Charities with the best % to beneficiaries?

[RandomMess]

I thought there was a website where you look up UK charities ranked by what % of their income goes back out for beneficiaries.

I have been googling like mad and can find some articles and a small table of those ranked the worst.

Does what I want exist???

Want to make a regular donation and to select from charities that don't spend unacceptable amounts on overhead costs etc.

TIA

Yes, www.givewell.org/

Charities have to spend the overhead costs in order to serve their beneficiaries

What is an ‘unacceptable‘ amount to spend on this for you? I don’t think a chart like what you are asking for exists, though there are studies that look at effectiveness of that’s what you mean?

Effectiveness is only really easy for charities that do very quantifiable work, like handing out specific resources that they can count etc, like vaccinations.

If you are considering donating to charities, I’d look at causes you are interested in, look up some charities in that field and look at the annual reports - a lot of info on spending and salaries, and most annual reports are available online

I know you look up individual charity accounts but I had hoped there was a UK based database where you could look up charities and see their ranking by certain criteria.

There could be effective charities out there I haven't even heard of...

Of course charities have overheads but in the past some are spending over 10% on admin costs... then there are those with fat cat salaries and so on...

The charity I used to work for had so much waste, constant re-branding etc. I was shocked. You can look up their annual report which tells you where the money goes, but I expect unless you've worked there you wouldn't know about the huge unnecessary waste.

Small / local charities are generally better IME.

Www.Acts435.org.uk

^ 100% of what you donate goes to the recipient

I know of some local charities that are totally dodgy...

It's a minefield!!!

Remember schools like Eton and very many others have charitable status and get away with giving very few bursaries etc.

Well yes, you need to make sure they're not dodgy!

What type of causes do you want to support?

Don't know 😭

UK child poverty

Something international like Water Aid.

Are local food banks regulated?

What do you mean by regulated? Any registered charity will be regulated by the charity commission (for what that's worth!) Trussel Trust and Water Aid are good choices as far as I know.

Many local food banks are run by churches.

Agree that givewell is worth a look for effective charities.

It's more complicated than just 'what percentage is spent on admin' because it's more about overall effectiveness... A small local charity may give a higher percentage to the cause than a national one, but the work they do may also be less effective so therefore your money may not go as far.

Peter Singer's book The Most Good You Can Do is very interesting on the topic of effective giving.

@ChalkDinosaur absolutely agree I just want to avoid the ones that really don't provide "good value for donation £"

Yes all charities are regulated but how tightly and what does that really mean...

Yes absolutely @RandomMess I think it's really important. Sorry my comment wasn't really aimed at you specifically, more of a general point that I think sometimes gets missed in these sort of conversations

One approach is to look for charities which have got funds from big campaigns, like Children in Need or Comic Relief. Children in Need and Comic Relief have a rigorous selection process which checks the effectiveness of each charity that applies to them, eg looking at the outcomes, whether they manage to achieve what they set out to do and whether they represent good value for money.

You can piggy back on their work and give to charities which have passed their selection process.

Good tip Puffins!!