Awhile back I had the pleasure of speaking with Verna Gates, a reporter doing a story about unusual fundraisers. I mentioned several ‘out there’ fundraisers that I’d heard of such as Jump for the Cause, a group that skydives to raise money for Breast Cancer research. Even with some of the odd stories I’d heard of, Verna uncovered some that were even more extreme… including running through fire!

Just a decade ago, the riskiest thing people would do to raise money for charity might have involved pulling hot cookies from an oven. These days compassion fatigue has forced fund-raisers to drive themselves to increasingly outlandish deeds — climbing the world’s highest mountains, motorcycling at breakneck speed across continents, or jumping out of airplanes.

Keep Reading: Extreme fundraisers take charity to the limit

Find out more about extreme fundraisers such as marathons, 500 mile runs, 100 mile bike races and even less extreme events such as 5Ks and walkathons at CharityMile.com