So many good causes, how do I choose?

gilly, It's from the Road to Emmaus story in the bible where Jesus appears after his resurrection to two disciples

emmaus.org.uk/about-us/history/

This link gives lots of information - quite a fascinating history.

Excuse my ignorance Merlot but what does EMMAUS stand for?

When it comes to charity shop donations we support our local EMMAUS. I remember Terry Waite opening it in the nineties and it has gone from a single hut style building to a community of accommodation blocks, workshops, chicken farm and of course the large saleroom.

They are the most helpful bunch of people you could wish to meet. When we cleared out my mother's bungalow when she went into care they not only collected furniture etc., but stopped off at our place on the way back to add a sideboard that we wanted to find a home for and while they were at it they helped DH move our piano into a different room because they had the 'runners' in the back of their van.

The ethos of 'helping the homeless help themselves' has certainly proved true in their case.

Choose the charities closet to your heart and directly help the charity, many of the larger charities spend a great deal on advertising and admin, some as much as 90%!.

Hellooooo Iam64 ?

Our town was decimated by the collapse of the coal mines and the shipyards (cheers for that Maggie) and we now have one of the largest unemployment rates in the country (another thing to be proud of....not) . I feel so sad that people in my town have to rely on food banks to feed themselves and their families when there are people not so far away with so much money they couldn’t spend it in 3 lifetimes .

Having said that the Geordies are a very generous “race” and what little we have, we share . Rather be like we are than secular, selfish people, constantly greedy for more £££££.

I do give a small amount to one large charity in memory of my late mum but often wonder how much actually goes to the charity after the executives have taken their very large cuts ?

gillybob - waving to you from the other side of the Penines. we are north west and like you had mines, manufacturing and in our case, mills. Now we have unemployment, food banks and homelessness. We do have some wealthy people of course but the disparity between those of us who are ok and those who aren't feels Victorian.
I understand the irritation expressed about large salaries and running costs for some of the big charities but, they have to be run like a business. That along with the corruption in some of the countries they supply support to inevitably cause some hesitation to donate but the help is still needed.

I hate the fact that we have to have food banks at all in this country - I can remember being horrified not so many years ago that they were common in the USA, and now look at us. One of our local schools had to set a new one up recently, to support its families through the holidays.

Thank you Maggiemaybe I thinks it’s a great idea too. The items are all chosen with the advice from the food bank so they are items that they really need rather than just lots of tinned beans etc.

It’s a pity more supermarkets didn’t introduce it as we have the counties biggest food bank right here in the North East (what a horrible claim to fame that is ) .

I don`t give money as most of it is eaten up in administration sometimes up to 90%.
I have asked the childrens hospital what they could do with to help the children pass the time of day, and lap tops/tv`s/etc are always welcome.

It is difficult, and you can’t give to everything.

I decided that I would settle on a particular cause and in my case children. So I have money taken out monthly for children overseas (Save the children) and a charity in the U.K. (NSPCC) .
I am actively looking at other charities like Medecins sans Frontieres at the moment.

Any spare cash gets given to animals. This month a donation to donkeys. Last month WWF.

But I also believe strongly in Green issues.

It is all very difficult,.

That Morrison’s scheme sounds great, gillybob.

We used to sponsor a child in India, Spangler, and support for the particular area she lived in was pulled, according to the charity, when the community became too demanding and they found local corruption affecting the scheme as well. I felt very sorry for the children, but it did put me off.

So we switched to a national homeless charity, and they nearly lost us by calling regularly to “update us” and try by any means they could to get the direct debit increased. I eventually told them that if they rang one more time we would cancel it, and fortunately they haven’t done! If we didn’t know that they do great work for the homeless, we might have gone anyway.

We all know they’re desperate for funds, but it’s worrying that vulnerable people could be pressured into agreeing to pay out more than they can afford.

I am loathe to give to charities where the chief executives cream massive salaries off the top before the charity bit kicks in. It’s just so wrong .

Whether it’s a children’s charity a food bank or one of the larger charities, I think giving to charity is very personal and you should choose something that is close to your heart Phoenix . I can’t give as much as I would like to at the moment but continue to support our local food bank and make a regular donation to a larger charity in memory of my late mum . Of course I fill the various charity sacks that pop through the letter box whenever I can too.

Morrison’s supermarket have a good idea where they have paper bags pre-filled with about 4-5 small items and you just pick up a bag and pay for it with your usual shopping then you pop it into the collection trolley. I have done it since it started so don’t even notice paying for it anymore.

I suppose every little bit helps .

For 30 or more years, we gave to Plan International, whereby you sponsor a child. The child's progress is sent to you with regular updates. As one child grew into an adult so another became your sponsored little one.

This is difficult to say, but be cautious with this kind of charity. We had a phone call from one of those, what the press dubbed as chuggers, charity muggers. He tried everything to shame us into increasing our donations. He failed.

Following that phone call I checked out how much of the charity money is retained for the day to day running costs.
Twenty percent is retained, and the head honcho receives in excess of £200,000 salary.

I cancelled our subscription and now give to local charities like the hospice.

I think local charities are the way to go especially if like Merlotgran you have a personal connection.
I think the Salvation Army does an excellent job in many areas and I have confidence in them.
The other charity I have actually seen providing great support is Sense for deaf blind children & adults.
Of course Dogs Trust if you are a dog lover.

We do donate to charities supporting children in war torn areas. Usually via Unicef.
At the start of lockdown, we set up a DD to our local charity which runs food banks and supports the homeless. We'd usually pop stuff into their boxes after the supermarket shop but we now have it delivered.
I take clothes, furniture etc to the Salvation Army. Our local hospice has regular fund raisers and we donate there.
I don't mean to sound like a wealthy person -not talking huge amounts.

I only donate money and goods to local small charities that are run by genuine, caring volunteers. My main one being a local animal rescue home or the air ambulance.

I keep my donations local too, the food bank and London Air Ambulance, also the Hospice whose team helped me keep DH at home in his last weeks. I feel like others that some donations abroad just feed corrupt governments.

As most have said, the local ones who are struggling and don't have huge admin or travel budgets.
I support, when I can, a group of women who began teatching people with intellectual impaiment how to cook, to give them indepedence and confidence.
Like Topsy it just grewed and now they cook dinners for children in schools; have expanded the number of people they teach and are now growing all their own vegetables.

The other charity began with a young couple, turned their farm into a refuge for farm animals who'd been dumped and/or abused.
They rush out and rescue battery hens when ever the owner says he's had as much from them as he can squeeze.

The hens go on to lead happy, productive lives for many years.

I know every single penny of what I can spare goes into helping; not flash TV commercials and jollies for the staff.

The adverts for the SMILE charity I think it’s called, to pay for children with cleft palates in Africa, always makes me think it is such a good cause. I think it featured in an episode of The Good Karma Hospital, the Smile train travels around and performs surgery.

Having said that, my own charity donations are to local ones, a horse rescue centre amongst them.

UNICEF seems a good charity. We wanted to help poor families ( in India especially) during this coronavirus pandemic.

Like others it's always the local charities for me, specifically the local hospice. A monthly direct debit donation, plus donations throughout the year if they're having a specific fundraising. And in the New Year, they'll come to collect your Christmas tree for a donation so I support that too.

I give to London air ambulance- hoping I will never need them personally. Also to my local Cat Protection League- it is run by a few dedicated females and I have homed three delightful cats from there.

I may get my head bitten off when I say this but it is how I feel. I never give to African countries- I feel it is a bottomless pit and I'm contributing towards another fancy car for somebody in a high position.

I also contribute towards the local food bank and also the local RSPCA.

phoenix stay local, I personally think you may get more satisfaction out of it.

As a family we all support our local hospice where DD was cared for at the end of her life. We owe them more than we can say.

The sight of starving children in Yemen always moves me especially as they now have coronavirus to deal with but like others I would be concerned as to whether or not the money gets to the right place. I do donate directly to a charity in Aden though which is run by a contact who goes back to my schooldays there and is a member of our now quite large facebook group. In 2015 we raised money to re-equip some schools after they were destroyed during the conflict of that year. It gave us all a buzz to actually see photos of where the money was spent and the children wearing their uniforms, sitting in newly equipped classrooms.

I also support the British Heart Foundation in a small way.