To hate it when major national charities don't actually do anything but boast about signposting ? ?

[koalakate999]

I really like the idea of supporting a charity.

But for goodness sake, you need to have an actual purpose.

E.g the Samaritans may not be perfect, but they provide a 24/7 phone line for lonely people to actually chat/ share worries/ get human contact, ( could be pretty useful at 3.00am on xmas day if feeling very low).

But so many of the other "big ones, " e.g. Age U.K, Macmillan, Mind etc seem to take a lot of money just to "signpost," people to local services they likely already knew about, e.g their local Citizen's Advice.

In fact, a lot of them all just seem to signpost to each other !?

Am I unreasonable in thinking the big charities should actually help individuals more, e.g. grants, services etc.

If anyone could suggest big charities that are providing tangible help I'd be very grateful.

where I live MacMillan are based in the local
hospice and work very closely together with them and the local hospital. I was pleased with the level of support they offered. Aware this is very variable from area to area though.

Yes. I worked for years for a local charity affiliated to a big national. I did plenty of “getting my hands dirty”. We would not have been nearly as successful in our mission without the national organization. They did a huge amount of lobbying that directly impacted us and developed relationships with companies that enabled us to get significant in kind donations. We also benefitted from the branding that made fundraising more effective and from the networking and annual conference that made it easy to share experience and learn from each other rather than reinventing the wheel.

I went on to work for a charity in the US that provided IT support to small charities. Again, I was working for a local organization doing hands on work. While I was there we joined together with several similar charities to try to provide national support for organizations like us - because it’s hugely useful if you want to be really impactful in your work.

I was also on the board of a local, all volunteer, professional organization for people working in the charitable sector. Again, we worked to develop a national umbrella group to try to coordinate efforts, increase our reach and improve our performance.

Well some need the money for the big fancy offices and luxury cars for the managers....drive down purley way croydon...lots of charity hq buildings...see the cars parked in the managers bays....all top end luxury....bet they dont pay for those...!!!

much of what had been said is true. I worked for a charity on a funded project that had very specific boundaries around who could access it. It would often mean that we would have to refer out as service users did not match our criteria that was tied to the funding. It was very frustrating. Interestingly even if we referred out it would count as a contact for our project so the number of people who used our service looked higher than it actually was. I left the project in the end as I hated turning people away.

I totally agree. Some of the best know Mental Health charities are all about "raising awareness" and "signposting" and have nothing to offer someone actually needing help. They soak up resources and funding and distract from the few that actually provide a service

I am sure/and glad many people have had great support from charities - unfortunately we haven't been so lucky. My father had a number of disabilities before he died and we reached out for help but were passed from one organisation to another and in the end gave up. It became yet another thing to manage/chase when were were already broken with day to day disability and caring issues.

I do think some of the bigger/well known charities have changed their focus in the past few years - it feels that their priority is now more about lobbying Government than providing practical support to the vulnerable. My Grandmother, for example, was deaf and blind and got great practical support and equipment from some of the big charities, when my father experienced similar disabilities they said they no longer helped with such things.- they focused on policy and societal change. I appreciate this is important. but surely they could do a bit of both? - and their requests for funding definitely don't imply they prioritise lobbying!

I have also heard about significant waste. One of my friends, for example, works in HR/ training for the charity sector. She was handsomely paid to provide diversity training for a children's charity (who do very emotive adverts) , flew business class around the world, stayed in smart hotels and driving a brand new SUV whilst the people we thought our money was going to lived in abject poverty. I am not, in anyway, saying that such training shouldn't be given or workers appropriately paid but am sure, as my friend said, it could have been delivered more cost effectively? Other friends have given many similar examples of financial waste and horrendous HR practices/abuses.

I do think national charities have a really important role to play (and not just as an employer of middle class graduates!) but I think many have taken the decision to provide a different kind of service and may not be being entirely honest in their communications on this- especially not when fundraising!

That’s why you support local charities not the big ones.

The Children’s Society and The Autistic Society have been fab for us.Agree with the op re most others.

Big charities providing practical help - my disabled child is currently having respite in a Barnados run respite care facility. We receive whole family support from The Rainbow Trust, who have family support workers who come alongside and actually help. We have had equipment and advice from NewLife, Cerebra, The Variety Club, Caudwell Children’s, The Family Fund and a wish from MakeAWish.

my child’s school has had funding from Children In Need.

We have stayed for many weeks in the Ronald McDonald House at our local hospital - now there is the ultimate in practical support. A suite of rooms where parents can stay when their child is in hospital for long periods of time. With a kitchen, freezer space, baths, laundry facilities, and family support workers ready to listen. Rooms where you can just go for a few hours when life on the ward is too much. Where the whole family can stay when the hospital is miles from home. Where there’s food donated so you don’t have to spend a fortune on hospital canteen stuff.

They were appalling awful and made our situation so much worse when they got involved when my oldest DS was having issues some years ago. The damage this woman (his key worker) did was long- lasting and serious and I'll never forgive them TBH.

Yep, not impressed with McMillan. My Mum had cancer and tried phoning the McMillan nurses several times over a number of weeks. Kept getting an answerphone and left messages, but very rarely got a call back and never actually saw a McMillan nurse - their standard response was phone your GP or phone the oncology dept. All she actually got were leaflets!

they focused on policy and societal change. I appreciate this is important. but surely they could do a bit of both? - and their requests for funding definitely don't imply they prioritise lobbying!

A great number of charities (large and small) appear to be powerful political machines nowadays. It's unpalatable, besides there's a legal requirement for them to remain neutral.

I had good experiences when I sought out help from a few charities whose remit was very specific and focused on providing information (as opposed to lobbying for social causes, etc)

I can confirm that no - I have had recent referrals come via NSPCC just as you describe. How much they must spent on marketing and running their phone line just to email the little info they get to local authorities....

Not sure where in the country you are, but that doesn’t happen nationwide. We approached Macmillan when my husband was first diagnosed and all we were offered was leaflets, no offer of any practice or emotional support whatsoever. The Macmillan nurse who was paid for in the oncology department had one 5 minute meeting with. Told us to contact here with any problems, I had to ring her once when my husband was really struggling with pain etc, left numerous messages on her answerphone requesting a call back. That was in September. Still waiting.when we took him to a &e and explained that we had tried to get some advice from Macmillan first the doctors reply to me was “I’m afraid that’s par for the course with them”.

The Nurse Specialists funded by Macmillan were very helpful to my friend when her husband was dying of cancer. I think that this is partly because the funding was being spent in a controlled medical environment. They have a real, useful role in treatment, unlike the ‘ advisors’.

when my father was dying from lung cancer, the Macmillan ‘nurse’ who visited him twice in six months encouraged him to sign a form leaving his body to science. This ridiculous action may have been consoling to him, but it caused my mother and I immense extra grief as the body was of course rejected and we had to get the burial certificate changed etc etc. It still makes me angry after 20 years.

One of my friends who used to volunteer for the Citizens Advice Bureau used to vent regularly about the number of referrals ( aka ‘palming off’ in his words) from charities, especially since the charity then recorded any successful outcome as down to their intervention and referral.

We have stayed for many weeks in the Ronald McDonald House at our local hospital - now there is the ultimate in practical support. A suite of rooms where parents can stay when their child is in hospital for long periods of time. With a kitchen, freezer space, baths, laundry facilities, and family support workers ready to listen. Rooms where you can just go for a few hours when life on the ward is too much. Where the whole family can stay when the hospital is miles from home. Where there’s food donated so you don’t have to spend a fortune on hospital canteen stuff.

Yes!
We've stayed there for many weeks also, and it's been a complete lifeline.

If anyone wants to donate to a charity that has a very practical side, then I fully recommend Ronald McDonald.

At work (local government) **we get constant referrals from charities. I can only assume that they need to prove in their quarterly returns that they make a certain amount of referrals.They're very often inappropriate and waste a great deal of our time Often it's for equipment which the person might already have or which they just don't want.
I made 4 visits to one referred household recently and eventually they said they didn't need our help. I reported this back to the referring charity who said they were happy the person was now fully informed and aware of what was available.

Mind might seem like that at a national level, but the local branches can be pretty good.
My local one has it's own crisis service, several social and support groups, help with volunteering/job seeking, life skills, counselling, regular contact with a key worker etc. They can also help with referrals to other MH charities too. They don't get any funding from national Mind.
They have been a life line to many people with poor mental health, particularly those who fall in the gap between GP and CMHT (too ill for primary, not ill enough for secondary).

I agree, OP. I haven't got wide experience of charities, but the 2 I did ask for help were useless, and it has made me a) reluctant to give to those 2 and b) wonder how widespread the problem is with other charities.

Age UK were totally useless when my mum was declining. I only wanted advice, but OMG, it was like getting blood out of a stone and it all turned out to be useless anyway. All they wanted to do was to come and sell my mum an expensive alarm which involved making changes to her electrical supply etc, even when neither she nor I wanted this.

RSPCA: once, when I worked full time and lived in the wilds, I came home after a long and tiring day to find a huge dog on my doorstep. No identifying mark, and it didn't belong to any neighbours. I fed it and phoned the RSPCA. They basically said "Can't you keep it?" NO! I work long hours and I don't want a dog. Took me ages to get them to come and collect it, poor thing. I love animals, but the RSPCA isn't my charity of choice any more now when it comes to animal welfare. Donkey sanctuaries etc will get my money!

I've never investigated whether the public can access the spending of these massive charities - it may be possible? I'd love to know where all the money goes. It makes me angry when their senior people get huge salaries.

People don't want to hear how charities are actually run effectively. They prefer to remain emotionally attached to naive ideas. As demonstrated only a couple of posts below yours.

I've worked in the third sector since 2002. Most of it in fundraising. I also have 10 years experience of grant making.

I've come to the personal conclusion that there is a perfect size of charity (different for every cause and region) where they are big enough to be professional, efficient, effective, small enough to care and be close enough to the beneficiaries.

BUT

Not so big that they are effectively a fundraising machine (CRUK) or so small that they don't have that professionalism and aren't at risk for safeguarding etc etc

In the main I would say that a turnover of up to £2 million and a cohort of paid staff is a good indicator. I donate to charities with a turnover of over £400,000 and at least 2 part-time staff.

One of my previous jobs was with a national charity (national in the Scottish sense) and the amount of work that went into ensuring our signposting was relevant and accurate was something else. It needed a full time staff member but we only had funding for part time hours.

No one wants the truth - the very word ‘charity’ gives us all a warm glow of hope for many good things.

Until you’ve worked in one - the main cause many of these wasteful, useless orgs so tenderly support is themselves.

Oh yes this. There is no real help for children and young people with special needs. Nearly all of it is signposting. Or multiple meetings of adults (perhaps 1 hr meeting with 6-8 adults, perhaps 3 times) - the support finally offered to the young person is 6 sessions of 30 mins.

And some of the larger charities mentioned above - similar. A lot of money is wasted in the charity sector.

I'd broadly agree. Have worked extensively in both private and charity sectors, though never for anything quite as big as the Cancer Research style setups.