Ceci n'est pas un blog
Will you sponsor me to...
Some of our social customs are so familiar that we don't realise how weird they are.
Sponsorship is one of them.
Here are two things a person might say, one of which is "normal", while the other is bordering on the offensive:
- Hi, I'm raising money for my favourite charity by ascending Mount Everest blindfolded on a space hopper. Would you like to contribute?
- Hi, I'm raising money for my favourite charity. Would you like to contribute?
What goes through our minds when we gladly give money in the first case, but feel very awkward in the second?
Generally, we would think that it is pretty rude to interfere with someone else's charitable giving. By all means tell me about your favourite charity, but leave it up to me to decide how much money I give (if I give anything at all).
But it's okay to do impolite things under certain circumstances. For example, it's generally considered to be a palpable solecism to knock on someone's door at 3am. But if your house is on fire and you need to use that person's phone, normal conventions are set aside.
But what is it about me performing some impressive feat that makes it acceptable for me to interfere with your charitable giving? On the surface, me hopping up Everest would appear to have no connection with you giving money to charity. But somehow my use of a space hopper could lead you to donate to a charity of my choice. Why?
Maybe part of the answer is that it bestows a certain amount of honour on the person being asked. Please sir, you know that if I had £10,000 to give to my favourite charity, I would give it myself. But I don't have that sort of money—and to prove that to you, I will do something that a normal person would never do for less that £10,000. I only ask that worthy benefactors such as your fine self take note of my sincerity, and out of pity supply me with just a small amount of what I lack in terms of money, so that my efforts can be translated into financial benefit for my favourite charity.
Is that the answer? Do we really have such elaborate social conventions in our enlightened age?
| Print article | This entry was posted by Anthony on 25 Jul 2012 at 2.00 pm, and is filed under Thoughts. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
I live in York and I 
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about 9 months ago
I always found the whole "sponsorship" thing a bit odd. I don't mind it if people want to jump out of planes or sit in a bath of baked beans or whatever, but it seems rather unnecessary.
I think I'd actually feel less awkward if people did come up and say "I'm raising money for such-and-such a cause, I think it's important for these reasons, would you like to give to it?"
I guess it's a way of showing dedication to something. If you're willing to put that amount of effort in, it shows you really care about the cause.
about 9 months ago
It's always struck me this way:
"Will you give money to xyzaid please?"
"No"
"Okay, how about if I do something incredibly painful like run a marathon, will you give money then?"
"You're going to hurt yourself? Yeah sure I'll contribute money to that!"
Never having been of a sadistic bent, that doesn't mean I haven't ever asked people to sponsor me in the past, but I do try to avoid it. I'm fine with sponsoring other people though, as it gives me an idea of how to give and prompts me to give. I think that prompting may be part of how sponsorship works: it attaches your giving to an event - to something special - which makes you feel part of something special and maybe gives you a special reason to give.
Caleb put his finger on the main part of it. I'd like you all to donate to Tearfund, Food for the Hungry and Practical Action (oh and my church needs a new roof). If you could donate every day, that would be even better! However, only donating when someone runs a marathon puts a filter on the amount of times you have to donate, so you only end up donating to the charities which have really devoted fundraisers, which are hopefully the better charities.
I still think it's all a bit sadistic though!
about 9 months ago
I'm fine with sponsoring other people too - and as you say, if someone is willing to do something extreme and/or painful in support of a cause, then it's likely to be a cause worth a few of my pounds.