Advisor on Vision, Strategy and Culture. Founder & CEO @ Level Water & Swim Collective. HBR Advisory Board, Swim Alliance Inclusion Chair, Shortlisted for Charity CEO of the Year
For every £1 raised for charity by skydiving, the NHS spends £14 on skydivers' injuries. Here's a bit of fun for a Wednesday morning, I first found this playing "Shot in the Dark" at Christmas (I'd recommend that game :) A 1999 analysis by Lee, Williams and Hadden at two sites found: - c. 1,570 charity parachutists - Total fundraising to charity c. £47,000 - 174 injuries (11%) - Average cost of £3,751 per casualty - Total cost of £650,000 to the NHS A bit of a giggle, and it seems parachuting is actually quite dangerous. But perhaps the more serious point here is how little money was raised. I suspect that's because the vast majority of donations went towards the cost of the skydive, leaving very little for the charities. This model is outdated but still very prevalent; asking friends for charity donations that cover the cost of you doing something fun. It's often more hidden these days, and not obvious how much is going to good causes vs the cost of the activity. Someone explained this problem to me with Channel relay swimming recently; if you're paying less than £500 for your swim, the charity is probably subsidising the difference. As a fundraiser, it's worth considering how much you're paying out of pocket, the true value of the activity, and the amount you're fundraising. It's not unusual for a small proportion of your fundraising to subsidise the activity cost, but I hope the industry is moving to something nearer 10% than 50%.
