I'm seriously considering taking out a loan so I can do this...

I'd most certainly fail at raising enough money to do this, I've never organised any fund-raising in my life >.<

We should do a joint fund-raising page. Some people are better at raising money than others, so this would give everyone a better chance of reaching their target.

Right..

As I understand it, if you go for the platinum package, you don't need to buy anything else except the plane tickets to get you over there. Is that right?

The company I work for has fixed holidays and the longest one is the summer shutdown (this year, that happens 25th July - 12th Aug. inc. (15 days). All the rest are just 5 days here and there. The Autumn holiday (26th Sept. - 30th Sept) is the only "flexible" one and I might get permission to "tack" those 5 days onto the end of the August one.

However, there is also something else. The company has been doing a big "Raise £1M for NSPCC" for a while so if I can do this to raise money towards that, I may be granted some extra time off. I'm going to get in contact with the person running that drive tomorrow to get some advice and see if that is a possibility (as well as possibly getting some assistance doing the fund-raising).

I really want to do this, so I'm going to explore (nearly) every possibility to make it a reality.

Correct. The platinum package contains everything you need to successfully climb the mountain - food, equipment - it's all in there. It even includes tips for the porters (who will be carrying most of the equipment). You won't need to take out your wallet for the duration of your stay on the mountain.

I just got in contact with the HR department in my workplace to get some advice on how I can go about this.

If I am raising money for NSPCC (even if it is just the money I raise) I will get support from the company in regards to publicising it in the newsletter and them promoting it through the various divisions to get donations/sponsorship. If I am raising money for another charity I'll be "on my own" but I won't be forbidden (as far as I know) from contacting people myself.

In regards to the timing, if it falls within my main holiday, it's not a problem but if it is outside that holiday, I have to speak to the General Manager to have it signed off (more likely this will be permitted if its for NSPCC).

So yeah, that's the situation. I think this puts me on the "Maybe" pile :)

I don't see any problem having two / three charities we raise money for - a lot of charities are specific to one country / region and since we're very much an international group, it may be difficult to find just one charity we agree on.

UNICEF has been suggested already, so let's throw NSPCC into the list as well. If people fund raise individually then they can obviously just donate the money to their respective charities. If we want to do a group effort, then we could just split the money raised between all charities concerned.

Okay, had a helpful meeting with a marketing manager at a gaming company, who asked a load of questions that I didn't have the answers for!

What is in it for us?
How many people are involved?
When will the event take place?
How much exposure will the event get (media, etc)?

He also suggested I write an official letter requesting sponsorship, and if the "right" answers to the above are included, then they would pay my deposit for me in return for having my photo taken wearing a branded t-shirt at the summit!

EDIT: removed the company name - not giving them free PR till they cough up! :)

To be honest, I half expected the question anyway, so I mumbled about putting together a website for the event and displaying their logo in a prominent place.

To be fair, they could have just said no and sent me on my way, but they guy I spoke to seemed really interested in what we're doing and he did sort of agree to a sponsorship deal! :)

Exactly. I'll take whatever money I can get out of people / companies! Having one picture taken sounds fairly reasonable for $500!

Are those participating happy for me to use real names, photos, etc in promotional material? I think a dedicated website will help give our cause(s) some much needed publicity!

THAT WOULD BE AWESOME! lol... however... I cant think of a game tie in for something like that... :) Maybe one of the shooters but... im not bringing guns :p

Doesn't Icewind Dale have cold mountain sections?

We could LARP the entire journey to the top, with foam swords on our hilt and a warm song in our hearts as we trek up to do battle with the DRM monster at the peak!

Would love to except i have commitments and need to start looking for work soon lol. Good luck to those going (lucky bastards!!!) :)

Akwater and I are hoping to do the three peaks challenge in June (Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon). UK based GOGgers are invited to come and join us for drinks!

lol..... Nice thought :)

A quick question for those who have already expressed an interest:

Would you prefer to do the Kilimanjaro Challenge in Autumn (Fall) 2011 or Spring 2012?

akwater - either date
nmillar - either date