I wanted to start a question and ask the community about something with regard to this site which really causes us some ... challenges.
As you are all no doubt aware, there are other national and local charities working in ovarian cancer. For the most part we applaud what they do and always seek to work collaboratively where we can.
Today there have been two posts asking this community to support fundraising activities which will benefit other charities.
We have been so grateful for the fantastic things many of you have done and are doing for Ovacome, both in terms of time energy, support and in fundraising. Your donations make a huge difference to us and allow us to provide the wide range of services and activities we know are so greatly valued.
The question is, what should we as the charity moderating and supporting this place do about people using it to fund raise for other charities? We don't wish to delete posts - after all we do feel that this is your community and you should be free to raise issues and discuss as you see fit so long as the guidelines are maintained, but at the same time Ovacome is a charity which relies on donations from its community.
There are a range of opinions, from deleting posts to requesting a share of proceeds, to ignoring them, but there does seem to be an escalation.....
Your thoughts would be most welcome.
L x
Written by
LouiseOvacome
My Ovacome Team
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9 Replies
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Hi Louise,
I empathise with the Ovacome dilemma, it does seem as though this site has a broader field now than perhaps the original intention....not only for fund raising and raising awareness but even for other cancers / conditions / bereavement to name but a few....so not only is it used for other charities fundraising but is often being stretched for us emotionally...a very difficult problem to deal with and although I know you can't address every problem that arises, you are afterall a small charity and would feel it might lack charity by even mentioning this.
My view is that if it is being used as a platform for other charities albeit for Ovarian Cancer then you should perhaps request a percentage of the money raised, they do charge for this service on Justgiving why not you?
I hope this helps and I for one support you in this decision.
Hi there Louise , i'm so sorry i never even thought , it's just that all the work i have done has been through Target and i never even thought of the fantastic work that u guys do .. i would have no reservations in splitting whatever money i get between the 2 charities , i just wanted to do something gd out of something bad that is happening and really didn't mean to upset anyone , hope u can forgive me for my absentmindedness there was no badness meant in it xx
Dear Sharon, You certainly didn't upset anyone or if you did you shouldn't have done as a blog of this nature should be based on democratic principles. Some people wouldn't have thought of fundraising at all and what you are doing is bringing funds to Ovacome which is fantastic and it is entirely your choice having raised funds to allocate them as you think fit.
I take the view that Ovacome is one of my main charitable causes because it affects my everyday life but I also support other ovarian cancer charities because we won't get anywhere by support alone. We need to fundraise and raise awareness of research too or we will never BEAT this disease. I feel it is perfectly OK to mention other fundraising initiatives on this forum as they are complement what Ovacome are doing. I'm committing a lot of time and effort this month to a static displays but I have materials from a number of charities including MacMillan, Ovacome and Ovarian Cancer Action.
I am perplexed about my priorities because not only do I want to support Ovacome but I also want to support the larger charities that work actively with the devolved administrations to bring about change to the region where I live and for this reason I am working with Target. It might be worth doing some research to see what charities are active in your area.
I would also hate to think that fundraising is just about money. It is also about time and there may be members of this site who don't have the means to raise large sums of money but who are doing their bit by putting in a considerable amount of time and effort to support the mission of several Ovarian Cancer charities.
Good luck with your fundraising. I think it's a fab idea and I'll be supporting you and not necessarily whatever charity to which you choose to donate. Xxxx Annie
Here are my thoughts: Ovacome is a small charity and I think it's the only one which links with HealthUnlocked ( this site). The work you do to support all of us women, who are at different stages of our journey, is fantastic. I often hold up this site as a good example of support. I liaise and work with an acquaintance who is an ambassador for Target O and I encourage other friends who fundraise for the Eve Appeal. I sometimes support them in their fundraising projects too. However, they are fundraising for different areas in OC and neither seems to have the focus on work that Ovacome does in supporting women in such a personal way. I know we all appreciate the work that you all do, and I often mention the expertise of Ruth P and the work she does on the helpline. I can imagine what all this must cost, so I choose to fundraise solely for Ovacome and donate to some other charities including the other OC charities occasionally and separately. I try to keep it all separate though.
Maybe it would be a good idea for anyone who mentions fundraising on this site to mention, on the initial post, the proportion of the funding that goes to Ovacome, so that your board can approve it and PM the person concerned. Or if it's for another charity, mention it only on Facebook, Twitter, Justgiving or one of the other websites that are around.
It's a good thing to be able to have this discussion, though
Again thanks for eliciting our opinions. It would be more than reasonable to ask any fund raiser to share any with Ovacome. It may also be worth considering having separate threads , eg for those ladies having investigations , then after initial diagnosis , then questions about treatments with raising awareness and fund raising.
When I first found this set ether were only a few posts a week. Now the community has grown it may be appropriate to have different streams.
Just ideas ...whatever you do will be fine by me and I have always really really appreciated the site.
Charlie xxx
Hi Louise
I think Charlie's idea is good - perhaps there could at least be one separate category along with questions and blogs for fundraising, and you could put guidelines about giving a percentage to Ovacome there - it does seem fair enough if people are using this site to advertise their fundraising. I do think that as Sharon says, in the enthusiasm of the moment, people don't think.
The other point that Gwyn raises about people posting about other cancers/bereavements etc being emotionally quite difficult for us is also important, I think. The kindly souls on this board never like to leave anything unanswered, but it can be a strain and I wonder if this could also be addressed in some way.
Sorry if I caused offence but looking at my blog post I did put the ovacome just giving page on.
I have so far raised £165 + £40 gift aid. It is still early days and hopefully will be more.
Can I play devil's advocate........ Both Ovacome and Target Ovarian Cancer seem to cover quite a bit of the same ground in raising awareness. Is there not a case for combining and therefore cutting running costs. I do apologise if I have stirred up a hornet's nest it wasn't meant to.
Thankyou for all the good work both yourself and members of Ovacome do.
Please don't think for a moment that anyone is offended. Its fantastic that people want to fund raise for Ovacome, or any other Ovarian charity. The selflessness that you and others show continues to amaze and inspire us.
We have seen in the past that there is a lot of confusion between the charities, with some people thinking that because they were supporting someone here, that the funds would be going to Ovacome. Its caused us a fair bit of head scratching, and I felt it would be best to ask the community what their perspective is.
With regard to the other comments about the breadth of the topics on the site, I am planning to meet with the HU team and put all the (I think really valuable) suggestions to them.
Apart from raising money for research into this often silent until it's hard put it bluntly (i'm an aussie so blunt is what we're known for) where do I read up on donations of cancer tissue and the even harder question ,actual research on when we finish fighting the hard fight . Any thoughts please ? I really dont wish to upset or offend ,Perhaps I just don't have anyone to ask ,so please forgive me if i've upset anyone
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