To ask about charity giving

[Puppymonkeybaby1]

Not a TAAT but inspired by the homeless thread, I wondered if I could ask about your approach to charity giving?

I work for a charity that supports adults with learning disabilities - think Mencap or similar, and we really struggle to get people to donate. I think this is down to a number of factors, but one of them is that we're not well known and it's difficult to gain traction in a really overcrowded charity space.

So for anyone who does, do you donate because of a personal connection to that cause? Or did the subject just pull on your heart strings?

Personal connection to the charities I support.

I will look in the charity shops of other ones, as long as they're not ones I refuse to support.

I don't give to charities for several reasons.

1. I don't have any spare money.

1. If I did have spare cash, I'd rather stick it in a savings account for my children.

1. Once you give money, you are hounded to give more.

1. I'd rather hand over cash directly to someone in need than give to a charity where it's swallowed up in admin costs/CEO wages.

I don't have much money but even when I've been close to penniless I have always given to charities, possibly because charities have helped me out in the past when I was absolutely desperate. (I think this is pretty common, giving money to charity even when you have very little yourself.)

Of the four (tiny) standing orders I currently have, two are for children's charities, one is for an environmental charity, and one is for the London air ambulance.

We donate to a range of charities by DD each month. I tell them from the start that I don’t want any phone calls and the bare minimum of mail correspondence. I don’t want to increase my donations or see it spent on admin and post.

I am also an avid charity shop fan but pop into any. Cancer research and Oxfamnare generally good by me so I suppose people donate to their favourite charity. I tend to pop stuff in to wherever is convenient.

Chuggers, however are the worst. I absolutely loathe being stalked by the boards of them in the high street. That’s a disgrace.

Hoards, not boards.

People certainly do give for personal reasons but another oft-cited reason is "insurance". By this, I mean that (for example) dementia or cancer charities receive donations from people who hope "if I support them now they'll find a cure before I need them". And this may not apply so much to your charity.

For us it's the personal touch. Someone connected with the charity that we know well who does not exaggerate. Or something we have as a personal concern.
I'd almost never (read into that I never have in the past) just seen an advert or been stopped in the street etc and thought "must donate to that" (other than lose change)

DH and I organise a charity event every year. My employer will match fund what we raise up to £500 as long as it's to a local charity. We've often supported the Mayor's charities in our town, but I've also spent time trawling on-line to look for charities I wish to support on behalf of people donating to our event (they know before they donate the charities we will be supporting).

I've tended to avoid charities which already attract a lot of funding, such as the local hospice and have instead supported charities like yours, initially because of the experiences of friends. I have one friend who's youngest child has learning disabilities and I was shocked at the lack of support once she passed school leaving age.

I've chosen one particular charity for a few years now. Firstly because they do good work and secondly because they don't hound me for more money. They just write to express thanks for the donation made. This post has reminded me to think about choosing them again this year.

We selected another local charity last year for some of our funds and when I mentioned that my employer would match-fund, the person in charge of fund-raising was wanting to get on the phone to them straightaway to ask for the funding. I thought that a little rude. I won't be donating to them for a while, though I do like the work they do - again it's working with adults with special needs.

My advice from my own experience is to try to get the local mayor involved to get some more visibility locally.

I agree with people give to charities if they have a connection. I give to local hospices, famine relief and ones like Salvation army at Christmas usually. I loathe chuggers and that puts me off ever donating to charities that use them.

I don't like big corporate charities as much which pay megabucks to their directors. When I think of how lavishly people like Royals are supported it does put me off giving to charity for causes that I think the government should be financing in this well-off country.

I agree with the personal connection. I donate to Cats Protection because my cats are rescues and 2 came from there.

My DMil donates to the Dogs Trust because they helped her pay for spaying and other things years ago when DFil lost his job.

I do a balance of local human and animal charities plus a disaster zone charity.

So this month it's been 2 put forward on Mumsnet - a greyhound rescue/donkey rescue plus my local big issue seller and money for a Syrian child.

I seek out mental health charities but I would be unlikely to give to a charity that I think the state should fund through taxation (adults with LD's fall into that for me)

This thread has just reminded me to send something to Celia Hammond in Lewisham. I like the Amazon gift list they run - it's so easy to send things they need.

I don't give to adult charities where I feel the government ought to be funding the cause; things like age concern and help for heroes. I also don't give to any charity that is associated with religion or politics.

Sometimes it’s for a personal connection but usually it’s just because a cause has touched me. I.e. I tend to donate to disaster relief funds and always give to centrepoint at this time of year because I hate to think of young people sleeping rough in the cold.

I give to causes that are relevant to me, but the main reasons I choose not to donate to particular charities are:

• Trying to make me feel guilty, like I'm a bad person for not donating (eg those terrible "disaster porn" adverts, often voiced by a well-paid celebrity)
• Employing "charity muggers" to hassle people in the street (if you can't get VOLUNTEERS to fundraise for you, why should I pay people to fundraise for you?)
• The knowledge that if I donate, I will be bombarded with requests for more, and more, and more

It also pisses me off when I donate good quality items (new / as new condition) at a shop, the staff are usually quite haughty, as if they are doing me a massive favour by receiving my donation.

I don't donate the charities with cash. I support our local foodbanks & I support our local greyhound rescue, both by donating food & for the dogs, blankets & treats.

I refuse to donate to big charities that are advertised on the TV; imo if they are pulling in enough money to have a fancy advert they are not using their funds effectively. I'm more inclined to donate to local animal charities or rescues I associate with.

Giving to charities go in trends ime so things like foodbanks are popular quite rightly and other charities struggle to raise money people assume charities like yours get grants and what not also if people don't relate they won't give, spare money is sparse so people want the money to go to charities that they can see the benefits.

I work for a charity - we provide free services to vulnerable people
I’m not sure why givers think charities don’t need to have admin or management - we have to be legal, account for how we spend donations and grants, need someone to answer the phone etc
We don’t deal in actual items so a donation of a ‘thing’ wouldn’t work
Still provide a hugely needed service - if anyone watched I Daniel Blake - we would have been trying to help with his situation
Most of our donations come from people we have helped - their friends and families too - sometimes bequests
It’s very hard for small local charities who aren’t well known - especially when the cause isn’t that attractive to some

We have some direct debits/standing orders set up to a range of charities (we have a vague target of donating at least 1% of net annual household income to charity). They are a mixture of the following:

-wildlife/conservation/environmental charities e.g. RSPB, Woodland Trust;
-animal welfare or what I call skinny horse charities - e.g. Brooke;
-international development/aid charities, e.g. Against Malaria Foundation, Mary's Meals, MSF.

Plus ad-hoc things e.g. taking part in local hospice winter walk, buying things from the Oxfam shop, whatever the school is doing.

I also work a couple of mornings a week for the county branch of a less well-known countryside charity.

The trouble is that there are so many worthwhile charities to support with a finite amount of money. I don't like it when the charities I regularly donate to hassle me for even more money.

We literally just pick a cause each year.
So this year it was Mind
Last year Cancer research
Next year will be the local children’s hospice.
We donate any spare money to a cause each year.

There's a difference between having admin & management staff to run the books, & a charity having brand spanking new offices built & managers earning stupid bonuses (i'm thinking RSPCA here as a bad example of charity). I personally have no issue with a level of admin; but when that outgoing is more than what is spent on the day to day running of the charity I have a problem

I agree with you jaceLancs not being attractive enough is hard for local charities also sometimes givers will think vulnerable people got themselves into situations so won't donate money.

We do child sponsorship, shopping in charity shops throughout the year, donations to these too and the food bank. We don't do chuggers. Or the heart strings adverts.

We chose ours due to convenience and availability for the charity shops, the sponsoring a child one as it was non religion based and local area ones, hence the food bank and air ambulance on occasion. Any extra tends to go to local fundraisers, for example children in need - a neighbour did a fund raiser and there was a local Xmas box scheme. :)

I volunteer for w chaorty based on personal experience.
I volunteered for a different die to personal connection.

I gave to NSPCC for years as its kids at their most vulnerable. Just swapped it over to British Heart Foundation because of a well timed doorstop pitch off a friendly guy who mentioned research that pushed a personal button