Fundraising via Geocaching

[+Carbon Hunter]

A log on one of my caches has got me thinking.

 

About using the caching community to raise funds / awareness for a cause.

 

Does anyone - perhaps one of our reviewers - have a bit more info on this?

 

I know there are many worthy causes and I do not want to step on any toes - living in the UAE - I am not sure how to even start this.

 

It is at Dulce et Decorum Est - where there is a monument for all fallen SAPS officers. - but the wall has not been updated since 2004 - and if only there have not been any more names since then

 

Any ideas would be welcomed.

[+DamhuisClan]

I saw that when we were there, and quite diasapointed that it was never updated after that year.

 

I thought of writing to the Linden newspaper at the time, and make them aware of it at the time, but reading my email is sounded a bit snotty, so just deleted it ... and forgot about it till now.

 

Maybe a news paper can do something about it. Or on 702 radio there is a LEAD SA campaign. Maybe that is a way to get the community involved with the giving something back to the police.

[+Carbon Hunter]

Good idea.

 

If anyone has ideas - I am keen to try and champion it.

[+the pooks]

There has been a lot about this on the main forums and it leads to much heated debate. It forms part of a large grey area called "having an agenda". Police and Firefighters to name two that I can think of are not as politicised as armies, where, as in the case of WW2, however brave and noble the soldiers might have been, there are geocachers who belong to the "other side" and would not feel as comfortable being confronted with certain facts if they are going out on an expedition where they have to reflect on some aspect of reality they are uneasy about. One of the major drawcards for myself as a mountain hiker and geocacher is that when I am out hiking with fellow geocachers on the mountain all my worldly worries are put on hold for a moment at least - we are out on the mountains, wearing our bones out and talking about gadgets.

 

So, in short - it is not something I feel comfortable with. But then again, we all have different opinions and standpoints. It might well be that there are are significant number of geocachers that feel otherwise.

 

The wording in a listing of what is allowable and what is not has been discussed to a fine art - I don't have an example at hand but I recall something along the lines of (when taking a cacher to a memorial mentioning an American soldier who died in battle in Vietnam) "this memorial commemorates X who died in the Vietnam war" as a statement of fact (and allowable) "this memorial commemorates X who died in battle for our country" as "having an agenda" and thus not allowable (something like that - I don't have the wording sorted properly)

[+GlobalRat]

About using the caching community to raise funds / awareness for a cause.

 

Does anyone - perhaps one of our reviewers - have a bit more info on this?

 

 

In terms of forum guidelines, refer to Section 8.

 

8. Commerciality and postings with a larger agenda: It is Groundspeak's desire to maintain forums for the purpose of promoting the activity of geocaching and GPS usage. As a result, we intend to limit forum discussions that promote a commercial, social, political or charitable agenda insofar as the agenda does not reasonably relate to the activity of geocaching and GPS usage. Therefore, threads or posts perceived to have been made with the intent of promoting any of the above agendas will not be permitted.

 

Cache placements, Event and otherwise, have similar guidelines, from Cache placement Guidelines

 

Caches that Solicit

Solicitations are off-limits. For example, caches perceived to be posted for religious, political, charitable or social agendas are not permitted. Geocaching is supposed to be a light, fun activity, not a platform for an agenda.

 

Commercial Caches

Commercial caches will not be published on geocaching.com without prior approval from Groundspeak. A commercial cache is a geocache listing or geocache which is perceived by Groundspeak, Groundspeak's employees, or the Volunteer Geocache Reviewers as having been submitted to geocaching.com with the principal or substantial intent of soliciting customers or generating commercial gain. The geocache is presumed to be commercial if the finder is required to go inside a business, interact with employees, and/or purchase a product or service, or if the cache listing has overtones of advertising, marketing, or promotion.

 

Additionally, links to businesses, commercial advertisers, charities, political or social agendas, or the inclusion of their associated logos are not permitted on cache descriptions without prior permission from Groundspeak.