To ask how much you give to charity?

[poshme]

Not TAAT but in response to the disposable income thread.

How much money (either amount or percentage of income) do you regularly give to charity?

There a quite a lot of people who seem to have lots of disposable income, and it made me realise that I give to charity, and hadn't thought of it as part of my 'disposable income' though it is. I was wondering if people give much away?

As a couple we give to charity about 8% of our after tax income.

We have 4 direct debits come out of our joint account every month. They're all to charities that mean something to us. £35 in total.

And we always sponsor people quite generously when they're doing something for charity.

Time - i don't have enough. But I do volunteer a bit for the PTA.

Some charities have as little as 0.7% or 2.5% of donations going to the actual cause

There's always one. As another poster said further up, feel free to look up the accounts of your chosen charity, or look on the Charity Commission website. Charities have to be transparent.

www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/how-much-charities-spend-good-causes

Most charities are using at least 60% of revenue on charitable causes. Many much higher. And "charities" which are taking the piss are pulled up and told to change their ways by the Charity Commission.

I donate £30 a month to 3 charities but also donate in an ad hoc fashion as things arise ( Captain Tom for example). I also buy products for the local food bank and shop a fair deal in the charity shops but I don’t know what value to put on that.

Sock yarn - that’s great that some give 60% but many don’t

My post was saying it’s well worth checking before donating to the cause so you don’t feel you’ve wasted a donation

To me I wouldn’t be happy about donating £1000 and only £500 going to the actual cause though

The 2018 Oxfam Haiti scandal is enough to put me off ever donating to Oxfam again

It’s charities like that that give them a bad name and make people sceptical about the larger charities and what actually goes on

Nothing really, apart from coins here or there when I have it spare and a charity takes coins. Or there one doing something at dd school like they do colour run type things
Most charities in Aus ask for direct debit, with a minimum amount, I won't do that. Especially when you see them build million dollar buildings for their 2nd hand stores or head honchos in top of the line land cruiser 4wheel drives, literally 70,000 worth of car for a base model.
I'm too lazy to wash, sort and store clothes for charity shops. I give stuff away if friends or family are about when I'm looking to get rid of it but don't worry if I bin stuff.

Dp volunteered after the fires in SA a couple times, helping animals, farmers, delivering food, water and he won't do it again due to the politics and self big noting of some in charge or think they are, who end up hampering genuine help trying to get in

@Rebelwithallthecause this is how I feel, having worked for a large ish charity. I totally agree that obviously there are some costs to running charities, and staff need to be paid etc, but after working there and seeing where the priorities lie, (high salaries for management when staff weren't getting paid NMW for all hours, huge money spent on lunches for meetings, but having to beg for money for basic repairs to homes or repairs not being carried out on communal spaces). I dont want to donate to larger charities anymore. They also used to have clients working on making things all day at the day service, then would sell these items on, which went straight into the charities pocket. I dont know. It left a funny taste in my mouth.

I shop a lot in charity shops
I probably spend £40 a month in charity shops , every month , so around £480 a year.

Not sure what percentages go to charity , but I feel good I’m doing this on a regular basis

Saving items from landfill / giving them a new purpose plus spending money

I give regular donations of clothes and household objects to charity shops plus I buy from them too, putting the change in their collection box.

I also make a regular donation to an animal care charity.

I give £20 per month to the Salvation Army, £50 to Royal British Legion and varying amounts to cancer charities and the local hospice. I donate loads to charity shops and help food banks occasionally.

It has varied depending on my income. I now give £10 to a very small charity as I'm broke, gave £100 to a woman's shelter at start of lock down and another £50 to one supporting asylum seekers. I volunteer too on ad hoc basis for several charities/cics. Also work part time for a charity.

I rounded up a Domino's pizza once so I guess that was 1p

Nothing

I have small DDs set up to Hope Not Hate (I'm an Antifacist) & to Care4Calais which is a small charity helping refugees.

I give my old clothes & books to charity shops like The Trussell Trust.

My cat is a rescue from the local Cats Protection & sometimes I donate goods to them for their cats.

I'm on minimum wage so I can't donate a lot.

Regarding what I regard as a charity wasting money - I used to give to a well-known international children's charity. It was what I could afford at the time, which was about £15 a month. they sent me 4 letters per month asking me to raise it to £20 a month, so after 1 letter and 3 phone calls with me explaining and being told they couldn't stop their system from doing that I gave £15 a month to a different charity instead, which gave me one yearly update printed on both sides of a piece of cheap paper in quite a small font. The second charity got a pay rise whenever I did for a few years and were routinely getting £50 a month from me, 7 years later.