Question Dodgy Charity?

rynnor

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Theres been a charity collecting in a local toystore for a few weeks - it had posters about helping disabled kids (which suspicious bugger that I am always rings alarm bells for me) so I took down the charity registration.

I looked it up and it actually is registered but has only this month posted its accounts for the financial year ending April 2008! They are red flagged on the registry because thats 8 months after the ten month deadline for charities to post accounts.

So then I took a look at the accounts and tbh they are pretty damning - they took in nearly 49,000 in that year but spent less than 2,500 on charitable grants.

So if you gave them a pound for those poor disabled kiddies only 5p of it may eventually reach them assuming they are actually reporting the true amounts received...

4% was in the account at the end of the year which means 91% was gobbled up by admin costs/running the charity.

Pick your charities with care folks!
 

ECA

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I thought you were going to post about churches and private schools but yeah that sounds quite bad.
 

~Latency~

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stick to the big ones, i really don't see any point in small charities. they 'try' to do the same work well known charities do, just on a much lower and underfunded scale and no one really knows where the monies going


sightsavers international (costs about £2 to stop 80 people going blind i think been a while since i worked for them) and save the children helping kids in disaster/conflict zones


can't go wrong!
 

Chilly

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donate via dd to oxfam or something. most others are pretty much scams
 

Pfy

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donate via dd to oxfam or something. most others are pretty much scams

Fuck Oxfam.

I once gave one of their cavasers my details including mobile number. A few weks later Oxfam called me in the middle of the washing up. I politely said that it was inconvenient for me to talk and then got told:

'Why bother giving us your number if you cant be bothered to talk', 'people like you make me sick' etc

I didn't even get the chance to hurl abuse as I stood there, mouth a gape before they hung up on me. THEY HUNG UP ON ME!

Anyway, since then all those Oxfam kids can die for all I care.
 

Raven

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I give to the Red Cross each month via direct debit, the rest can go fuck themselves.
 

Chilly

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Fuck Oxfam.

I once gave one of their cavasers my details including mobile number. A few weks later Oxfam called me in the middle of the washing up. I politely said that it was inconvenient for me to talk and then got told:

'Why bother giving us your number if you cant be bothered to talk', 'people like you make me sick' etc

I didn't even get the chance to hurl abuse as I stood there, mouth a gape before they hung up on me. THEY HUNG UP ON ME!

Anyway, since then all those Oxfam kids can die for all I care.

cheeky bastids
 

Sparx

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there is a min amount charities have to give to be classed as a charity and its really low indeed, so even tho its shocking its still not illegal
 

Jiggs

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Donate | GOSH Children's Charity

Can't go wrong with these.

/edit and incidentally I don't know how others feel but I rather give my pounds to help people in need here rather than those thousands of miles away.
 

mycenae

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used to work for that one....don't give to it, it already has more money than it knows what to do with. Share the wealth I say, give to Shooting Star
 

rynnor

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used to work for that one....don't give to it, it already has more money than it knows what to do with. Share the wealth I say, give to Shooting Star

Heh - they arent bad - about 60% of income going to charitable activities but there is some truth to economies of scale when it comes to charities - the RSPB spends something like 86% on charitable activities.
 

Gumbo

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stick to the big ones, i really don't see any point in small charities. they 'try' to do the same work well known charities do, just on a much lower and underfunded scale and no one really knows where the monies going

That's almost entirely backwards. Most of the charities mentioned here have astronomical admin costs, if I'm bored later I'll have a google and see if I can get some figures, but some of the best known are some of the worst offenders.

I would go for a smaller charity which I trusted everytime. That doesn't mean a random one advertising in a toyshop, it means something concrete I can see.

Local childrens hospices are a good one and woefully underfunded. There's a bunch of us Lotus owners who get together to raise money for Little Havens. It's a place which desperately needs every penny and there's no fat cat directors or highly paid administrators, the money goes to exactly the right place. See www.elisegardenparty.co.uk .
 

Gumbo

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Heh - they arent bad - about 60% of income going to charitable activities but there is some truth to economies of scale when it comes to charities - the RSPB spends something like 86% on charitable activities.

Aaaargh don't get me started on the RSPB, bunch of absolute eco zealots with a ridiculously blinkered view of the countryside.
 

rynnor

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Aaaargh don't get me started on the RSPB, bunch of absolute eco zealots with a ridiculously blinkered view of the countryside.

Heh - they do have some rather silly ideas sometimes but regardless they are protecting and enhancing the uk ecosystem and they do a good job getting people engaged with it.
 

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