$500 - Why this goal shouldn't exist

Alex and I signed up for the Relay for Life this year and when you sign up you have to put in a goal amount that you'd like to collect in pledges.

I'm all for goals, just not this one...

It makes sense to me that you should set goals for weight you'd like to gain or lose (yes, some people WANT to gain weight), money you'd like to save for a house, furniture, RRSP, trip or just because you want to save it, number of times a week you want to go to the gym, number of kilometres you want to run, number of runs you want to do in a week etc etc etc

But I don't want to set a goal for the amount of money I want to raise. Because I want to raise as much as I possibly can without making people feel like they MUST contribute to the cause, whatever the cause is. In this case, the Canadian Cancer Society is the cause and it's one I definitely believe in. I don't know anyone who hasn't been affected in some way by cancer, so it's a big cause for a lot of people.

BUT...some people have already donated this year, some people decide at the beginning of the year what they want to donate to and this isn't one of those things, some people aren't able to make donations and there are a million other reasons why people choose to donate or not to donate...

I dunno, I kind of feel like having a goal on there could do a few things...make people stop donating when they reach my goal (not likely if this is a cause they really believe in) or make people wonder if their donation is "enough." As far as I'm concerned any donation is enough, because it means there is more money there than there was before, no matter if it's $1 or $1 million.

Aw gee...I'm in a ranting mode...must be whatever it is that has me under the weather (Alex made me stay home today to rest).

But anyway, I've had a number of people come back to me with donations for the Relay for Life and I totally appreciate that! Last year I was happy to do it because I felt it was a good cause, but this year, well, it's become personal and that makes those donations (ALL of them regardless of size) so much more important and special to me.

Thanks guys!

Addendum (Saturday, May 13)
Okay...so I didn't finish my rant and I didn't really explain it...I got a "You're half-way to your goal" email from the Canadian Cancer Society and that made me grumpy. And thinking about it, my goal isn't in dollars...it's in the number of people who get cured. And the people who never have to have cancer because research has figured out how to cure it and prevent it and all that. So my goal isn't money, it's getting rid of cancer entirely.