Your Perception on Oxfam/Donating

peejay1986

I'm doing some research on Oxfam and charity donating in general for my Unversity project. I am keen to find out what reasons people have for donating/not donating to charities such as Oxfam.

If any is willing to, could you please fill out this SHORT 9 QUESTION survey relating to Oxfam.

I'm very interested in getting some answers from Ireland as it will help to diversify my results of the survey.

*ON SECOND THOUGHT I'LL JUST READ THE THREAD AND PICK ANSWERS FROM THERE*

Feel free to discuss elements of the survey in the thread. I think some points raised by people in the survey are very interesting and its amazing to see such contrasting opinions of everyday issues.


(if this is in the wrong section I apologise, but after looking I guessed this would be the best place)

AlmightyCushion

I'm willing to leave this here for the moment (my fellow mods are free to overrule me on this) as long as you don't bump it pointlessly or post it anywhere else.

Fanny Cradock

You might get wide exposure here in AH, but it might be the wrong type of exposure.

peejay1986

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

I'm willing to leave this here (my fellow mods are free to overrule me on this) as long as you don't bump it pointlessly or post it anywhere else.

Thanks I was a bit unsure myself but I can assure you it's of no benefit to me other than for research reasons. I also think it could be a good discussion topic.

Hope you don't see this as an unnecessary bump, I just wanted to stress the above point.

tony1kenobi

I surveyed your survey and opted to completely not complete it because I am uncharitably uncharitable.

galwayguy22

I don't donate to charities because I don't see the point in pouring money into sociaties full of races who still haven't managed to evolve to a point where they can provide for themselves / take care of their fellow country men.

Terry

peejay1986 wrote: »

Thanks I was a bit unsure myself but I can assure you it's of no benefit to me other than for research reasons. I also think it could be a good discussion topic.

Hope you don't see this as an unnecessary bump, I just wanted to stress the above point.

Just for the record and for future reference to others, please ask one of the mods for permission to post one of these surveys.

Thanks.

Fanny Cradock

You might get a better response in the humanities forum or even some of the religious forums. The respondents might not be very random, though.

Holsten

Not my problem.

mikemac

Our forward thinking, all knowing government gave away in 2008, the tidy sum of 900 million euro
I'd say you could plug a few holes in the budget and maybe run a hospital on that kind of money.

My conscience is clear, thanks again to the government, they give to charity for us

biko

When times are tight I prefer to spend the money "at home". Also I do give clothes and materials but not money. The fat cats on the Oxfam board of directors can't line their pockets with my clothes and used tools

stovelid

There are some valid views as to how effective (or ineffective) third-world charity is, but for me, the choice between my taxes being pissed away on FAS beanos or being sent to the third world would be a no-brainer.

Cuddlesworth

What survey?

thelordofcheese

peejay1986 wrote: »

I'm doing some research on Oxfam and charity donating in general for my Unversity project. I am keen to find out what reasons people have for donating/not donating to charities such as Oxfam.

If any is willing to, could you please fill out this SHORT 9 QUESTION survey relating to Oxfam.

I'm very interested in getting some answers from Ireland as it will help to diversify my results of the survey.

*ON SECOND THOUGHT I'LL JUST READ THE THREAD AND PICK ANSWERS FROM THERE*

Feel free to discuss elements of the survey in the thread. I think some points raised by people in the survey are very interesting and its amazing to see such contrasting opinions of everyday issues.


(if this is in the wrong section I apologise, but after looking I guessed this would be the best place)

Enjoy trawling through an near infinite amount of "HURRR DURRR, IT'S ALL A SCAM" posts to find anything close to useful.
This is AH, after all.

4Xcut

€900 million to overseas charity is at this stage a joke. How about spending a fraction of that but a lot more negotiating skill and actually trying to create fairer trade agreements.

Africa currently gets 1% of world trade. If this was doubled to 2%, it would be the same as sending 5 times the aid into that write off as is currently going in.

There is giving to your fellow man and then there is pouring money into a money pit. Why give them that much just so their governments can spend ot on palaces, arms, etc.

Nehaxak

One of the main reasons a lot more legal and proper trade is not done with the African continent is due to the rest of the world raping it's natural resources for their own selfish needs and funding corruption, wars and smaller rebellions/uprisings to help assure that.

The likes of Oxfam and others who took it upon themselves to advocate for free trade and further then take it on to actually instigate fair trade products and help setup businesses to promote same in the countries themselves - I have always liked that idea and am very supportive of same.

I work for an international NGO so will exclude myself from this thread, I've heard it all before anyway and most of the shíte that will come back against help or aid being given and work being done will just be a load of bollocks or plain old racism so I cba arguing with racist inbreds or religious fundamentalists either.

Logical debate is another matter but that is not what you normally would get with a subject like this on AH so would suggest the OP move it elsewhere really :cool:

BroomBurner

Nehaxak wrote: »

One of the main reasons a lot more legal and proper trade is not done with the African continent is due to the rest of the world raping it's natural resources for their own selfish needs and funding corruption, wars and smaller rebellions/uprisings to help assure that.

They actually rape their own natural resources aswell. Don't blame the rest of the world for the lack of laws in African countries.

OT, I donate when I can, but it would have to be for a cause I thought was worthy. A mixture of being desensitised and getting annoyed at trying to have money extorted through guilt is what would stop me.

ScumLord

Charities are a s bad as western governments. Just throw a heap of money at the problem and hope it goes away. It's like putting a band aid on a severed head.

We're only prolonging the suffering, is it really any more humian to have these people struggle on when ultimately their doomed? It's horrible to watch people suffer but that's going to happen anyway and baring us occupying these country's and showing them how to be civilised I don't see what good we can do.

ven0m

I used to donate to charities, but I think I stopped cos basically I really could not afford my standing orders for them.

However, I think many do fine work, but I do have problems with religiously associated charities who while helping people feel a need to 'spread the word' & 'convert', & frankly I find this disgusting; yes we'll help you, but you better convert damnit!

I think religion & politics have no place in charity work, & I think this puts me off giving to charities because often I am not sure if they are agnostic, or religiously associated. I never used to have this concern when I was younger, but now I'm wiser to the world, grizzled & older - I do have these questions in my head.

Now, yes I could go visit web sites etc to learn more, but for some reason I never bother to. I do however also find the whole thing of people shoving clip boards under my nose as I wander down a street in a city asking me to sign up giving them bank details they could be robbed for very concerning, especially in this day of identity theft, & find companies who operate like this really not giving much guarantee against these details being robbed from the clipboard bashers. The charity has in effect no record of who's info could be taken in the event of a clipboard being robbed.

Now I know some people will say, "it'll never happen". People say alot of things will never happen ... & then they do. I just find the tactics for collection intrustive, invasive, pushy & annoying. I'd rather know more about them, not just the affected people & for me to not feel put off form giving because of chuggers, who really effing annoy me & frankly are worse than Scientologists with their personality/stress tests ..... least those bastards don't chug a money can/bucket at you or make bee lines for you as you walk down the street.

I also feel, more should be done at government levels, like giving aid to countries whose governments blatently spend the money on arms. Zimbabwe has money for tanks, armies, guns etc but can;t sort out its starving people - same with many other african countries. If you ask me, the excuse to go after Sadam was flimsy, & the more pressing problems are in Africa where democracy is much needed so people can live, be fed, get healthcare & not die cos their arsehole governments aren't fighting over poxy natural resources or who gets to wear the big feathered hat while millions die ...... these people are the real problem, & I do feel money has been sent & spent by the bucketful by charities & it never gets better - only worse.

Charities also rarely show you success stories they have, only stories of further suffereing. SHOW ME MY MONEY HAS HELPED - otherwise I feel like I may as well have just pissed it against a wall.

peejay1986

Thanks for the responses everyone. I've been reading the thread and there's some good stuff that will be helpful to me. That €900million is news to me, that's for that!

I removed the link to the thread because of fear some people might just fill in abusive or inappropriate answers.

ScumLord

ven0m wrote: »

but I do have problems with religiously associated charities who while helping people feel a need to 'spread the word' & 'convert', & frankly I find this disgusting; yes we'll help you, but you better convert damnit!

I don't think Religions do that. Charity is a huge part of just about every religion gong. Don't Muslems give away up to half their wealth every year, it's part of their Religion to do this.

I don't see anything wrong with them saying, it was God that lead me to do this charity.

Dinter

galwayguy22 wrote: »

I don't donate to charities because I don't see the point in pouring money into sociaties full of races who still haven't managed to evolve to a point where they can provide for themselves / take care of their fellow country men.

While I don't really agree with the whole predetermination of the "races" bit I do agree that charity donations for food etc is pointless. Anything that is sent seems to be stolen, sold, profiteered, wasted or lost. In return donors get a never ending stream of sob stories from the charity essentially talking about how shit at their job that they are that they need even more money to piss after the first lot. Really if I wanted to fill an African criminal's Swiss Bank account with my money I'd reply to one of the 419 scams.

In saying that I donate to a charity that solely deals with performing operations to improve childrens vision. This makes a real difference to someone's life that goes far beyond giving someone a handful of rice every day until an even worse or more fashionable humanitarian disaster pops up and the NGOs leg it.

Dinter

ScumLord wrote: »

I don't see anything wrong with them saying, it was God that lead me to do this charity.

Too true. If it was a question of pretending to convert or starving I'd be running 12 miles to the river for baptism.

Some people just find it easy to assign solely negative motives to religious charities though.

ven0m

I'd love for someone to explain why religious charities feel a need to give them free bibles also while teaching them about it in predominately non-Christian countries then ..... Sorry, either go there to help or don't don't bother. These people didn't ask for their souls to be questioned & then pseudo saved by Christianity - they asked to be helped relieved of abject poverty, starvation & death ......

Dinter

ven0m wrote: »

Sorry, either go there to help or don't don't bother.

Do you think that giving someone a bible is worse than letting someone starve? Honestly?

jdivision

I decided on a very simple rule earlier this year, I won't give any money to charities who use chuggers. So no to Oxfam unfortunately.

AckwelFoley

whats oxfam?

Is that not a sort of gravy for your dinner?

Is it not being a little unkind sending gravy to starving people that have no food to go with it?

Fanny Cradock

ven0m wrote: »

I'd love for someone to explain why religious charities feel a need to give them free bibles also while teaching them about it in predominately non-Christian countries then ..... Sorry, either go there to help or don't don't bother. These people didn't ask for their souls to be questioned & then pseudo saved by Christianity - they asked to be helped relieved of abject poverty, starvation & death ......

Do you think that Christian charities withhold aid in favour of bibles? Have you any evidence to back up your claims? I think you best go back to your axe grinding.

Nehaxak

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

Do you think that Christian charities withhold aid in favour of bibles? Have you any evidence to back up your claims? I think you best go back to your axe grinding.

This has gone on for a long time in places like Haiti where Christian missions, mostly one form of Protestantism or another, or Jehovah's, will ONLY give support, food, sheltering or other such aid to people who convert and actively practice their religion.
These are not NGO's/charities, they are Christian (fundamentalist?) missions who are somewhat selfish in what they are doing, but they are funded by their own church supporters mostly and not the general public. It also must be said that this does NOT happen with all religious missions but it does indeed happen, to say otherwise is naive or a lie.

Terry

Nehaxak wrote: »

This has gone on for a long time in places like Haiti where Christian missions, mostly one form of Protestantism or another, or Jehovah's, will ONLY give support, food, sheltering or other such aid to people who convert and actively practice their religion.
These are not NGO's/charities, they are Christian (fundamentalist?) missions who are somewhat selfish in what they are doing, but they are funded by their own church supporters mostly and not the general public. It also must be said that this does NOT happen with all religious missions but it does indeed happen, to say otherwise is naive or a lie.

Sally Struthers has a Tiberian junker.

Terry

Nehaxak wrote: »

Stephen.

Wait... what ?

Uh, now, now, stay with me on this one, folks. Uh, Sally Struthers has a Tiberian junker , which is uh the favorite ship of the Hutts, and she has trapped oureh, our our new CBC ship in a uh poe-sitronic tractor beam.

Uh, so we're gonna need an ionic tractor disruptor. Now now, not a regular ionic di- tractor disruptor, but a negative ionic tractor disruptor to uh, help spread the Word of Jesus.

Nehaxak

You got in there with the reply just as I edited my own message again. Weird, we should have tea and scones or something together, yesterday.

http://www.spscriptorium.com/Season3/E311script.htm

I just googled it tbh

ven0m

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

Do you think that Christian charities withhold aid in favour of bibles? Have you any evidence to back up your claims? I think you best go back to your axe grinding.

Sorry, WHERE did I say they with-hold aid in favor if Bibles..... maybe you should learn to read before making comments like that, & I would like to remind you & everyone else of a fact;

AFRICAN MISSIONS SET UP BY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TO SPREAD THE WORD OF CATHOLICISM WHILE AIDING THE POOR.

Sound familiar?

I rest my case.

Nehaxak

To be fair though to one religion anyway, the Catholic church, they did an awful lot of good in Africa with their missions and I've seen it myself. I'm not religious nor am I a fan of the Catholic church in Ireland but I do have to admit they did a lot for some African communities and usually asked very little if anything in return.

Fanny Cradock

Nehaxak wrote: »

This has gone on for a long time in places like Haiti where Christian missions, mostly one form of Protestantism or another, or Jehovah's, will ONLY give support, food, sheltering or other such aid to people who convert and actively practice their religion.
These are not NGO's/charities, they are Christian (fundamentalist?) missions who are somewhat selfish in what they are doing, but they are funded by their own church supporters mostly and not the general public. It also must be said that this does NOT happen with all religious missions but it does indeed happen, to say otherwise is naive or a lie.

I've certainly never heard of such a thing. A quick Google search unearthed nothing much on these alleged practices. This was the only site of interest that listed organisations - and even here there was nothing in the way of substantive evidence. However, if missionaries are withholding vital aid because of a persons beliefs then the practice should be condemned and immediately stopped.

Personally I have no problem with people handing out bibles, nor would I have a problem with Islamic charities handing out the Koran or a strictly atheist charity (if any exist) handing out The God Delusion or some such. As long as this does not exacerbate regional problems and it is done in a responsible manner, then why not?

As for Jehovah's Witnesses, I would be of the opinion that they have departed from some of the most important tenets of Christianity for them to be considered quite apart from it.

Gran Hermano

I like how certain charities send cows to Africa, and you only have to
donate a million euro for a full cow.

I wonder whether we can convince Bothar to wrap up Mary Harney and
ship her as a gift for some starving third-world people. She'd provide
enough sustenance for a large African village for many months.

Bob the Builder

Might be selfish, but I never give to an charities that have any more than a 4/5% administration costs, and tend to prefer to give to charities where the money will be spent in ireland.

Whilst I respect countries like india, they are richer than we are, and have more millionaires per head of population than we do, so no money for them. at all.

Azureus

i never donate money to charities. it annoys me how much those chugger folks get paid for guilt tripping people just going about their daily buisiness, and to be honest im completely desenstized to all the ads/
that said, i drink fair trade coffee and stuff when i can, and donate clothes/books/cds etc to Oxfam regularly. i worked as a volunteer in one of their shops for a long while too. beats giving money, that needs to be spent here!