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

I agree. Now I give cash as and when I can afford by either the tins when they have a flag day type or have been into charity shops and they usually have a tin there, or I will give extra money if I buy something, making sure that it is put into the till or whatever. constantly asked to gift aid but as I have very little money simply say I dont pay enough tax to gift aid. Badgering people like the chuggers type thing makes me far less likely to give anything to these charities so they do themselves no good.

My DH and I donate our winter fuel payments to the Distaster Emergency Fund (DEC) who prioritize where the donations go. This year it is going to five charities for Afghanaistan. They have never chased us up for more. I also have S/O for my little GD to sponsor a guide dog for the Blind. I put a couple of items in the food bank trolley when I do my weekly shopping and also give ad hoc throughout the year so I feel I do my bit so have to ignore all the other appeals I'm afraid. I get very annoyed by those unsolicited letters in the post that include free pens notepads,cards etc. I once phoned the Red Cross to complain and to ask them to take me off their mailing list. Needless to say they didn't! I would never set up a direct debit and I think what happened to Sparklefizz was terrible. I don't seem to see many Chuggers now but any that do approach me get short shrift!

I think they're all deserving charities, but regret that many are now corporate, with a CEO getting paid an enormous salary and TV adverts costing huge amounts of money too. I prefer to donate to the Salvation Army at Christmas, not for any religious reason, but just becasue I'm fairly sure that most of the money goes directly where it's needed.

Yes, I am! And not just tv ads. We live a few steps from a main road so charity workers are constantly knocking and asking me to sign up to give 2, 3 or more pounds a month. I tell them all that I'd be happy to give a one-off donation but I've had the same two charity debits for twenty years and can't take on any more. Each time I say it I feel like Mrs Scrooge and I really resent that! Even more annoying are the fresh-start boys with suitcases full of ridiculously priced stuff. If a packet of dusters was a pound fifty I might but but twelve or more, no! I tell them to tell their handlers that but occasionally they're really aggressive and that's unforgivable. These are hard times for pensioners (the largest givers) and that should be respected.

I think I’m correct in saying that the monthly direct debits to charities are more helpful to them as they can budget more efficiently knowing the amount they can expect. Of course all one off donations are very welcome!
I have some direct debits which at the moment I can gift aid. I ignore the other appeals.

I have a few direct debits and I review them yearly to see if I can still afford them. I have stopped a couple in the past because of the eye watering amount paid to their CEO and another for begging phone calls. I do give lump sums at Christmas. I have a rule that if I'm asked to contribute more in a pushy fashion I stop contributing at all. As others have said, the list of worthy causes is endless and my income isn't. I also get very annoyed by 'celebrities ' lending their voices to appeals.

Definitely yes there are so many charities but I wonder how much actual money do these charities receive once the costs have been taken out. They even want money off you when you're dead !!!

I'm on a fairly low income as I'm retired and a few years ago I made up my mind which charities I would regularly support. After that I occasionally give one off donations to charities that appeal, mostly at this time of year, when there is a disaster or that simply move me. I never respond to appeals over the phone as the caller is usually a paid fundraiser. If I could afford £3 a month I'd give a one off donation instead so there is no on-going commitment. Other charity appeals I can ignore.

As for people asking for specific amounts, the one that really made me angry was a begging email from the conservative party. The highlighted amount was £100! I wrote a very angry letter to their head office pointing out that even if I was a CONservative party supporter, which I'm not, I certainly couldn't afford that much. At the time I was still working but that was nearly 10% of my net monthly income! I gave them a generous piece of my mind! Needless to say I didn't get a reply!

When DH died, we found a small charity run by and for the patients of one of the wards where he’d been admitted several times and decided to support that.
Donations poured in and in 2 weeks there was £5K on Just Giving and a few cheques sent to me, which I forwarded.

We heard nothing - zero, zilch.

We didn’t want a bed named after him, or a plaque on the wall (joke) but it would’ve been nice to have some acknowledgement. In the end I wrote and had a brief reply, then out of the blue last month, a second letter waxing lyrical about the receipt of the cheques, which they’d had since April.
All a little disappointing, as they don’t seem to know what to do with our donation.

Yes. We give to a few charities that we choose, small donations a few times a year. Can''t afford a lot. The stuff that comes in the post asking for big donations goes in the bin. I know which they are and don't even open them. I hate the ones that send personalised stickers and cards unsolicited. How much does all that cost, when most people throw them in the bin? People who give money to them don't do it to pay for crap like that.

I usually give to the Sally Ann and RNLI but I never do direct debit. I ignore chuggers and put the phone down on call centre fundraisers. The adverts on TV annoy me - especially when they claim 'we must do something'.

The thing that annoys me is when they ask for specific amount like £10 or £20 - if I am donating to a charity I put in what I can afford and it’s not always 10.00 so I don’t bother so they lose out

hello all
i try to give to charity i understand they need money, but i always thought charity was give what u can when u can not £2/£3/£4 month , isnt that a contract not charity,
crises/centerpoint and sally army state what they want ie £29.76p per room so a few people could donate an put it together, but every time i turn over another ad we need £3 a month,we the people need to pay are bills then if we have a little left maybe they get it, sorry for waffling but i too hate the ads for charities

A few times I have offered a one off donation and been turned down.

Crisis charities etc ask for 2-3 quid...... animals charities seem to want more! 5-10of our captive quids!!! I even had a pleasant young buck accost me when leaving a shop yesterday, chattering away then I noticed his logo badge, animal charity.....he showed me a pic of a jack Russel then launched Into a tale of how he'd been found on hottest day of year in a laptop bag on hard shoulder....really? I suspected a big fat LIE! Who the dickens would stop a speeding vehicle to check out a small black piece of? Something on hard shoulder?? Utter rubbish.i stopped him and stated that I enjoyed his story but I was disappointed that he saw fit to stop me leaving a shop in order to beg dosh for someone else's pet incompetence! Sick and tired of being targetted simply cos I'm mature and the young idiots think I'm soft in the head and have loadsamoney to chuck away on some smelly animal! I don't. I give to Sally army/Barnardo's/ nspcc full stop.

I feel manipulated by the constant need for direct debits and not straight donations. So on the doorstep before they begin I warn them very nicely that I’m not going to sign up to direct debits and they quickly move on. It’s the same with people in the streets or in supermarkets no longer can we just put our money in the tin…I think they are missing a trick and turning people away from uncomplicated giving of the moment.

Not at all - just thankful I don’t need help

We support Dogs Trust, Woodgreen Animal Shelter and Battersea Dogs and cats. We have done so for over 20 years, they have never asked for more money.
In fact Dogs Trust have an agreement with our local vets to help anyone on a low income or benefits to pay towards any treatment. My late brother was able to take advantage of this and was so grateful.

Calistemon mentioned chuggers. I heard about them on the radio sometime ago. Apparently, if they get you to sign up to a DD the first hundred pounds go to the chuggers. By which time the donor has got fed up anyway so the charity doesn't benefit. It does annoy me that theses requests ask for a specific amount of money.

A friend of my mine had a DD to a charity overseas. After a while they started badgering her to increase the amount until they became quite intimidating. She simply cancelled the DD. She now gives to local charities especially when they are collecting.

We all have reasons for donating to certain charities and give what we can afford.

My cousin wrote to one of these charities asking why they were send out literature with a pen etc ? She thought it was a waste of the charities money and told them so. Their answer was that it was very profitable and the expense could be justified.

Sometimes surely, rules can be enforced to stop the need for donations ie the poor donkeys that you see. That is genuine cruelty to animals and should be stopped.

We know that the majority of these charities are genuine but sadly we are not bottomless pits.

after reading about how much the ceo's and higher management get paid by a lot of these charities i decided no more donations their salaries are over the top

When you fill in a form to give money there are various boxes to sign, for say £30, £20, £10 and other amount. Use the box saying other amount, and put in £5 or whatever you want.

I’ve had a small monthly DD to a couple of charities, for the past 20 years or so. And I support our local Charity shops by donating clothes and sundries, and buying from them.

If you gave to all of these charities you would have no money left at all there are so many. There will be some poor people who actually do this. Add to that the huge salaries paid by these charitable organisations and it becomes extremely worrying. Gone are the days everyone gave their loose change to collectors at the door or on the High Street without a second thought. Now you are made to feel guilty if you don't set up a direct debit and pay £'s per month.

Hope it’s all going to the right companies ?

We’ve given £5 d/d pm each to four different animal charities for years and haven’t ever had a cold call from one of them.