My high school team held a fund-raiser, sending letters to friends and family asking for donations. The parents of some teammates had qualms about this, saying it was like asking others to pay their sons’ expenses. Is that a valid reason not to participate? —Joshua Sung, Plainsboro, New Jersey
OF COURSE you’re asking other people to pay your expenses: That’s what a fund-raiser does. Some people may donate out of altruism; others may do so because they believe youth sports benefit the entire community. As long as your fund-raiser is legal, transparent, and free from conflicts of interest and unreasonable pressure on potential donors, there’s no ethical bar to any family’s participation.
—Adapted from “The Ethicist” in The New York Times Magazine