Fitness Philanthropy

Book excerpt: This book examines the complex nature of sport, charity and everyday kindness. It traces the growth in popularity of fitness fundraising and explores the ways in which sports-based charity events have become unparalleled philanthropic endeavours that bring together corporate marketing strategies and the agendas of medical research and social care in order to advance research, education and advocacy for a range of causes. The study examines the experiences and motivations for participants, personal donors and supporters and corporate sponsors of sports-based charity challenges. It considers both the perspectives of participants and donors, including major life events such as serious illness or death in becoming involved in sports-based charity, as well as the motivations of corporate sponsors and sports celebrities in supporting charity foundations and events. The book brings together a range of methodological and theoretical debates that address the relationships between sport, charity and civic life. The approach adopted, and the wide-ranging content included in the book, makes an important new contribution to social science analyses of sport, leisure, health and wellness and civic engagement.