Another Fat cat charity boss !

Outrageous- this is public money - we have to do something about these ridiculous salaries - the gap between rich and poor gets bigger daily and there will be riots eventually.

In my younger days charities were manned by volunteers and did not take vast salaries from the donations.
The thing is that they still rely on the goodwill of volunteers harrigran - and all the while the fat cats at the top are earning huge salaries, bonuses and travelling first class.

Apparently they "have to pay these salaries to attract the right people". Unfortunately, the right people often prove to be the wrong people.

Some are and some aren’t (sorry that doesn’t answer the question) MissA but many of them pay big bonuses on top . My concern is how many people paying say £5 per month ( thinking that it’s goubg directly to help the particular cause) does it take just to pay just one of these exhorbitant wages/bonuses ? And there are often quite a few executives on the boards . That’s before the “charity” sees a single penny .

Are their wages higher than those paid in different sectors for the same type of position?
I'm not be facetious, just wondering?

Relieved that’s it’s not just me who is looking carefully at where I donate my very hard earned money . I will not stop giving to cancer research as I made a pledge a few years ago that my conscience will not allow me to break . I do not give to any other large charities preferring to support those smaller ones ( like the local hospice) close to my heart and home . I find it obscene that the big charities are sitting on £ millions.... £ billions even and paying their top executives ridiculously high wages and bonuses .
As for Motability I’m glad there is to be a long overdue enquiry .

Regarding charities, we ought to do a little research sometimes before donating. A about a month ago there was a regular advert on tv showing a midwife delivering babies in a rural area of Liberia. I think her ‘name’ was Sarah or similar & in the ad she was surrounded by children & babies all named after her. So sweet.
I was sceptical wondering why their own government couldn’t provide a much needed clinic & midwives.
So I googled ‘corruption in Liberia’.
Jeez.
I didn’t donate.

Guide Dogs is another charity which has hundreds of MILLIONS squirrelled away/invested in overseas companies earning high interest rates.
How do we know if these investments are in ethical companies or indeed ones of which we would approve? We don't, and there's the rub.

Does anyone deserve a salary of £1.7 million, regardless of who they are ?
I have looked for lists of salaries for charity CEOs and then revised who I donate to. In my younger days charities were manned by volunteers and did not take vast salaries from the donations.
We had a run in with the National Trust when my cousin left a bequest in his will. The terms of the will stated they would get one third of the remaining estate after family bequests had been honoured. They tried to get one third of the estate before family bequests, how greedy is that even sending solicitor's letter because my sister had to pay for disposal of household articles. They thought that she should fly from abroad and wind up the estate at her own cost, for a relative she saw once every couple of years.
I did not receive a penny nor did I expect to but I did expect a little decorum from a charity that received multi thousands as a gift.

I would help anyone in need but I never give to charities. I think it's a disgrace that the CEOs are paid ridiculously high salaries. The whole thing is out of control. By the way it's often pensioners who give to charities as they feel obliged to when asked. I have a small pension and I've no intention of sharing it with any fat cat.

I volunteer for Cats Protection (fund raising) but that money all goes to the local branch and is used for food, litter, vets bills, etc, for any cats being fostered in our area before they are adopted. We have several charity shops in the city but only two fund our local branch - profit from the others goes to Head Office - so I make a point of only donating to the two local shops. And, finally, I volunteer at a community garden and help raise money for them to buy seeds, compost, etc, but nobody is paid - everyone is a volunteer - and the finances are presented by our Treasurer every month. That's the way to do it when you don't have a lot of spare cash but want to help out charities. NfkDumpling and Gillybob have got it right ... go local.

Very well outlined by janeainsworth !

Motobility Chairman Mike Betts has resigned.

There has just been a piece on Radio 4 on You & Yours about Motability.
It was an interview with a woman from the National Audit Office which has just conducted an enquiry into Motibility.

She said that motability customers are able to lease their cars 44% cheaper through Motability than from other organisations. That has to be good news for disabled people. As Kathsue says, eligibility is limited to certain disability benefit claimants.
In the report, Motability was criticised a) for its over-generous bonuses which came about through people meeting targets that were too easy to achieve and b)for their long-term forecasting of the value of their used cars (which they re-sell) which affected their balance sheet & progitability. My eyes glaze over when anything to do with accounting appears, but that was the gist of it.

I think it's a very complicated issue. It's only fair that disabled people are given every help and support possible and if this is maximised by giving charitable status to a company which enables that support to be provided, so be it.

On the other hand, Motability's charitable status perhaps gives it an unfair advantage over other companies leasing cars to the public, and it in no way justifies giving executives bonuses that they haven't earned and don't deserve.

A lot of people seem to think that motability cars are given away for free. They are NOT. As Janea said earlier the individuals pay for them out of their disability allowance. they lease the cars for 3 years, they never own them.
As for the lady who gave hers to her mother ..that is completely illegal. Motability cars should only be used while the disabled person is in them or for their benefit.The lady mentioned could have used her mobility component to pay for taxis. No way could she have given her car to anyone.

But not the likes of Motability

Were it not for Save the Children setting up field hospitals and recruiting nurses and doctors worldwide the last Ebola outbreak would not have been contained and dealt with.

The World Health Organisation was a complete farce.

The skills and strategic planning was completely lacking in the WHO. Luckily that charity and it’s ‘fat cat boss’ acted professionally and effectively our who knows what the consequences for us might have been.

In s global fight against potential pandemics we need these big charities with their resources, experience and know how.

I am a bit iffy about motability cars. I only know two people who have them and one has a well to do husband and a hefty personal pension herself and could easily afford a car herself. Her husband drives her at the moment and her car is not used. The other person gave her mother her car and took taxis . She once said how expensive taxis were from her mother's house and I asked if her mother could drive . She then told me that her mother had a car bought for her daughter's benefit but was not prepared to drive her about.

Unfortunately in a market force led society, to get the best person for the job they have to be paid the "going" rate.

Morality does not play a part in business and these large charities are run like large corporations nowadays.

I do not support any of the large nation/world wide charities, preferring local small ones, were you can see the difference made, these are often run by volunteers who only claim for expenses they have incurred.

I don't understand that either Parsley apart from the ridiculous salary scale they apparently have millions in the bank. How can this be? I agree close scrutiny is essential.

Jane that’s exactly the point was making. There are charities who rely on fund raising and others who really should not be accorded the benefits that having charity status brings.

The distinction is important.

That really is totally unacceptable.

I usually give to Crisis at Christmas, but have had second thoughts this year - I am thinking of doing a Tesco order and getting it delivered to one of two local charities that feed the homeless - all run by volunteers, so no fat cat salaries.

I agree, Gillybob. As a tax payer, I want to know how Motability has become so lucrative as a business. I know from personal experience that the Motobility scheme is a very generous one for recipients but for it to be extremely rich on top of this is a concern. It may well have been started with good intentions but some scrutiny is now required.

Charities are BIG business. This salary/bonus and possibly other perks?? seem ridiculous

I’m not sure what your argument is to be honest Jane Motability operations Ltd is an extremely rich public limited company running a charity raking in £2billion of tax payers money every year . Something smells very fishy .

It seems to me that the way (big) charities are run now is on a business model. Presumably this is to maximise their fund-raising, but along the way it also antagonises supporters.