Is Children in Need drowning the many smaller charities?

Good question. I never watch it usually, but I am going to have to this year as my granddaughter will be on it (along with a lot of other children from her school acting group)

I've never watched it. Of course all the bigger charities spend a huge amount on fund raising that smaller charities can't match but I doubt that necessarily affects who gives what to where. I find it quite off putting when charities such as the salvation army tell me to give 19 quid. Crisis asked for even more but can't remember the figure, tbh that puts me off giving them a tenner if that's all I can afford, so that's their loss as I then give it someone who doesn't say how much I should donate.

Charities are getting greedy now. You never get an inventory of where your donated money goes or how much goes to who. The BHF which is online must make millions but still the charity is begging for more. Where's all this money going ??

Children in Need. Why are so many starving and going without in this country ? There must be some people around who don't need to do the lotto-------they all make me sick !

I sent a small donation to the Red Cross when they were doing one of their crisis appeals. I now kee getting unsolicited letters. Save the Children is even worse they send pens and cards in the envelope. What a waste of their money I can buy my own cards and pens. I have set up 2 direct debits for favourite charities and I'm afraid I now ignore all other begging

Keep not kee

I avoid it in any form. I have a list of charities I give to and respond to some emergency appeals, but I dislike being emotionally blackmailed in to charity giving and Children in Need is emotional blackmail, writ large.

This year there have been some quite skin crawlingly awful ads on R4, involving 'cute' children and subservient adults, yuk, yuk, yuk.

Children in need is a huge charity. I have given for many years but found out a while back that they had 90 million in reserves. I don't know if they have got this down yet, but it seemed ridiculous to me to give them even more so that they could invest it. I tend to give to smaller charities.

The good thing about Children in Need is that they actually pass the money on to small charities that deal with a multitude of issues....with just the common thread being for children. Up and down the country all sorts of lovely project apply to Children in Need and can gain grants to keep their own small yet vital charities going.

As I have said on here before, DGCs Primary School organise a "Pay a £ to CiN and come to school in your Pyjamas event". which results in parents and/or Grandparents shelling out £££s inAsda for the PJ's (because who has a decent pair left in the run up to Christmas restocking). In my case with 3 DGC that was £24 to ASDA and £3 to CiN.

I do watch the Rickshaw Challenge, brave youngsters

My mother prefers donations to Barnardos instead of presents. Now I'm happy with this, but for her not me. But I have been pestered with junk mail since I last did it, which puts me off doing it again.
I have no trouble with Shelter, I usually give them my winter fuel thing, and tell them not to expect more. I get an acknowledgment and that is all.

I'm blowed if I'm funding any charity "millionaire" manager.
Charity begins at home.

How can the likes of the Health Lottery give away thousands after already funding " good causes ?" Wouldn't that money be better ploughed back into the pot for all these " good causes ?" It goes to show how much is rolling in with that alone.
These people who thought up these ways of raising money knew they were onto a good thing. Everything is aimed at greed.

I stopped giving many years ago when a playgroup in a ‘ leafy suburb’ near us got £2,000 for soft play equipment.

I give to smaller local charities.

If you would like to donate to a particular charity without then being inundated with requests for further donations, there is a charity website called 'Giveasyoulive'. You can go onto this website, register which charity you would like to support and that's it - no payment or donation necessary. Then, when you buy anything online, a banner comes across the top of the screen which says 'do you want to turn on give as you live?' All you do is click this banner - nothing else - and the company you are buying from will donate a percentage of your purchase to your nominated charity. Give as you Live will then send you an email to tell you how much you have just raised and the total you have raised so far. When your total reaches £50, this money will then be given to your nominated charity, and you can start all over again. Nothing is deducted from the amount you raise so your nominated charity gets the full £50. This is a great way of raising funds for the smaller charities without it costing you a penny (apart from your purchase online!) and you don't get pestered for more donations. Very simple to do and benefits your favourite charity.

Children in need suppirt children mainly but this includes families. Individual families can receive assistance via the charity. Funds are given to smaller charities who can distribute on a "needs" basis. A lot goes on through other charities, Chikdren in Need basically being the financial backers.

Just signed in to Giveasyoulive.com and they have had an update so that you can donate in a number of ways when shopping, as well as giving you the opportunity to click on the icon when you shop. Hope this helps.

I belong to a small music group (not a charity) and another similar group nearby received £10,000 some years ago from Children in Need, to help disadvantaged children in their area. There were many 'rules' attached to this gift, one of which was that they were to do charitable performances on a regular basis. Our group got heartily sick of them keep asking us to help in their performances as they couldn't fulfil this obligation because there were too few of them. They received the money, but couldn't do what they were asked to. I am sure there are needy charities, but provided you have a member 'clever' enough to complete all the forms CIN will give donations.

I have Volunteered for BHF for about 25 years now & they have always been open & honest in telling where the money goes so please do not knock BHF! It was thanks to BHF that my Dad had more years of life after being treated with a drug that they were trialling so working as much as I can in one of their shops is a way of thanking them.
We often have people donating because they have seen the amount of work put into finding ways to reduce the risk of heart problems.

The need for charitable giving has rarely been greater, both at home and abroad.

I only give to local charities and good causes as I feel/hope that any money given will be used for the intended purpose.
I most certainly do NOT give to any charity that sends me items through the post as I consider their actions to be emotional blackmail. Unfortunately, I have had to stop giving to the Poppy Appeal for that reason.
Many years ago I helped in an Oxfam shop. Shop manager was as good as useless, drifted by when it suited her, never staying more than a few minutes. We were never able to contact her, if there was a problem we had to deal with it; if there were not enough helpers it was our problem. She was being paid, we were not!

I agree. Comic Relief too. It is very difficult to apply to for funding and smaller charities are hard pressed with the amount of time it takes to make applications for grants. I don't know much about how Safe the Children is run but Comic Relief keeps a phenomenal amount on deposit in the bank and uses the interest to pay for its administration. The reason for this is so that they can say that they can say that 100% of the donations go to the good causes, which is probably true but only after it has dropped in value so the claim is a distorted truth and smaller charities would spend the money quickly on immediate needs.
I think the BBC should rethink its policy of giving so much support to 2 charities at the expense of so many others. Their lifeline series does not really make up the unequal treatment.
I used to like the Community Chanel but it was taken off freeview and I can no longer get it.
They both seem to have an old fashioned approach to helping people.
Can I remind people about easyfundraising.com I bought a laptop and a couple of other things this week and £24 was given to my charity without it costing me a penny. Over the year they have raised over £1,000 from easyfundraising which is a lot for a small charity.

Sorry youngagain I missed your comment making the same point about a different organisation that does the same thing. I think there are a few. It is a very easy way to give.

Having worked in the voluntary sector most of my working life, I don’t believe in charity at all. Charities are providing vital services to many people, old and young and most have paid staff. A massive part of their energy is involved in applying to funding bodies like CiN for the funds they need to provide their services. When I worked for Women’s Aid, we applied umpteen times for money from CiN to provide the important work we did with children, one to one, in groups and in schools. We were rarely successful, possibly as we didn’t provide mawkish pictures and refused to allow them to use the very vulnerable children we worked with in publicity. Funding was only given to projects that fitted that years particular criteria. The work these charities do should be properly funded and staff properly paid, funding should be to provide the vital services they undertake not for three year new pieces of work. It’s basically a lottery.