To be amazed that there were any green discs in the Waitrose charity thing for the Cat's Protection League . . .

[BalloonSlayer]

. . . when the other two charities to choose from were a SCBU and a charity for families of people with Downs Syndrome?

There were about two feet of green disks for the SCBU, about 18" for the other charity and about a foot for the Cats' Protection.

I mean, I love cats, but would ANYONE think they were more important than the other two?

And yeah, I do understand the political argument that the SCBU should be funded well enough not to need to have to raise its own money.

Cats? You know - it's a cat.

I like cats.

Anyway I let my DS decide (to my shame I even sometimes keep the bloody things so he can put them in next time).

I am suspicious of the whole thing in any case if Waitrose actually gave a damn and were not just interested in looking good, they could donate the money anyway.

What is SCBU?

I guess animal lovers who have no children might go for it over the other 2. Older people might also because they know what it is

We have an interesting situation here with horse charities. It actually makes me really angry, but it happens so often if I thought about it all the time my head would explode so I have learnt to step back!

I let the dcs do the disk posting. They would pick cats every time.

Personally I would put all strays down, I have no tolerance for these charities that spend £50 rescuing a manky old cat when there are children starving.

SCBU is Special Baby Care Unit.

I let DD choose - tbh given that she truely believes she will become a cat when she grows up, she would probably choose the cats' protection.

I let my DS do it too Morloth.

and I quite often keep mine to let him do it later... (why is that shamefull ?)

He likes cats, but more often its just random.

Some people might not know what SCBU is (special care baby unit)

I let my DS choose who gets the disk - so he is just as likely to put the disk in for the cats.

I'm told that the charities benefit from raising awareness of themselves from the Waitrose thing in addition to the money

My Grandma always used to say you should help animals because they can't help themselves.

Galava the notices do explain what the charity is and what it is hoping to do with the money.

I also let the DCs decide but do explain. The last time there was an animal one I did mention that I thought people were more important, and they agreed. But they are school age. And it helped that the other two charities at the time were easily explainable.

Our waitrose always has loads of disks in the animal charity...all the cantankerous old ladies care more about animals than children it would appear....

I always put my green discs in the box which has the least green discs already in it, because I feel sorry for them.

I suppose it is similar to buying a crappy looking teddy at a jumble sale when I was a child, because I felt sorry for it and that it would get thrown away.

Sometimes my lack of reasonable logic scares me

I also feel that if I have somehow forgotten to do it and walk out and drive home with the green discs, I have somehow 'stolen' from Waitrose.

its from all the little old ladies who shop there once a week for their cream buns and potted meat.

I also don't get the giving to cats above other, worthier causes. What I don't understand is whether waitrose give the money in relation to how many coins there are in there, or whether one of the three 'wins' and gets all of the money? does anyone know?

I'm fairly sure they split the £1000 equally between the three charities. I tend to urge my DS to select whichever is the least popular or most inappropriate for a small child to choose (like drug addiction support or mental health). A bit childish I admit

What are these disc things, like a charity box? Is it possible that the other two boxes have been emptied recently which is why the Cat one had more in it?

YABVU by the way - how do you know that people who have given to the cats charity don't also donate to other charities in different ways?

YABU. I love cats, and I'd alternate between them all.

I can't stand it when people complain about others giving to animal charities. Don't like it, fine, but don't expect others not to give because you don't like it.

It is a fact that people are more likely to give money to animal charities than human ones, for whatever reason.

This is why they tend to ask for smaller regular donations than animal charities, to try to be the cheaper option to raise numbers of donators.

I am not sure of the psychology behind it but it is a well studied phenomonen (sp??).

Our organisation has benefited ffrom the green discs. It does increase peoples awareness that you are about. Waitrose weigh the results and divide accordingly.

I always give to groups wanting a new roof because they are so hard to get money for!

And as for starving children, that won't be solved simply by throwing money at them.

Helping people often requires more than money, it requires changes in the law,regime changes even in foreign country where there's so much corruption that much of the food or money never reaches the people.

Helping animals, at least domestic pets, is much less complex, and it's easier to guarantee the money will reach them and be of use.

Hmmm I see your point. But there are public funds devoted to human health issues. That is what a great deal of our tax goes to. There is no equivalent of the NHS for animals - it is all privately funded or charitable. And I do think we have a responsiblity to animals that largely suffer as a result of human activities.

I regularly donate by DD to many charities - a few of which are wildlife and conservation charities. Should I therefore cancel those DDs and give all my money elsewhere?

Agree with TD - I've had a couple of charities give me a lecture about how human charities are far more worthy of my money when they have had the gall to ask me what other charities I donate to.

As it happened I donated about a fiver to the CPL and RSPCA between them each month and when I picked my mum up from her work I put a couple of quid into the kiddies charity box (forget which one now) every week so the kiddies one got more money from me anyway.

No-one elses business who donates what to which charity frankly.....

I agree Ormirian.We, as a society, have a responsibility to animals, considering all that we've done to them, including destroying their habitats. And I'm no animal rights activist.

And yes the SCBU and DS charities are important too, but both are services that should be funded properly by the government via our tax.

I'd donate money to both, but that's only a short term solution. I think some campaigning and letter writing and making a stir to ask why aren't these services being provided? along with donations is a better idea.

At the end of the day this is about giving people a choice. Some people would give to animal charities over other charities any day (I must add that I wouldn't), others would always give to childrens charities.

Charitable giving is a very personal thing and imo Waitrose are absolutely doing the best thing but giving a wide range of choice.

I have to agree with OP. Never understood about the Cats Protection League

And this comes from someone who works for a Animal Charity in a round about sort of way

Who decides which is more worthy though?

Surely it's personal choice which charity you want to support