I really hope I don’t sound stupid for this, I feel a little ridiculous and admittedly terrified asking really and posting at all, but my partner has been pushing me to join support groups/forums for a while now.
Anyway, point of the thread… I have been wanting to do some fundraising and, as stupid as it sounds, I have been worrying about doing it because I fear what people will think. I have it in my head that people might think i’m selfish or something because I am fundraising for something that effects me directly, when most fundraise to help someone they know/love.
I guess I just wondered what other peoples thoughts are on this?
Thanks to anyone who takes the time to reply and indulge my silliness!
Smidgenous, omg you are NOT stupid, silly or selfish. You sound like such a wonderful, kind and thoughtful person as you are planning to fundraise to help not just all of this forum gang but also everyone else with this awful condition as well as those who sadly will discover they have it in the future.
go for it! i shaved my hair off-well a hairdresser did but only half then i went round local pubs, gathered some more before she would shave off the rest!
i had ms collection buckets etc-folk were generous and i raised £500 for mss.
there are so many charities to choose from-one that means something to u is the best one-if thats cats, dogs, kids, a specific illness that affects u or someone u care about then thats the one! consider your target audience! i did it the old fashioned way-i dunno how successful ‘another’ fundraiser online would be these days simply cos there are so many but determination sharpens the mind-go for it!
a good friend collects for the ms therapy centre. he sits in his wheelchair outside tesco, morrisons or other big stores, rattling his tin. he loves to chat to the shoppers and they love to chat to him. occasionally a local celebrity comes and pops a £20 note in. don’t feel silly, stupid or selfish. go for it!!
Thanks everyone, it really is reassuring to read all the comments! I shall be signing up at the end of this month when I get paid I think. Planning to do the skydiving which happily takes place a couple days before my birthday too. (Hens my worries of it seeming selfish as I’m excited to do it and it will be like a birthday thing for me!)
I once bumped into my MS nurse rattling a tin for the MSS in a local town. She was really unselfishly giving her time to help the cause she believed in.
It makes no difference whether you have MS, know someone with it, or are completely unconnected. To collect for MS is something heroic, regardless of any potential self interest.
And lets face it, any research the Society is now doing is unlikely to affect most of us, it takes years for research to develop into treatments.
(This week is MS awareness week, so when better to think about gathering funds for MS?)
If you want to join your local MS society, they will be glad of the support and supply you with collecting tins. sponsor forms or whatever you need. Maybe plan what you want to do and how first.
Sorry if I wasn’t clear! I want to fundraise for the MS society, not myself. It’s just that I have MS myself which is why I worried what people may think… Does this make sense? I may be making it more confusing now!
[quote=“Ssssue”] This week is MS awareness week, so when better to think about gathering funds for MS?
Sue
[/quote] Thanks so much for letting me know about this, can’t believe I didn’t already know! But it sealed the deal for me and I signed up last night to fundraise by throwing myself out of a plane!! Thank you everyone for giving me the confidence to do it. x
I suspect you are the only person who thought Smidgenous was talking about raising funds for personal use. The wording was ‘fundraising for something that effects me directly’. It seemed fairly obvious that s/he (sorry, Smidgenous, I don’t know your gender) was talking about MS funding generally, whether it be for the MSS, MS Trust, local MS Centre, or any other MS charity.
Honestly Smidgenous, it didn’t read like you were planning to fundraise to have yourself a little shindig or a few pints at your local boozer. So don’t worry, in the main we read it the way you intended.
No, not clear at all. But why did you have to add spin and who are ‘we’? Smidgenous answered my question which didn’t need your input, the question wasn’t asked of you.
If you look all the people running in marathons, who collect for charity, I doubt if you’d find anyone who didn’t have a personal reason for doing so.
It is natural for people to believe, “I can make a difference here” and harness that positive energy in the way they want to. Marathon runners do it because they are good at it. There’s a man who sits in a bath of baked beans because … he just does.
I did a parachute jump once and it wasn’t even my birthday! If you want to throw yourself out of a perfectly good aeroplane than I won’t stand in your way.
Good luck and well done Smidgenous - nothing wrong with fundraising. Wonder if you’ve earmarked where the proceeds are going - to your local branch who may well be raising money for a specific project or to the National Branch.
Go for it. I have MS and belong to my local group and have taken on the role of fundraising officer and now it is like a drug I set up collections and fetes etc and also take part in many sponsored events
I work for a company that has about 200 employees, and you can guarantee that every week somebody is collecting money for one charity or another, from cancer fundraising to save the donkey ! The same applies when out shopping, theres always someone with a bucket in their hand asking for a donation, but in the 5 years that I’ve been diagnosed, and thinking back even longer to when my sister was diagnosed, I have never ever been approached or have seen a single person raise money for MS. Dont get me wrong, I’m all for throwing a pound or two in most charities buckets, but when it comes to MS it’s like it dont exist. When have you ever seen an advert on TV asking for donations to help find a cure for MS ? I’ve never seen one, yet Berty the donkey gets a lot of TV coverage ! What about Comic Relief or Sport Aid ect ect, I’ve never heard them mention donating something to MS fundraising. Has the National Lottery ever funded research into MS ? I think it’s great that the OP is thinking of doing some fundraising, in fact this has spurred me on to get a bucket and take a walk (albeit very slow) around my works ! Berty the donkey, Willy the whale and many more have had enough limelight for the time being. Hope I haven’t offended any donkey lovers or anyone who needs a new roof on their church.
It’s now that time of year when my company ask’s it’s employees which charity they would like the company to donate money to. For the last 3 years it’s been Cancer Research, Hodgkins & a local childrens hospice, so I thought I would throw my hat in and ask for the MS Society to get a look in, as yet no decision has been made but after some asking around I’ve found out that theres a few work colleagues who know someone with MS, so I’ve sort of gathered up a posse to push the cause and I’m fairly confident we might be successful in our bid ? The good thing is that if no other bids get put in the donation carries on each year to the charities already there. So fingers crossed we’ll be successful. I’ll keep you informed.
x