Nice little earner?

My FiL donated to Macmillan for many years until at the age of 90 he was in need of pallative care. One visit from Macmillan was full of platitudes and the way they could help, they then dissapeared into the sunset and it was left to my wife with assistance from other agencies to look after him.

Needless to say my wife cancelled her monthly donation to this not so just cause.

I am a firm believer of supporting local charities that have smaller overheads and a larger majority of their donations goes directly to the cause they support. National charities are not supported by this household when in a lot of cases less than 10p in the £ from donations goes directly to the cause.

I stopped donating to children in need when I read if the huge amount they had in reserves.

No, too much like hard work!

I don’t think it’s the CEOs going out cajoling anyone.

But much, much more than the people they pester for donations.

Personally I couldn’t take a salary of £110,00 knowing that I cajoled the kindhearted to give from their salary of £20,000 or less so that I could enjoy my wealthy lifestyle.

I am a lawyer working for a charity and I earn considerably less than I would if I worked in the private sector! However I gain job satisfaction from my work that I never did in private firms and consider it worth the salary drop.
Yes the heads of charities (large ones) earn large salaries, but they are still earning less than their private sector counterparts

Leavesden the payment to the Chief Executive of Children in Need in 2015 (the most recent I could find) was £110,800.

Just so you know.

*Leavesden it is totally unrealistic to expect that a charity give all it's money to their cause, how are they supposed to pay for even the most basic of admin functions?

I would only give to a charity if all the money I give goes to the cause like Children in need.

"his predecessors salary and benefits amounted to £140K in 2017. He earned £200K in 2011 working for the NHS" I know I like numbers but has no one noticed that if he was earning £200k in 2011 and has taken over a job paying £149k 6 years later he has almost certainly taken a considerable pay drop?

I don't know what an appropriate salary is but do think that you need someone really good to run any organisation and make a profit with, after all, is what they are about.

I think if we look closely at charity appeals we will see we can tick a box next to one of the suggested amounts and then see another box for 'any other amount'. Of course they want to suggest high amounts to attract those who can afford it but those who cannot can go to the 'other amount' box.

Please everyone who pays taxes give your donations using gift aid to maximise the amount donated at no extra cost.

Telly your post Sat 18-May-19 21:59:05 - you surekly can't believe the shower in government at the moment could really run a big charity, no matter how much they were paid!!!

I can understand your concern but charities are companies and run as such so if they want to attract the best calibre of staff they have to pay competetive salaries. I would say the salaries of CEs in charities are generally lower than that of many major companies. But I agree with other posters that I think you should judge the charity on their results not the salaries of the staff.

The Charity Commission has details of income and expenditure (including governance and how much is spent on charitable activities) it does give a picture of percentages spent on each. There’s a pdf file too but unfortunately I can’t read it on my iPad.

Oh Chucky, How I feel for you! One can't help feeling that these things are run by insensitive and selfish people who have no clue about what it is like to struggle in life and probably do not care anyway!
Well, we care here on GransNet, I hope!

ayse.
"I’m not a fan of huge salaries for any CEO’s or senior managers. I’ve seen too many of them riding on the backs of more junior staff."
I admire your perspicacity! Such an enlightening comment, thanks.

I detest these excuses for high salaries, such as "we have to do it or we won't get the best people".
So is that why we get the Politicians we have today? Their salaries being lower than that of CEOs etc in other fields?

Tillybelle I had a similar experience. I am now disabled and medically retired.
I phoned one of the charities, I support by monthly DD, to explain that they could no longer claim back the tax on my donation as, due to permanent disability, I was on a very low income and no longer paid any tax. The person on the phone said she would amend my details and asked if I would like to increase the amount I donated to make up for the shortfall? I said no as I am struggling financially and can not afford any more (can’t really afford what I do give).
Two weeks later I received a letter asking me to consider increasing my donation and sign up for tax relief!
If the Charity was not one very close to my heart I would have cancelled my DD!!

I give local charities only,the hospice that helped me is one
I looked up what they paid the people that signed you up in street for various schemes, higher than minimum wage plus over time rates,my donation would not pay an hour of their wages so charity would get nothing.

Several years ago DH was persuaded to sign up for a monthly donation to a national charity at the local supermarket but after some arm twisting I persuaded him to cancel it.
Last year a national charity canvasser cold called our street and DH was persuaded to sign up for a monthly donation. Unfortunately I was out, I'm good at getting rid of cold callers. I cannot persuade him to cancel this donation to a charity with a CE on a large salary.
I feel there are one or two local charities doing the sort of work that this particular national charity is doing and I would rather give to them as I see them as more accountable and sometimes there is news about them in the local paper. Also there is no large salary going to those who run these local charities.
I Gift Aid to two churches, donate an item of food every week to a food bank and make other charitable donations as one-offs so I personally would not give to a large national charity with a highly paid CE.

MawBroonsback I meant to add: Good for them!

Charlieb. I'm sorry to hear about your MS. I hope it is being gentle on. you and that life is going reasonably well.

I agree about these requests for more money from Charities. It does become bullying. I abhor that someone afflicted by the condition that the charity represents is being bullied by them. It is unforgivable.

I had similar experiences with a charity I would rather not publicly name - sorry - and eventually wrote and explained I am now disabled, on a fixed low income etc. They wrote a polite letter back. Then I got a phone call, "We wondered if you have thought of increasing your donation...."!

I know charities are struggling now that their donors are finding money very tight. But they should never lose sight of the fact that how they approach people for donations reflects very strongly on the attitudes and ethos of the charity.

I do agree with Telly, that the CEO's salary can be distastefully high when the organisation is a charity. I do not know how we overcome the dilemma. They say you can't get the right quality of person unless you compete with the salaries in industry and commerce. Is that really true? Are there not young-retired people with very fine skills and knowledge who would be happy to work on an average National Salary to Head-up a charity for the first 5 years of their retirement? I think Nick Palmer of Compassion in World Farming is retired from his life-long work. He recently was appointed CEO of that charity. I don't know his salary, but he is so ethical I know he won't drain the charity's coffers for his own ends.

Pennywhistle
I love the idea of lending to someone particular. Do you have a link to any of the charities who do this?

I don’t generally give to large charities except for air ambulance and lifeboats as I prefer to support our local hospice.

I’m not a fan of huge salaries for any CEO’s or senior managers. I’ve seen too many of them riding on the backs of more junior staff.

just for interest:
do much pro bono work for charities of their own volition applying their expertise which in the outside world would not come cheap

Definition of "pro bono":
pro bono
adverb & adjective
1.denoting work undertaken without charge, especially legal work for a client on low income.
"the attorneys are representing him pro bono"
synonyms:free, gratis, unpaid, unrewarded, unsalaried, free of charge, without charge, for nothing, at no cost, without payment, for the common good;

I agree to the OP and others about not wishing to finance the salaries of senior managers of some charities.

A friend recommended lending money to someone in a poor community via an organised charity. In this way, I have been able to lend money to a woman in Uganda (along with lots of other lenders) to buy a new sewing machine. When that was repaid, I lent the same money again to another similar person - and so on.

In this way, I get to choose who my money is lent to, and in doing so know that I am helping someone to create a business to enable them to make money to care for themselves and their families. Also the money is re-lent when the original person has paid it back.

There are several such charitable organisations found online.

I work as head of finance for a medium-sized charity and can assure you that I earn vastly less than any of the silly amounts quoted. I would like to think that anyone employed in the voluntary sector does it as a vocation and doesn't merely measure like for like with the private sector. If so I'd get double what I have now! And none of the 20-30 hours a week of unpaid overtime I contribute. As it is our highest paid employee (not me) is on less than £70,000 - not a pittance, but not, I hope, considered excessive. It's very complicated running charities now and you do need professionals in key positions. Ours was managed very cheaply by well meaning amateurs up until about ten years ago - disentangling the messes they left behind has cost us hundreds of thousands. Really.

I have Secondary Progressive M S for 22 years,
I always made donations throughout but then l started receiving emails asking to increase my donations.
I do increase the amount each year as to what l can comfortably afford.
I also contribute to M S Trust , they have never asked me to increase my donation .
I’m considering giving my donations to M S trust
I hate being bullied into this.