Charity skydive but who pays?

As a widow on a very low income I have no funds available to donate... so I work in a charuty shop and derive great pleasure from it,( should it be unpleasant to make charitable) I'd like to do more.... a sky dive???? Hmmm hate heights, risks, etc....but if I can raise just a little bit of money for a good cause and benefit in my sense of worth does that make the cash for charity of any kess value.? Sad to say charity has to be commercial ... and sponsoring me to learn to crochet won't earn any revenue for a charity.
PS.
MY children will cover the cost for my sky dive ( haven't told them the will is in a charities favour)

Overall charities make a lot of money from skydiving, however just look at the cost of doing a parachute course direct, lots people fundrise well in excess of the minimum.

All this site is rising plenty through ad clicks.

Wow, this has got some bad comments. I think you've a right to whinge about the very poor charity deal your local dropzone has put together though, surely its not still running that scheme?

When I did my Charity Skydive I had to raise the amount to pay for the jump through sponsorship, and I openly told people that a portion of their money would go towards paying for the jump, with any excess sponsorship going towards the charity. This was made clear to me by my local dropzone, Skydive North West (Cark). On top of this I also had to raise an amount equal to the cost of the jump both from any excess sponsorship and any other charitable donations I received, part of which involved me performing a street collection in manchester city centre.

But despite some of the other comments, lets face it that there are many cheaper things you could do to raise money for charity. If you are serious about charity, I think skydiving is a bit of a bum deal. To be honest I did my first jump for charity as a student just to get out of paying for it myself.. Does a sponsored skydive attract more sponsorship than free or cheaper sponsored events? I don't know about that, maybe it depends on the personn. I'm considering doing the 3 peak challenge this year, I think people would give me far more cash for that as it involves a lot of effort, and a much higher percentage of the funds will go to charity.

Skydiving certainly attracts people into charitable sponsorships who otherwise wouldn't bother, so perhaps thats where its power lies as a positive thing for charities in general.

How would you know whether people have told their sponsors that this is how the payment works or not? Some people may want to raise a significant amount of money such as £140 for charity but may not have the money to pay the rest of the jump so as long as they do not lie to their sponsors I dont think you have any right to judge people who want to help but may not have the funds that you do.

Ok, so I understand your point of view about not ALL the money is going towards the charity. But lets think about it... Yes people want to donate, but people also want to enjoy themselves. My view is that i'd rather see more people raising money for a charity by doing somthing they will enjoy, than people not enjoying doing somthing and therefore not doing it at all.
You mention in the article above that ONLY £140 goes to the charity... I think your missing the point... £140 is going to your chosen charity!!! Thats £140 more going than if you didnt do anything.
Some people (especially in todays ecomonic climate) cant just afford to do pay for a sky dive. So why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone and raise money.

Get a grip and stop moaning about people raising money for Charity. I wander if Help 4 Heroes will get annoyed with me for raising £140 for them when I do my skydive? I would guess not.

I have heard a representitive of a hospital suggest that over a year the costs to the NHS of "charity" sky dives, mainly minor injuries, far exceeds any money raised. This is why some charities discourage such activities.

I wonder how much of the cost is insurance, as your normal "life cover" almost certainly does not cover such activities.

I'd rather sponsor someone who wants to do a skydive etc not to do it, so they would be sacrificing something instead of getting others to pay for them to enjoy themselves. Have you ever wondered why people don't ask for sponsorship for them to do something useful (like doing some work for the charity they support)? Could it be because they wouldn't get any enjoyment out of that? I prefer to donate direct to any charity and get annoyed by all the requests for these 'charity sponsorship' donations.

yeah some of you have a point but if the charities are being ripped off why would they still be askin for people to sponser them?? and the money that is raised is going towards hospitals ect to help save peoples lives and do something about their conditions so the money that is raised is actually doing something good for people and some of it is goin towards you doing something you have always wanted to do and the rest of the money is going to a hospial or research to save someone..

Ok so you're getting people to donate which is better than them not etc etc.......
But... many people get approached for sponsorship on a number of occasions through-out the year. They sponsor you to sky dive, say a tenner, and they think "I've given a tenner to charity". In reality, they only give a percantage of that tenner to charity - if a sponsee were unscrupulous/lazy they woule get the absolute minimum in sponsorship and hence (from research) they'd only be donating three eigths of a tenner to charity, the rest goes to the dive school (most of which are charging £250 for a tandem jump which is well over the odds!).
Now, the next sponsee comes along, this time 100% of proceeds going to charity, and the person will likely sponsor less that they would have done had they not just sponsored the sky-diver wannabee. Ergo - charity has just lost out!!!
This whole "do it for free" idea is nothing more than a complete scam - designed to lure in people, the majority of whom are actually trying to do good. If you want to do it that way, be honest, ask people to chip in to pay for you to have a great time and raise a bit for charity at the same time.
I got approached by someone to sponsor such an event and refused. I said that I would be more than happy to donate a sum of money directly to the charity under their name instead.....

Wanna do it properly - pay fo the jump yourself!

I totally agree with you here. Iv looked into it in the past and am doing the same again, trying to pluck up the courage! Its very off putting to see that the majority of the money people have sponsered you goes towards the jump itself. Id feel no less than a fraud to take money off people in order to pay for my jump under the guise of 'charity'.
If I go ahead I'll definitely pay for it myself and raise the charity money seperately
Cheers

ThaDeViL - It's not a review you idiot, it's a gripe, a complaint, a rant, someone letting off some steam. Where on earth did it say it was a review? Perhaps you should consider a parachute jump without a canopy yourself, that way there will be one less muppet in the world.

What a pointless waste of time this "review" is. Next time you jump try it without a parachute.

Regards.