Johnny Singer writes for the University of Cambridge’s The Tab about the problems behind fundraising, especially ‘Movember’:
That most wonderful time of the year has arrived. Ladies, prepare to be dazzled. Gentlemen, prepare to be upstaged. Movember is back! Yes, that’s right, once again our manliest men will be growing mildly silly facial hair, and it’s all for a good cause. What a great idea.
Except, as this annual phenomenon begins to fill my Facebook feed once again, I can’t help but get the overwhelming feeling that it’s all a big load of bollocks.
Is it just me, or is this perhaps the tamest charity event ever? I feel like the emperor’s swanning about naked and everyone else is raving about his hilarious and quirky new suit.
There’s this pretty strong idea in Cambridge that in order to raise money for charity you have to earn it. It doesn’t matter how good the cause is, if you’ve not got yourself lost in a field before cycling to an airport, sweet-talking yourself onto a plane and then jumping out of it, frankly you’re not trying hard enough.
Now, this isn’t something I’m entirely comfortable with – I prefer to think that I’d give to charity because of the worthiness of the cause, not because my mate James did something I could never do when he climbed Kilimanjaro. But maybe that’s a losing battle. It seems to be widely accepted wisdom that to raise some money you have to something that’s difficult, brave or stupid…
Full article here.
‘Movember’: the problem with charity fundraising
That most wonderful time of the year has arrived. Ladies, prepare to be dazzled. Gentlemen, prepare to be upstaged. Movember is back! Yes, that’s right, once again our manliest men will be growing mildly silly facial hair, and it’s all for a good cause. What a great idea.
Except, as this annual phenomenon begins to fill my Facebook feed once again, I can’t help but get the overwhelming feeling that it’s all a big load of bollocks.
Is it just me, or is this perhaps the tamest charity event ever? I feel like the emperor’s swanning about naked and everyone else is raving about his hilarious and quirky new suit.
There’s this pretty strong idea in Cambridge that in order to raise money for charity you have to earn it. It doesn’t matter how good the cause is, if you’ve not got yourself lost in a field before cycling to an airport, sweet-talking yourself onto a plane and then jumping out of it, frankly you’re not trying hard enough.
Now, this isn’t something I’m entirely comfortable with – I prefer to think that I’d give to charity because of the worthiness of the cause, not because my mate James did something I could never do when he climbed Kilimanjaro. But maybe that’s a losing battle. It seems to be widely accepted wisdom that to raise some money you have to something that’s difficult, brave or stupid…
Full article here.
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About the author
Sub-editor. Lottie is a second-year Classical Literature and English student at the University of Leeds. She is Print Editor for the university’s alternative women’s magazine Lippy: No Gloss and a features writer for Leeds Student.