As long as the person raising the money does 'something they always wanted to' under their own dime and raises money, I can't see anything wrong with it. Obviously, this article highlights there's a fundamental but obscure flaw with this specific method.
That’s the problem. The sponsors think they are giving a donation to the charity, whereas the charity actually only gets what’s left over after the expensive fun has been had.
When I have done sponsored things I have always covered the costs myself and handed all the sponsors money over.
I wonder if they actually have enough data for the claims in the abstract. 30 pounds seems abysmally low even by '99 standards.