How do you choose

Nobody expects everyone to donate to everything and the charities are often only following their own remit to collect funds - some would say that if some of the bigger charities just stopped paying their CEOs, for a while, they would all be better off financially!
I only support the ones that I feel I have a connection for - or it is something that has personally affected me through my own experience or family and friends.

Aepgirl

If you check on the Charity Commission’s website you will be astounded at the number of charities that you have probably never heard of.
I don’t understand why, for example, all the cancer charities can’t combine to save money on premises, etc. I certainly won’t give money to any charity that occupies splendid offices in expensive areas.
I certainly don’t give to charities that try to ‘sign me up’ on the doorstep or in the high street.

Many of the small, individual charities were started in memory of cancer sufferers and they may not all donate their money to one of the bigger charities, which would be more sensible. The work carried out by the large charities differs tremendously. We all know about MacMillan and Cancer UK which is purely research. Then there are others with different areas of expertise. such as Anthony Nolan which finds donors of bone marrow, CLIC Sargent which helps families deal with childhood cancer and many others, all of which deal with different problems.

Imagine putting all of those into one building, perhaps one of the towering blocks in London. I suppose it might help the problems of Pret etc.

To address the post...I give by dd and try to ignore the appeals but with difficulty and occasionally send off a lump sum to an urgent cause but dont sign up.

I have aimed monthly dd's to a mix of charities.
I understand larger charities need well paid people - as long as they get the funds in and manage them well I'm ok with that. Having been on committees with volunteers I know the limitations and inability to develop without paid professionals on board.

It does saddens and anger me to read if abuse of funds and position though, eg workers abroad abusing locals

Dinahmo
After an inspiring talk by the founder of a very local charity which was building a school in Africa, I gave them what I considered to be a large donation and a friend also told me her husband had done the same. We learnt later that the money had been used to pay for the family to go out to Africa to see how the site work was progressing. Never again

We are all going to make very different choices, which is understandable. I know that charities benefit from consistent income, so I try and be reliable.. I like the big ones with a global reach because there is only one earth and we are all affected in one way or another by the suffering elsewhere. We are so lucky here and tend to forget it, even with (excuse me) idiot PM etc. So I do (modest) reliable donations, annual to Amnesty, monthly to Oxfam. I also like small charities such as our Air Ambulance and local hospice. I also do micro finance called Lend with Care. I really like that - you lend small amounts to a person struggling to set up a business in a poor country and when it is repaid I lend to another one, and top it up as I go. Over the last 5 years I have “lent” to over a hundred individuals.

I'd like to try to put the matter straight regarding the spending of the large charities. For 20 years, whilst living in Suffolk I was Treasure of a local group of fundraisers for Save the Children. At that time the general idea was that around 10% of funds raised went on overheads. So I looked at the 2019 Annual Report and found the following:



Institutional donors 180,000,000
Individuals and communities 73,000,000
Corporate partnerships &
major donors 34,000,000
Trading 13,000,000
Other _ 7,000,000_

Total -307,000,000_

Fundraising expenses 35,970,000
Charitable activities 270.632,000

The CEO's annual salary is £143,000 and the salaries of the other Executive Department Heads range between £112,000 and £137,000. Compare this with the CEO of M & S, Steve Rowe whose remuneration for 2018/19 was £1,667,000.

Admittedly M & S has a much larger turnover of £10.4 billion and the percentage of turnover paid to their CEO is lower than the percentage paid to the CEO of Save the Children but I don't think that the latter's salary is excessive.

On the subject of small charities, many of which are vanity projects, there is often abuse of funds which you may not be aware of.

Meant to add the later two helped DH and I get through an extremely difficult time which is why I chose them.

If you check on the Charity Commission’s website you will be astounded at the number of charities that you have probably never heard of.
I don’t understand why, for example, all the cancer charities can’t combine to save money on premises, etc. I certainly won’t give money to any charity that occupies splendid offices in expensive areas.
I certainly don’t give to charities that try to ‘sign me up’ on the doorstep or in the high street.

London Air Ambulance a local hospice and Marie Curie are my choice.

We have monthly payments to a couple of dog rescue homes. We've 'adopted' a donkey in Devon and a little boy in Peru. We take part in the local hospice raffle . In fact our payments to charity haven't changed at all due to lockdown.

We choose a couple of charities each year to donate to. They usually have a family connection. So when a family member had support from Macmillan durinn their cancer treatment they were one of our causes. We got a dog from Battersea so they got donations. We do change each year though.

I have a bit of a scattergun approach to this. I give relatively small but regular donations to about half a dozen charities, some big, some small local charities.
What about Gift Aid? I do it for those charities that help people in need, but not for the cultural charity which I also support. After all, the government (awful as this one is) does need our taxes!

I prefer small local charities. The big ones are huge businesses and pay massive salaries to directors. They also haven't covered themselves in glory over the past few years with sexual abuse scandals etc. I like to see where the money is going!

Echoing others, I generally donate to local charities - the only exception to this is the Poppy Appeal, although I generally donate via a local veterans hospital. Like others I prefer my donation to be used for purpose rather than an executive salary.

I give to a number of charities, modest amounts by DD, some animal, all chosen for personal reasons. I give one off donations occasionally to a couple of others. I don't like being approached as I try to enter the supermarket or at my front door really, other than the Poppy Appeal and RNLI.

When we were working we used to donate to a couple of national children's charities. Now we are on a limited income we just give to a local children's cancer charity, plus any clothes, household items etc to the various high street charity shops.

Just choose a one and stick with it. There are so many that we cannot pay into them all.

I donate to my local hospice. I may need them one day. Also to Children’s Air Ambulance and the RNLI. Have personally witnessed a rescue by the latter.

Don't give to charities that spend too much on executive salaries, but don't give to charities that don't spend enough on admin either. A charity that goes bust because it didn't organise itself properly is worse than a spendthrift charity that at least does something.

Its a very personal thing, isn't it? I give to a charity that my family have been involved with one way or another for nearly 70 years - both giving and receiving help. I also tend to donate to emergency requests such as natural disasters, as I think that they need help quickly.

I don't necessarily avoid charities who employ well paid executives and professional fundraisers. If by doing that they raise more money and use it effectively, then that's OK by me. I'd rather a charity used 90% of £100,000 than 100% of £10,000.

But as I say, very personal choice.

I only donate to charities where I can see results, consequently I sponsor a guide dog for the blind, 2 hearing dogs for the deaf, the RNLI, and the local air ambulance.

It is hard. I usually stick to ones that have relevance to us as a family (disabled relative) for my main donations. I might put a few coins in a tin or buy a raffle ticket for others but thats all. I'm certainly not going to be pressured into changing loyalties bu the local do gooders.

I used to get cross at work. They were quite strict on what they would allow or not - mostly not. Two people were allowed to do things for their oet charities one did a macmillan coffee morning every year, the other did a donations instead of christmas card thing - no one else could even sell a raffle ticket. I did ask one year why other charities couldnt be supported maybe taking it in turns each year but I wasn't popular!!

My mantra is your pet charity is not my pet charity!!

I support our local hospice and local blood bikers.

I do a small monthly DD to the hospital in Wales that treated my son when he had Leukaemia. The money goes to buy treats for the children whilst they are in isolation in hospital, they need brand new toys and books to stop infection risk.

I’m also supporting a child in Africa through school and will continue to sponsor her thorough university . I get news about her a couple of time’s a year which is nice