Charity - what is your feeling?

[Orangejuicemarathoner]

I have been active in many charities for a long time.

There was a time when you could go around asking for contributions and get a "yes" or a "no".

These days I keep getting "OMG- how racist/patronising/politically incorrect/non-woke is that, you are a terrible person".

I don't get it really. Poorer people need help and support from richer people. Sometimes the poorer people are next door, sometimes hundreds of miles away and sometimes on another continent. Sometimes in the past, the poorer person has been me and I have needed and accepted charity

Why have people stopped thinking sharing is a good thing?

I know some charities are ineffective, and some unhelpful, maybe even damaging. I am not talking about specifics. I am talking about the general principle, if you know the charity is effective.

YABU - charitable giving is evil - stop it at once

YANBU - altruism is important

Since people seem to have forgotten - no, many old people don’t want to be bled dry by charities preying on their emotions:

www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/15/olive-cooke-poppy-sellers-death-raises-charity-hounding-concerns

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33745576

I think people have become more cautious because in the past we were being hit up for one-off donations. These days most of us already have direct debits to our chosen charities or give through work, and we know we will be asked to make an ongoing commitment rather than a one-off donation to any new charity. Clearly we cannot keep adding on.

We can also see how much is spent on advertising, fundraising, directors salaries, and we picture our donation being swallowed by those costs. It is galling to be told that "Just £5 a month can save this child" when we know a director of the charity who lives very well and sends their child to private school, seemingly indifferent to the number of children who could be saved by donating the cost of the school fees.

I only donate to charities in UK but I would never dream of insulting someone collecting for a charity close to their heart. I would just say "not at the moment thanks".

There are some valid reasons people who believe in giving generally are now more hesitant. Many have had the experience of giving to organizations they thought were doing good work, only to find they aren't, or at least not the work the giver thought.

But I wonder if there also isn't an element of people being affected by call-out culture. IN the past if someone asked you to give to a group whose goals you opposed, most people would till be polite, most would just say no thanks. People seem much more inclined now to say that they think whatever you are doing is wrongheaded and bad.

Ime charities tend to be either:

• staffed by the regular folks who work, same as anyone else does, but are maybe a little less competent and a bit more self satisfied; or
• run by a haphazard collection of agenda driven well meaning zealots who descend into tunnel vision bitching coupled with occasional moments of brilliance.

They do important work, of course, and they've grown. So although they're generally not great overall we kind of need them.

@Orangejuicemarathoner

The charity I was trying to raise money for is an educational charity in Malawi, where I have worked before, and know well. It's very good.

Apparently I would not be so patronising to people in Brighton, and I don't understand that argument at all, as I am as active- more active actually for local charities where I volunteer as well as donate

Is it a Christian charity? Because I would be worried I'd be funding a missionary type project or where they send inexperienced teens out to badly build houses instead of giving communities money.

I don't support charities anymore, instead I donate to grassroots groups led by the people concerned.

Charities I support
Local hospice
Several small animal charities who do much of the work the RSPCA refuse to do. And they do it fully voluntarily for no payment

I volunteer for Oxfam - a charity which was hit by a huge scandal about 4 years ago. What went on was horrendous and there is no excuse for it, but a couple of highly dodgy people (not just at Oxfam) have cast a shadow over the whole industry, despite changes being made to make sure nothing like that can ever happen again, and the people involved never having been employed in the the UK.

Oxfam is one of those charities with lots of money in the bank and lots of investments. Because if there is an earthquake or flood or other natural disaster tomorrow they need those reserves to charter aircraft to get all the warehoused tents and water purifiers out to where they are needed, and to hire local ground staff to coordinate the response. With the best will in the world, the logistics of getting aid to an emergency zone can't be managed by Sylvia, the former library assistant who now does the till on a Tuesday afternoon.

Deep down people sneer at charity volunteers (any charity) because they think we make them look bad. We're the ones pitching up every week and sorting through bags of old clothes, or keeping the shop looking nice, or running the PTA disco, or standing in the freezing cold cheering on the Parkrunners. People who are not involved know that deep down, we're doing a good thing. And they are not comfortable knowing that they are not contributing in the same way. So we are grabby, self-serving, pigs with snouts in the trough, in it for ourselves, woke - whatever other insult they'd like to throw.

Of COURSE volunteers enjoy what they are doing and get something out of it. Who is going to volunteer otherwise? Some people want to give something back after years working, or do a sponsored walk for a cancer centre which treated their mum. What other people get from volunteering might be the sense of community, or work experience, or just spending time with people they aren't related to. I love my weekly shifts in our shop, the ladies are fabulous, I have learned so much from them about ceramics, jewellery and linens. We have a chat and a coffee and make lots of money for a charity we all think is worth donating time for. And buy lots from the shop too.

And finally - all the nonsense about charity paying super high salaries. There's a website called "Charity Jobs" or you can look on charity websites for vacancies. Cancer Research, for example, are advertising for a store manager. 37.5 hours a week. Salary between £19.3k and £24.3k - to get top of the scale you'd have to have loads of experience. So say £21k for someone with a few years experience. For that salary you would be the only salaried staff member. You'd be doing everything from banking to training new staff to H&S compliance to working on the till. No paid deputy supporting you, probably. Trying to recruit enough volunteers to keep your shop open, cover costs and hit targets. All the responsibility of being a keyholder. No overtime. Statutory minimum holiday, pension, sick pay etc. Or, you could go and work for somewhere like Next or M&S where there would be a whole management team, lots of support and cover when you're on holiday, you get 25% staff discount, money towards your uniform, incentives, discounts with other brands etc etc etc.

And as for the old "I read about a charity which only donates 3% to the cause" - did ye, aye? I have read a lot of stuff. Lots of it "fake news". Have we had anyone say that the only reason people volunteer in charity shops is to steal all the stuff yet?

((Rant Over))

I don’t give to big charities. I stick to local funding. Especially the animal shelters, i buy tins of pet food etc and leave them in the supermarket for them .

Depends what you're interested in though. I personally do not have animal shelters high on my priority list.

There seems to be this idea that local/small = good, and that large/international = bad.

@LaurieFairyCake

Maybe it's this 🤷‍♀️

He may have got a cheap laugh, especially in the UK where he plays to a certain part of the population, but his assessment of the German government is total rubbish!

Is it a Christian charity? Because I would be worried I'd be funding a missionary type project or where they send inexperienced teens out to badly build houses instead of giving communities money.

But how much of the money given to communities reaches its goal and how much winds up round the neck, on the feet etc of the women of the leaders of that country? One only has to look at the Mugabes etc to see where a lot of the aid and charitable donations end up and that's why many people are reluctant to given in to the emotional blackmail.

I neither do nor donate to sponsored events. I have a particular skill and the money I make from it I donate to a charity based not many miles from me which provides school bags of equipment to children all over the world to enable them to get an education. There are three members of staff and a lot of volunteers. I know exactly where my money goes.

Round Christmas I got very fed up with the tv ads asking for donations. "Only £30 will pay for..... Please donate now...." So if you can only afford a few £ they don't want to know. Make you feel guilty if you haven't got £30.

@LaurieFairyCake

Maybe it's this 🤷‍♀️

Which is nonsense because they do have charities in Germany, many of them church-run.

@Pythonista

And altruism is generally a very selfish thing - people like to be Lord or Lady Bountiful so that they can virtue signal.

Rubbish. Most of the people I know who give large amounts to charity do it completely on the quiet

@HoardingSamphireSaurus
It allows people to pretend they are acting on principle when they just want to keep the money for themselves. Simple.

I think that a lot of people are quite fed up with the constant demands for charitable donations. For example if you sign up for Race for Life your plan is to go out and run (and maybe train for the run) and ask for sponsorship and perhaps host a tea party/cake sale. As soon as you sign up you start getting sent one letter/email after another telling you all the other things you can do to raise money - the message you get is that doing the run and getting sponsorship is not enough...So many charities are like this. If you stop to talk to someone on a charity stand these days they aren't even interested in getting a one off donation in a bucket anymore - all they want is a direct debit etc etc.

I prefer to give to charities that don't have big fundraising departments constantly demanding more and more and more..

I often wonder where the several £billions of annual Foreign Aid donated by UK goes. I am sure there are reports by the bucketload from the various projects, but when it comes to disasters the hands are out again for more. Are none of the Third World charities involved in the Foreign Aid programs or what? Always puzzled me, but anyway.

It is indeed difficult not to be cynical about charities, and I would have some time for the view that domestic charities should not be required if services were funded enough for basic things like hospice care, food banks, domestic violence and so on.

@Gonnagetgoing

I’d be surprised if your Chairman was getting any kind of salary; registered UK charities aren’t allowed to pay their trustees / directors, without explicit permission from the charity commission which is only granted if shown to be in the charity’s best interests. It would be quite rare for a charity’s Chair to be anything other than a voluntary role. (Unless you’re referring to the CEO?)

@Janaih

Charities don’t have shareholders. And when it comes down to it, they really aren’t like businesses at all - businesses are run for profit, charities do not and cannot make a profit. It is true that the bigger charities are professionalised in the way they run themselves and borrow effective business practice where this can help them run more efficiently for the benefit of their stakeholders. Is that not a good thing?

It’s unfortunate we need charity, tho it does put a strain on some.
Food banks shouldn’t need to exist, with more demand others have to give more to provide more.
I support some, tho I hate being targeted

I've seen a few bits of inaccurate info on this thread, and would like to try to add some clarity. (I work in a large conservation charity and am also a trustee and volunteer at a different charity, so I can see it from both sides.) I hope the links work, it's ages since I've posted on MN!

All UK charities are regulated by the Charity Commission. They are also bound by the Code of Fundraising Practice. (For background, that Code came into effect partly as a result of the dreadful case of Olive Cooke, as someone has mentioned upthread.) If you have concerns about a charity, you should report them either to the Commission or to the Fundraising Regulator. Anyone who encounters an aggressive or manipulative chugger should absolutely report them to the Fundraising Regulator. (I have done so myself in the past.) Section 8.1 of the Code of Fundraising Practice is really clear about the behaviour to be expected of fundraisers.

Someone upthread talked about the chairman of a charity getting a large salary. If he truly was the chairman (as opposed to a senior manager or CEO) then he shouldn’t be paid for his role. Charity trustees can only receive expenses, except in very exceptional circumstances. See this page for more info.

Many charities with significant budgets have to operate as if they were private sector businesses. That means employing skilled staff (including accountants, project managers, IT admins, possibly even internal lawyers). Few people with the right skills will be able to work for nothing. However, as @bestknitterinscotland says, many of those jobs will be below market rate. Also, it’s common for many charities to run with the bare minimum of staff, meaning that the staff they do have often work significantly longer hours than a comparable role in the private sector.

UK charities are also required to maintain a level of financial reserves, to cushion against fluctuations in income. So if they receive donations which aren’t tied to a particular project or campaign (known as “unrestricted income”) it’s not unusual for this to be applied against reserves, if necessary. @puffinhead noted that some charities have reserves in the millions – if their annual turnover and expenditure is high then that is likely to be a reasonable amount. This publication is useful reading on the rationale behind reserves and the required levels. It’s also worth noting that some of the Charity Commission criticism of Kids Company focuses on the low level of reserves that the charity held, and how that made the charity vulnerable to external pressures. (Obviously a load of other stuff went wrong with Kids Company too!)

Happy to try to answer any questions anyone has.