside in gear now and raise £1750! I'm off to my second Boot Camp session tonight as well.

Only 345 days till the big race - its all real now!

Good luck everyone!

That's very interesting. I guess it's a good way of getting you to raise funds for them whether you get your ballot place or not. Assuming you do then they will have banked your fundraising efforts thus far and still be able to get a further £1,750 plus from whoever they then re-allocate the gold bond place to.

Which charity are you running for?

JDRF - Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

My 12 year old son has suffered from type 1 diabetes for the last 10 years, so its an important charity for us.