Looking to make a large charity financial donation. If you work at a charity HQ and know how the money is spent... would you recommend?

[Whatawaytogo]

And if you would recommend, such charity is it?

I went to make sure that a large financial charity donation that I will be making is definitely going to be be used effectively.

I usually donate to Uk charities, with a particular focus on hospices, but happy to try others.

TIA

Not “such charity” I meant “which charity”

Could you look at smaller charities and see if they need physical things that you could purchase and donate rather than handing over cash?

As in like paying for specialist seating or for a garden/play area to be made?

If it were me, I’d choose small, local charities where the money is spent close to the ground. I wouldn’t give to large, national charities because simply put the money would need to be a very significant amount to make any difference at all, and so much money is spend on backroom organisational flummery instead of on frontline services.

@MichelleScarn

Could you look at smaller charities and see if they need physical things that you could purchase and donate rather than handing over cash?

I want to be able to gift aid it So my donation would actually be 25% more to them

Have a look at the charity commission website. You can search for all charities and their annual accounts and how their money is spent. Charities should also have them on their own website. You could also ring up the major donors fundraiser and ask them if there are any current funding priorities. Eg, they may have a project in the pipeline that you’re not aware of. Or maybe their database needs updating and all their funds are restricted to other things. Or they may need a new van. Often in charities, it’s hard to get money for ‘boring’ things like that.

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission

Small, local charity. I favour those who have a long track record of frontline work with disadvantaged communities. It's not glamorous or pr worthy so they struggle to attract donors.

Personally, having worked in charities, I wouldn't put too many conditions on how the money is spent. Charities can use unrestricted funds to leverage in other grants that could increase your contribution significantly.

Does it need to be one charity or could giving significant smaller chunks to several places be an option? I mean there are loads of charities doing excellent work, it depends on your interests as well. Like I wouldn’t donate to a donkey sanctuary no matter how well run because there are far more pressing priorities in my view.

Or maybe their database needs updating and all their funds are restricted to other things. Or they may need a new van. Often in charities, it’s hard to get money for ‘boring’ things like that.

YY to this. Organisations need administrators and cleaners and vehicles and other "overheads" that are often dismissed. I've seen charities with restricted funding for more youth workers but they can't pay their electricity bill.

What’s personal to you? That’s how I went about it when we set up direct debits last year to three charities, I was never going to do the big ones that have giant overheads and my little monthly donation will disappear into a vast charity. I chose winston’s wish that helps bereaved children, she Ryder hospice care (specifically to the place my relative died in) and a charity that works in my city helping disadvantaged children by paying for tutors to go into schools and run reading and maths groups during school hrs etc. If I had a large pot to give I’d be seriously tempted to do something where I could see the impact eg build a children’s playground in a place there wasn’t one (I know it’s way more complicated than that!) but anyway that kind of idea.

How large do you mean? I’m a trustee for a local charity and as PP have said, it’s really hard for us to get unrestricted funding for boring back office things, like upgrading our IT, paying a dedicated fundraiser, improving the fabric of our building, employing a temporary person to scope out options for us moving premises (to give some recent examples!). Funders only want to fund projects that directly benefit our beneficiaries, but actually all this other stuff is important too.

If you approached any local charity they’d probably have a wish list of what they could spend your money on, and would bite your hand off! And if you are in north London or Hertfordshire, happy to talk to you about the charity I’m a trustee for! (A women’s centre)

Yes, think about what’s personal to you. And if it’s important to be able to visit. Major donors will often get invited to supporter events. And really have a read of the accounts and annual report. Once you’ve done that, it’ll be clear who to donate to as one will just make you feel excited or emotional. Go for that one. Having a donor ring up to donate out of the blue is every charity’s dream. It’s a lovely thing to do. There’s so many services that make such a difference and seem like they should be government funded. But aren’t. Like the air ambulance or hospices.

I would also give to a smaller charity - that's not to say the large charities don't do amazing work, as they do, but some have huge amounts of funds whereas the smaller ones really do need donations.

I think identify which cause is really important to you first OP. All charities have to pay their staff and pay rent, so you won't find any with zero overheads. It's a myth I think that charities are wasting money (or at least the smaller ones) - I work in the sector and most charities are so focused on spending money well, and as the PP says, it's so difficult to get funding to pay overheads.

What cause is important to you? what do you feel really strongly about right now? Focus on that I think. So many parts of the sector are underfunded - I personally would want to give to the women's sector, or a poverty charity.

I work for a mental health charity which serves its local community. I think if you want the donation to make a tangible difference in a relatively quick space of time you should consider donating to a local charity. There are so many to choose from so have a think about what you want your donation to achieve and go from there.

Good luck! What a fantastic gesture.

I'd go for a local charity too - what do you know of what exists locally?

Also think about what sort of area you want to support - families, those with illness, activities for the vulnerable, housing, disability support, animals, conservation?

And those with specific links to overseas communities in need - in the past I've supported sanitation and habitat for humanity schemes through small charities. Also bought bikes for midwives as thanks for the level of maternity care we can take for granted here

I work for a national charity and we value every donation. In fact someone donated £100 on just giving and the CEO mentioned that specifically in a meeting and she got a personal letter. Others give thousands and also get thanked. The money makes a difference because it goes to pay staff to support the local groups. The local groups don't always have the infrastructure to accept large donations, although many will be gift aid registered. A large donation to a national charity can help move a project forward which benefits many groups. Look to see how many people are paid over £60 k on their entry on the charity commission website ( we only have one, and I'm guessing it's not much over that). Definitely we prefer unrestricted but you could speak to the fundraiser to see if there is something specific. You could then see it develop and be part of it longer term. It will always be appreciated.

Local hospice definitely. The work they do is amazing. My mum died last year in the care of our local hospice and they were utterly fantastic.

I read a leaflet while I was there that said it costs them £400 a day per inpatient to provide their services and they have 12 beds available. I'd have paid them ten times that if we could. Mum was in there for two weeks.

They provide such a wide array of community services and are desperate for money.

I'd certainly look at smaller charities, but not necessarily ones that are purely local. SOS SEN, for instance.

My Shining Star is a very small local charity which provides grants and support to families who have a child with cancer, in recognition of the financial impact of having an unwell child.

Overheads are a fact of life. If the cause needs staff they should be paid a fair wage. Anything else is unethical.

Yes to paying for crap no one else wants to fund. The best value donation for a charity is a cash payment into unrestricted funds. Money that can be used to pay for stuff that’s needed without having to find someone to fund it.

@Darker

Overheads are a fact of life. If the cause needs staff they should be paid a fair wage. Anything else is unethical.

Yes to paying for crap no one else wants to fund. The best value donation for a charity is a cash payment into unrestricted funds. Money that can be used to pay for stuff that’s needed without having to find someone to fund it.

Totally this. I was talking to someone who runs a small charity this week and they've just got a grant to cover their core costs (ie her salary) and it has made such a huge difference to her to know that those costs are covered and she can concentrate on just helping people and growing the charity's work.

It depends what you mean by large? It's different for many people and many charities. A million plus, 5K or £100, I'd class those donations as large, others may not. Some charities wouldn't consider at least two of those as large.

Don’t do gift-aid, at the moment our tax system needs the money!

Charity shops here are gift-aiding donations that become £4 clothing items, they can gift aid that amount or larger I guess.

I give £100 to the food bank because they have heaps of costs. And regular DDs to some other charities. The charity I help fundraise for we don't do GiftAid, though, too small.

What does "used effectively" mean to you, OP?

I like Mary’s Meals .. staff get paid enough but not excessive.
Very worthy charity .