Hypothetically, if I did a run for charity....

[flobadob]

If someone does a run for charity, say for example the length of the country, and they pick up money from people along the way. Is it the correct thing to do to use that money for your accommodation at night during the run and give what's left over at the end to the charity?

[Lonnie]

I wouldn't have thought so, every penny collested should go to the Charity concerned, accomodation and anything else, food etc, should be planned well beforehand.

Thats what I think.

[jno]

Lonnie is dead right, the people are giving their money to the charity, not to you.

[tamborine]

If you dont run the charity get nowt but if you take out expenses and run they get an income. You could increase the income with sponsorships.

[ludwig]

Your contribution is not only the effort put in to do the run, but also any personal costs incurred in making that happen - travel, food, accomodation etc. If any donations from elsewhere go towards that, it starts to look like you're getting other people to fund your walking holiday.
Corporate sponsorship is a bit different because you could argue they're not donating to the charity, but paying you personally to advertise (e.g by wearing their name on your T-shirt) while doing the run, so that could legitimately go to paying your costs.

[ainitatyb]

Accommodation and food could be considered a legitimate expense as could many other costs, but the level to which the spending occurs would be a moral issue. Most people would not expect a charity to run for zero costs, but when we donate to charity most would expect a decent proportion to go to the cause. Wasn't there some big scandal some years ago with one of the major charities when it was discovered that only 10p in the pound was reaching it's objective?

[Seadragon]

I think it would be on the person's conscious if they were staying in a bed and breakfast or a 5 star hotel? I wouldn't mind donating if they were going to stay in the former but if in the latter....

[flobadob]

The way I was thinking, say even if I end up with £500 at the end, it's £500 that wouldn't have been donated if I'd not done it, regardless of the fact I may spend £1000 to make the £500.

[ludwig]

Fair enough, - how about giving them £50 at the end and staying in classier places. It's still £50 that wouldn't have been donated if you hadn't done it.

[Seadragon]

Hi, sorry it dawned on me late last night that I used a wrong spelling - the first sentence is supposed to read -..It would be on the person's conscience. I was too tired to go down and correct it yesterday, I apologise.