To not want to give money to charity collectors

[bumblebee50]

To be honest I often do given money to someone who rattles a tin at me, however, this is due to embarassment more than anything else. I actually believe that very little money that is collected makes it to the charity. Instead of sending Christmas cards last year I sent a cheque to the local hospice because I believe (rightly or wrongly) that the money will be used properly and not taken up with employees wages, admin etc. I never ever given money to collectors who call at my house though.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

I did door to door for Save the Children and rattled for Greenpeace. Didn't get paid. Has it occurred to the cynics that if they volunteered, maybe the charities wouldn't need to pay people.

[JaceLancs]

I have a team of volunteers but they need recruiting, training, supporting and supervising, DBSing, insuring etc
As others have said many charity workers could earn much more elsewhere
I very rarely donate money to charity myself on my salary can't afford to, but I am a unpaid director of another charity, and give my time, skills and experience to two other charities
DC also do voluntary work, some for my charity. DS set up our website, and helps with other IT, DD whilst out of work did unpaid admin to help me
They also support other charities of their choice
I've always done what I can as I'm sure many other MNers do
Also beware of making assumptions about the way charities are run, information is freely available on the charity commission website, and any reputable charity would provide information as to what your donation would be used for, their constitution, governance, policies and procedures etc

[bumblebee50]

I am just sceptical as to how much of a donation actually makes it to the people who need it. I have done some charity collections but then what happens is you get pestered constantly by other charities to sell their raffle tickets etc.

[sniffle12]

Personally I prefer charity collection jars placed at shop tills. Nobody is pressuring you to give - it's your choice - and I happen to have my purse open anyway. I generally drop a bit of small change in - that way I'm spreading what I give around a few different charities, local and national.

I went to America recently and in some shops they ask you at the till if you want to give a donation to charity - obviously you feel pressured to do so. Then they ring a bell when you give. Found that pretty awful.

[Creampastry]

Your donation to the hospice was unrestricted so unless you soecified what it could be spent in, it will have been spent in salaries and overheads etc. How the hell do you think they get paid? And for every crap mismanaged charity there are some very deserving charities.

[BlueBlueSkies]

If you want to know where your donation is going and what is being done with it, look at this Lend with Care. It is run by Care International.

You can lend/donate an amount to a small business/someone trying to earn money to feed their family, and see how they are doing. They repay the money back to you, you can then choose to reinvest it in someone else.

I invested £15 in a small group of women in Zambia who are setting up market stalls.

[Bishybishybarnabee]

" used properly and not taken up with employees wages, admin etc."

Those damn employees, actually wanting to be paid....

Of course charities need experienced and qualified staff to run them safely, effectively and legally, it is an extremely rare charity that could run through support of volunteers alone. In the vast majority of cases charity workers are paid much less than they would earn in the private sector, an average of 20% under is the average I believe. There's a really good TED Talks on the topic of charity wages if you're interested.

I really dislike the 'ooh but you don't know where your money goes' attitude - if you want to know you can, this information is all in the public domain, -accounts, charitable spend, wages reserves etc. The way Kids Company operated was a disgrace, but they are not typical of the sector at all.

[BlueBlueSkies]

A lot of the work charities do, do not always translate into money going to those that need it. The campaigning teams do a lot to influence government policy and do make a difference.

Because of campaigning from charities, such as The Children's Society, all KS1 school kids get free school meals. This has had a big impact on those in poverty. Donations to the charity paid for the campaigning teams to do this, without those donations they could not have done this.

Some homeless charities run projects to train and give homeless people skills to help get work and even work for themselves. This is funded by donations and those donations will pay for the wages of the staff who do the training, the rent for the venue, the materials used etc. I would rather they did that with my donation and give the homeless the cash.

It is too simplistic to say you want the money to go directly to those who need it.

[BlueBlueSkies]

Should read: I would rather they did that with my donation than give the homeless the cash

That is the reason I donate to a homeless charity, rather than give out cash on the streets.

[Ebbenmeowgi]

If you want to check how a charity spends its money you can always check their accounts and annual report on the charity commission website. Vast majority of charities are very open about how and where they spend money - unlike private companies, do you worry about how the money you use to buy stuff from corporations is getting spent? Their ethical practices and director salaries are appalling.

The notion that charities shouldn't spend money on employee salaries, admin etc is frankly ridiculous. You want well run, efficient charities that spend money well but are entirely volunteer run? Charities provide essential services, working with people at the very fringes of society with incredibly complex lives in some cases. Well trained PAID staff is absolutely essential.

As you may have guessed I work in the charity sector, have done various roles in several organisations. It is hard and can be v stressful. I'm well qualified, well educated but paid very poorly. I'm happy with that as I've chosen that life, but it does piss me off when people slag off charities and how they spend money because most of the time their views are influenced by bad, poorly researched journalism by newspapers running shock stories of bad charities. Yes kids company was a disaster and the government and regulator should and could have taken control of that bad situation much sooner,, but the vast majority of charities should be applauded for their work and their info is freely available on the charity commission site if you care to look.

All charities are governed by unpaid trustees btw, but they need paid staff to run the organisation day to day and provide services. Also people don't give out of the kindness of their hearts usually, they have to be asked so I see no problem whatsoever with charities spending money on fundraising/marketing costs (how else would you have heard of the charity and need for the cause??)