Worried about asking for money

[Fujichants]

My goal is to participate in more of these charity events, but my main concern is that i'll be asking the same people over and over again to help me in my fundraising efforts...I have a 10K run coming up in August, and I want to ride in the Race to Erase MS ride sometime in the fall of 2008, and I don't know...I just feel bad asking people for money a couple of times a year...

How do you guys do it?

[Zen]

I do what you do and I hate it. Try writing a good letter and talk to the manager at your bank. I think banks are required by law to make a certain $ amount of charitable donations in a year.

Last year my gym gave me $1000 :D

[uk elephant]

I did part of my fundraising last year by selling cookies. That way I wasn't just asking for money outright and it made me feel a little less bad about asking the same people twice. And I made several hundred dollars just selling cookies at work once a week through the winter.

[Possegal]

There are a lot of restaurants that will do philanthropy work with you. I'm currently setting up two days for that, one here in my town and one in my hometown. Asking people who may usually eat out anyway, to eat at a certain place on a certain day feels a little easier. Right now I'm setting it up with a Chipotle and a Max & Erma's. I'm also going to do it with a Let's Dish, one of those companies that you go and put together meals for easy cooking at home. You may try looking into some other forms of raising money other than just asking.

I tend to save up all my asking of people for one of the events, then the others I just toss in the minimum myself. I do that for the very reason you say, worry about asking people over and over. So I do feel your pain!

After reading Zen's post, I may have to go and ask my gym!!

[Trek420]

Some of our best tips here :D

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=4768

[Fujichants]

Thanks for the advice! Since the 10K is my first ever charity event, I only picked the minimum to raise...

But for the MS ride in the fall, i'm definitely going to aim high and ask my gym and the bank for support!

I have to keep reminding myself that it is for a good cause and I should not be shy about asking for money!