To ask for help selecting a charity to donate to?

[CharityHelp]

I have NC as I would like help but to remain anonymous - no accusations of boasting etc. (have seen a few on those on here today!) and thought MN would be a knowledgeable place to ask.

I would like to donate to a charity that helps homeless people or those with insecure housing. I have already donated to the Refuge John Lewis Appeal and will set up a regular donation to them in January.

I do not want to donate to someone who uses chuggers or a charity that forces religion on service users as I find it morally abhorrent and if there's a choice of charity would go for a secular one or, at a pinch, a non-pushy religious one. I was about to donate to Shelter but then remembered that I think I have seen Shelter chuggers before?

Does anyone have any recommendations? It would be for £50 a month, which is not a small sum to me so although I can afford it I want to be certain that it is going somewhere where it will help, not where the charity will spend half the money on an ad campaign or on phonebanks/hassling people. I live in the NE if anyone can recommend local homeless charities?

Or does CAB take charity donations? Have never been in the position of being able to afford to do this before (beyond the usual few pounds in a box) so it's all new. Advice welcome.

centrepoint.org.uk/
How about Centrepoint or Crisis?

www.crisis.org.uk/

I am not sure whether or not they employ chuggers though.

Another vote for a local refuge and also for other local charities? If you Google your town and 'women's refuge' you will find something and there is usually an address/email to contact the admin department.

Is there a hospice near you? I know that is not directly linked to homelessness but ill health and eviction sometimes go hand in hand.

There will be a local soup kitchen/food bank / hostel somewhere near

Refugee Action. They are currently trying to raise fund to proved shelter to homeless asylum seekers, they also do lots of work with women asylum seekers and refugees.

You can donate either to their general fund or have a look at local projects and donate to specific one.

Local giving can be really satisfying, so you might want to consider going through your local Community Foundation. www.communityfoundation.org.uk/give

You sound as though you're really interested in impact, so if you really want to get technical about it, and read around the subject, you could look at an organisation like New Philanthropy Capital, who are experts in charity impact.

www.thinknpc.org/our-work/our-services/measuring-impact-2/

And yes, CAB take donations and are fantastic.

My only plea is not to rule out charities with chuggers - fundraising is incredibly competitive and a very crowded 'market'. It also costs money, so whether it's a chugger on the street, or someone sitting in an office on the phone, someone needs to persuade people to give and reputable charities will be transparent about their fundraising spend:spend on services ratio.