Anyone else irritated by all the adverts asking for £3 a month to help………

Kali2

MayBeMaw

Christmas spirit alive and well I see.

This - truly ... no words.

How irritating those poor, starving children hey! Christmas, did you say?

I think it's obvious that most posters on here do donate to charity and quite generously in fact.

Some even volunteer for charities.

How about that!

Yes we are sick of them too and we turn the sound off. I know charities need support but too many vulnerable people get affected by these ads, makes me mad.

DH has a list of the adverts for give "Just ..." and it's up to 30. I'm all for helping where we can but I refuse to be emotionally blackmailed for the ills of the world.

We do give every month to a local food bank and animal rescue charity plus I nearly always put something into the food bank collection at the supermarket as well as putting cash into collecting tins.

But I've heard some real horror stories around charity strong arm tactics, one person I know was so distressed their son had to get involved. Made us very careful of not committing to DD or such.

I adopted a pony for DD some years ago so that's a yearly donation and I have monthly direct debits for Wood Green Animal Shelter (Because they do very little advertising) and one of the refugees in Calais charities. I also donate to our local hospice because the guy who stopped me in the street hugged and kissed me when I told him DH had just died and, unusually, understood exactly why he died.

When my mother (who lives in another country) had a stroke I contacted the Stroke Association to ask for information, which they sent me. As a thank you I made a generous one off donation. After that I began receiving magazines and letters asking for more money for several years - I am sure the cost of soliciting more money from me almost equalled the sum I had donated.

There are several local charities I support and before donating to any other charity I always look up how much the people running it are paid - it used to be a surprise, not any more.

When my H died and people asked about flowers or donations I just said to donate to charity of their choice.
Someone donated to their local hospital and was asked for my name and address so they could write to me informing me of their donation.
Within weeks they were writing to me asking me to sign up and donate to them.
I received magazines, notifications of fund raising events etc.
I ignored them all but what an insensitive time to start this.
Firstly it reminded me how they came to be getting in touch but secondly my income had reduced significantly.

EllanVannin

I can't understand these charities that have prize-giving occasions. Prizes are invariably monetary which doesn't make sense to me at all. Surely they need all the funds they can get, not give away hundreds in prize money ?

EllanVannin so far as I understand it, the charities sell enough tickets that they do in fact come out with a profit.

However it doesn't sit right with me when they pay people to cold call on their behalf, not sure why I feel that way, maybe I'm just cynical.

I always like to check what a charity's income and outgoings are, and I won't give to any who pay obscene amounts of money to their executive staff. A couple of examples:

The RSPCA’s Chief Executive is paid a total cash payment
(including base pay and car allowance) of £150,007.

Cancer Research: CEO, Michelle Mitchell, was paid £215,500 base salary between April 2020 and March 2021.

I give to a chosen few charities, like the Fistula Clinic; Soi Dog; RNLI; Air Ambulance and some small UK ones and when I get a cold call just say that, and add that I cannot afford to contribute to any others, say goodbye politely and put the phone down while they're still talking.

If they persistently call, I ask them to remove me from their calling list - which I believe they're then legally obliged to do. It works for me, anyway.

That's terrible Sparklefizz - I think if you were to set up a direct debit for £5 each month you'd pretty soon be asked if you could increase it to £7, etc, etc which is why I prefer to give the occasional payment to the charities I favour.

Over the last few weeks I've had cold calls from a local charity which has a lottery which I've declined and blocked but still these calls come through on a slightly different number. If I give I want it to be because I've chosen to do so, not 'guilt-tripped' into it.

When we were away in the summer we saw a RNLI display. We would have given a one off donation but they wouldn't take it because they were not allowed to handle cash so they only wanted to get us to sign up to a direct debit so they did not receive any money from us.

I wonder how many more people would have made a one off donation that day who just walked away.

Yes and most of them are overseas. I don’t give to any but I do give them my old stuff when I’ve finished with to high street charities it and my buy stuff from them and end of day who’s got the money to just give away now adays. I’ve just bought a toy for the toy app for kids here. I also buy my poppy every year.

My real issue with these ads is exactly how much of the money they are asking for goes to the 'cause' and how much is swallowed up by marketing costs and salaried staff?

Whilst I understand that these are all , no doubt, worthy causes that need to raise funds I dislike the volume that are on TV - even if the tv time was free , the making of the advert was surely not.

Grandmabatty

I used to give every month to the Red Cross until I started getting regular phone calls trying to get me to give more each month. It got to the point that I was getting numerous calls every day. I cancelled my direct debit and will never give to charity in that way again. It's a form of harassment.

I suppose it depends on the charity GrandmaBatty. I’ve given a monthly direct debit to The Children’s Society for over 20 years now. I requested no pamphlets or correspondence in the mail thank you for which they have kept their promise. Over the years I have voluntarily increased the amount of the direct debit.

I give a monthly donation to Battersea Dogs Home and London Air Ambulance. They are really good, I receive an email thanking me for my support but never asking for a penny extra.

I give a one/off amount annually to CPL, no problems there and ditto to the Macular Society. I also do voluntary work for the latter but as already mentioned they are never off my back looking for more money. The latter employ a lot of staff and I doubt if any are on minimum wage so I have a feeling the vast majority of money goes there and not on research.

The red cross was a bloody nuisance with both my mum and my daughter, to the extent that my girl was afraid to answer her phone in case it was them, pressurising her to increase her donation.

When I answered, they were really rude to me when I asked them to give it a rest.

Just had someone at the door selling or wanting me to sign up to a charity.
I don't like cold callers so said 'No thank you' politely but he was very rude. I feel quite shaken

I give to my selected charities. But not to ones that go to war torn countries (much as the ordinary people deserve it) as much of the money goes into the coffers of the warlords. Also the ‘sponsor a girl’ to stop child marriage and FGM. These practises are perpetuated by the child’s parents and I don’t see how that can be stopped without their governments intervening.

Yes i do find those ads irritating. I refuse point blank to give to any charity that has a CEO on a ludicrous wage or can afford tv adverts. This year i have donated to Marys Meals, also local charity that delivers Christmas presents to any child in need, I have donated a Sweatshirt to a charity that collects "named" items that are given to teenagers to stop them being bullied because they don't have the "right" clothes. Next week i shall buy a few bags of groceries to leave on the doorstep of a family that i know are struggling and 4 Blythswood boxes have been filled. My usual hamper will be sent to the staff in the High dependency neonatal unit that saved my darling Grandchilds life.

There’s one keeps popping up at the top of the page WWF I believe.

I have a problem with the super rich doing charity songs and the super rich that preach socialist values.

The £3 a month thing I think is a good idea except do you homework to see which are the richest charities and which spend a lot of the donations of their fancy offices.

I am fed up with charities for people abroad they must think we have very deep pockets with oaps living on the bread lie who worked all their lives do we help them no wake up uk look after pur own people first

I prefer to give to smaller charities where I can see how the money is spent, rather than those with numerous titled 'bigwigs' pocketting large sums just for giving their name on the top of the page. Don't see them out selling raffle tickets etc! Also feel the so called celebs voicing the adverts for the bigger charities, don't do it for nothing! If I gave to everyone who begged I would need a begging bowl of my own!

I don’t mind donating but I find the absolute waste of money sending through the post month after month. U have to give your address for gift aid and then hey presto all your donation is swallowed up in mail shots. I do give but stop nagging me.

Before anyone gets financially involved with a charity - especially a heart tugger - you should ask them for disclosure of salaries paid to the CEO of said organisation. You would be shocked how much is skimmed off of donations and into pockets of those at the top. Charities are very lucrative 'non profit' organisations. Let charity begin at home.

I do not think that all these charities need my money when they can afford to pay their Executive Officers £200,000 plus per annum - more than the PM receives

Not at all irritated no, just always so grateful that my family & I don’t need these charities !

I've recently moved into a bungalow and the amount of begging letters the previous tenant recieved was eye-watering the poor lady was harrased by every charity l could imagine and some I didn't know existed. Initially l was sending back as not at this address but now l just bin them