Oxfam - tip of the iceberg?

I noticed that someone here mentioned the Cats Protection League. Just to note that they lost over 11 million in the Icelandic Bank collapse. Now how does a charity have 11 million on deposit?? Shouldn't have been a cat in this country that suffered on account of vets bills.

Our relationship with countries where people are living in poverty or have suffered a disaster is a difficult issue. Some say that the more we give, the more we are interfering with their culture or discouraging indigenous businesses. Others exploit their role as we have seen with Oxfam - TBH I think this is probably the tip of a very murky iceberg. Others are appalled by the pay given to charity execs. And so it goes on.....

We are pretty powerless to know exactly what happens to our money; and the Charity Commission seems little better.

I support Action Aid, as the empowerment of women in poor countries is a priority with them; the local hospice, which is excellent in every way; and Parkinsons UK for family reasons.

Do I know how every penny is spent? - definitely No. Do I support their aims? definitely YES.

I find the idea of sponsoring a child (which we do) somewhat patronising, and we do not get involved with personal contact with a named child, nor visiting, as some do - what a waste of money in air fares and acommodation, which could be better spent in the ground!

I also object to the vast sums raised to send students (usually from posh private schools) on experience "holidays" working on the ground with a charity. The money could be better spent to help the same community.

It seems to me that big aid agencies are sadly no different from any other organisation - think scouts, football teams, the Catholic church, teaching - which have provided easy access to young and vulnerable people and are therefore magnets to abusers/paedophiles. Such seems to be the nature of these individuals that they don't care on what pretext they are coming into contact with their victims.

So it seems very unfair to demonise aid agencies, be it Oxfam, MSF, UNICEF - I'm sure the vast majority of people working for these agencies are motivated by the urge to help people, and I sincerely hope the latest scandal does not result in the downfall of any of these agencies - if they were not on the frontline providing aid, who would be???

So MSF have been named now

Alexa Is there a need for a Panorama style undercover investigation?

....oooh yes, absolutely. I lost count of the times I witnessed certain illegal practices carried out by managers and asst managers, and often said I wish that there could be some secret filming of these shops going on to expose all this.

I'm not exaggerating when I say i could write a book, and I would if I could prove these allegations, but unfortunately I can't, but yes undercover investigations are desperately required within Charity shops themselves.

Ailsa43 You are right that the Salvation Army shops are a chain run separately from the SA. There are one or two SA shops, like one we have, which the local Salvation Army Corps opens and runs themselves, for a specific reason in order to raise money. I want to remain anomymous so won't say what our reason for raising the money is but it goes into a specific project we provide and fund in the local community . However, we do pay our Manager a wage, albeit not much, since we have to have someone there all the time to run it. Others are volunteers. Unfortunately I have seen Volunteers using the opportunity to get first pickings of donate goods and then boasting about how cheap their clothes were. This upset me as part of our service was to our local area where there is a lot of unemployment and poverty and the Volunteers were not on low incomes. Everywhere that there are human beings, the devil is prowling around inviting them to be greedy.

HumptyDumpty If you managed to see any of the links, (I imagine your life is already busy enough!), you'll see you are right in saying the Managers of the Fund Raising companies were the ones who harassed the callers to put pressure on the the people they phoned. The poor youngsters (for most of them are people fresh from uni looking for jobs, doing fill-in jobs till their career gets going) were told to make up stories, like saying they had children when they did not. I think the programme led to some tightening up in regulations, although I have still been inundated with calls as I have my name on many charities' lists. I'm always aware that the caller is someone who needs a job and probably hates doing it! I have three adult daughters who all had to do a job at some point which they loathed. One was sexually harassed by a senior manager in a pharmaceutical company and forced to give her notice. She fought it and won.

It has always happened , Leslie Thomas wrote of his experiences with Juicy Lucy when he was a national service man in the fifties . The treatment of women in Vietnam was the same, I do not mean because it has always happened it can be brushed aside, just think this outrage now is being looked at as if this has never happened before .

My dd has worked for Oxfam for years. It's just not true that the vast majority of Oxfam employees are highly paid and even their chief executive is paid considerably less than many in similar jobs elsewhere. .

As for the abuse, it is widely known, and has been said in various media sources lately, that this sort of sexual misconduct is endemic (albeit in a small minority of staff) right across the aid sector, including the most well known and respected organisations. Only unlike Oxfam, who did at least launch an investigation and make a report at the time of the Haiti scandal, the usual response has been to sweep it all under the carpet. My dd has direct knowledge of this happening in other aid agencies.

One friend of hers, working for a different, well known charity in Haiti, reported that colleagues were bringing prostitutes back to their shared accommodation.
The sole response was that if she didn't like it, she could find accommodation elsewhere.

Having heard more than one such story, I do wonder why it's only Oxfam being the sacrificial lamb.

Could it be that in some cases clothes are being sold from Oxfam bags in third world countries because they are surplus to requirements and can be sold to raise cash for other, legitimate purposes? Like Oxfam shops over here.

Telly £4 is a disgrace for several items of good quality clothes. Just one item of clothing in most charity shops costs at least £4, and quite often more. It is really disheartening isn't it. I'd be inclined to query why the figure was so low.

I have to say, though, on balance I agree with anniebach. Even if some of the money is "diverted", it's better than nothing - though I think from now on there should be much more proactive monitoring of what goes on.

I'm shocked Telly
I took many bags of my dear friend's very good clothes to a Red Cross shop after she died and was informed they had raised about £120.

Last year I made 3 separate car runs to a local hospice shop and collection center. All excellent quality clothes, some new. I received notification of the funds raised - £4! Probably spent more on petrol. Having read some of the posts, I think I know where some of the items have gone. Items that are worn I give to door to door or council collection.

I agree Anniebach.

Like religions, charities are not safe repositories for our charity but they are the best we have at present and both religions and charities do manage to convey the basic ethic.

I am concerned there have been criticism of charity shops , one badly run charity shop does not mean all the charity shops in the country are the same , I understand why someone is cross when they witness poor management in their local shop but we mustn't give up on giving to these charities .

I am cross that all monies doesn't reach those in need but still give, if for every pound given just fifty pence reaches them it is better than no money.

This whole thing saddens me because, as ever, the real losers will be the people at the bottom of the pile

That is the sad truth of all this.
Well-known people have declared that they will no longer support Oxfam; I have not supported it for very many years, having misgivings after hearing tales from both a paid member of office staff and local volunteers.

However, there are possibly 'bad apples' at the top of other aid agencies too, moving from one charity to another with impunity when someone blows the whistle on them.

Nothing surprises me about Oxfam. I have never given to the "big charities" after my parents went to Africa and saw people actually selling clothes from huge hessian-type bags printed with "Oxfam" on them, which had obviously been donated from other countries. My Dad has been dead for 41 years so this was a long long time ago.

This whole thing saddens me because, as ever, the real losers will be the people at the bottom of the pile. I co-founded a homelessness charity three years ago. We are three unpaid volunteer case-workers with professional backgrounds; a social worker, a retired police superintendent and a housing specialist. We have a management committee, also unpaid and including an accountant, who scrutinize our expenditure and we work closely with the (paid) managers of the local foodbank community cafe so that we can get best value for our clients. We can claim back our travel/parking expenses and are reimbursed for the money we spend purchasing items for our clients, for which we submit receipts. We are shortly to attend further training and personally I have been worried about how much it will cost. It entails a full day in London so needs to include an overnight stay the night before and a couple of meals, plus the cost of the training itself. Fortunately, after a recent presentation I was given a cheque from a retired trustee of another Charitable Foundation who specifically asked that it be used for training purposes and I can't tell you what a relief that was.

Ailsa wrote:
"I worked for other Charity organisations, Cancer research, and Sue Ryder to name just 2, and this time kept my mouth firmly closed when I saw the same practices repeating themselves, and others who dared to speak up be bullied by the highly paid instore managers, and be totally ignored by Head office if they reported the going on, in fact one part-time paid member of staff was hounded out of her job by HR after reporting unsavoury practices."

Is there a need for a Panorama style undercover investigation?

One of my local charity shops has a temporary manager who has arranged the small space with a lot of clever artistry which would flatter the goods in any posh boutique.

As for dishonest charity employees and managers, I believe that whistleblowers should be respected , encouraged, and safeguarded against charges of slander or insult ,by the public and by charity workers .

Ailsa, I had a similar experience to you in a charity shop and lasted exactly a day and a half. The paid manager was horrible to some unpaid volunteers and to members of the public coming in to donate. A friend of mine, who is a widower with small children, went to a lot of trouble to sort out baby and toddler clothes and to donate them. The manager told him off sternly for bringing them all in at once and suggested he be much more organised and bring donations in more regularly. He was crushed in public.
Later that same day, I was told off for not recognising designer labels, despite having made it clear I knew nothing about fashion, then mocked for wanting to price and place perfectly good donated goods on the shelves instead of boxing them up in a jumble to be sent "elsewhere", which was strange as the charity only had one shop. I'm glad to say the manager didn't last much longer and I believe conditions are better there now but I can't bring myself to find out.

Once I was reading a poster in a shop run by a local children’ s Hospice. It was desperately appealing for cash donations. The person behind the counter said not to worry too much as a local premiership team had some VERY generous highly (over!) paid players! Good for them!

I’ve supported Oxfam for over 50 years. No more!
The people at the top have a lot to answer for. Perhaps Barbara Stocking and the woman who now runs a Cambridge college would like to take their wealth and put it where it’s needed.
Now I know why a well heeled friend celebrated a big birthday by organising a project himself and travelling to the country concerned to see the installation of it. All at his own expense. A couple I’m in contact with organise support for a specific West African village. They provide what the villagers need, not what someone in a first world office deigns to send them. They also go out regularly at their own expense so are personally involved.
You’re a disappointment, Oxfam.

I didn't know that about Salvation Army shops; I have never seen one here. The only plastic sack I fill is theirs but I suppose the contents are sold for profit, the same as all the others.
What is so sad about all these revelations is the way in which people's charitable instincts are being exploited, and it seems as though the originators of these 'scams' are these highly paid executives, who would describe it as 'business practice.'
I used to think it didn't matter as long as you gave, the giving was the important thing, but now it seems that most of the donations of any sort are diverted and go to enrich unscrupulous people, who by way of their deception verge on the criminal.

Please do not confuse the Salvation army church and it's officers with the 'salvation army charity shops', they are not the same. The shops are corporately run, and are known as Sat Col. They are not The Salvation Army. If you ever see a Salvation army working in a Sat Col shop, a few hours per week they are not volunterring they are being paid for their few hours work, unlike the volunteers who are paid nothing.

the managers and head office of Sat Col are paid huge earnings, but it slips under the radar because people look to see what the 'salvation Army' Execs are paid and of course there's no comparison between the 2. Do not allow Sat Col trading under the name of the Salvation army fool you into thinking that everything is going towards the homeless it's not, and I having worked for several charity shops including Sat Col, I can attest to the same practices are going on within those stores. Each store has a paid manager and at least 2 paid part-time members of staff, the rest are volunteers. The manager will regularly insist that any donated clothing from cheaper dept stores or supermarkets are ragged regardless of the condition.
I watched as one old lady who lived alone, would knit baby clothing, buy the wool herself, make the most beautiful items, and donate them to a particular branch of the 'salvation army shop' in North Herts to be sold for newborns. The manager there would thank the lady with a sickly sweet persona which she kept for the customers to see on the shop floor , and as soon as the items would be taken into the stock room , the ridicule behind this ladies back was appalling and shameful, and the items would be dropped straight into the rag bin. On more than one occasion I spoke up, reminding the manager that we were representing a Christian Charity organization and surely should be grateful for all donations , but ultimately and very quickly I was made to feel an outcast and bullied out of the voluntary job.

I worked for other Charity organisations, Cancer research, and Sue Ryder to name just 2, and this time kept my mouth firmly closed when I saw the same practices repeating themselves, and others who dared to speak up be bullied by the highly paid instore managers, and be totally ignored by Head office if they reported the going on, in fact one part-time paid member of staff was hounded out of her job by HR after reporting unsavoury practices.