Is it possible to earn money from a charity?

Jonny C

Hi there,im thinking of setting up a charity in Ireland,but im not too sure how the whole thing works?Is it possible to earn money from the charity?
Im obviously setting up the charity for all the right reasons but also need to earn a salary.Any advice would be a great help.

Thanks

Jon

maxwell smart

Quick answer is yes. Lots of charities have an amount that they set aside for admin expenses (your wages). Its usually a very small percentage....unless your charity happens to be collecting clothes for eastern europe;)

Dakor

Yes it is possible. Some managers of a well-known Irish charity are on 6-figure incomes!

dbran

Hi

I believe you can only earn a salary from a charity if you are not on the board of trustees.

Otherwise as a trustee you can only claim expenses or invoice for services rendered?


Regards

dbran

lenny1020

Jonny C wrote: »

Hi there,im thinking of setting up a charity in Ireland,but im not too sure how the whole thing works?Is it possible to earn money from the charity?
Im obviously setting up the charity for all the right reasons but also need to earn a salary.Any advice would be a great help.

Thanks

Jon

One thing to never do.
Always take the scratch card or the flower or the little sticker .Sometimes we just throw in a euro or 50 cent and dont take the little gift for the better word.
The collector always keeps those little unofficial little donations at the end of shift.
Some collectors make huge money doing this .
Not very ethical but always happens.

potlatch

In theory, you may earn a living from setting up and running a charity. In practice, resources are always tight so expect to live in near penury. You'll also be under pressure to earn as little as possible because it's a charity. You would also like do a huge amount of overtime.

Until recently, I worked in the charity sector. Funding is always the issue. I know a lot of people who set up their own charities. One person who secured just enough money for his charity to pay himself part-time (but works full-time). I know another who's in the same boat. One has set up quite a large charity and works massively overtime. One has set one up and currently earns nothing.

It's acceptable to be paid for your work in charities, but salaries must be rational and you may never make a profit.

You will be legally obliged to comply with the Charities Act 2009. This includes requirements such as setting up a board of directors who cannot be paid and of which you cannot be a member; you will need a certain amount of cash reserves in the bank (usually enough to cover 3 months of operation costs); and that's additional to obvious concerns around what the charity does and likely positive and negative impacts of its activities.

In this climate, I'd say finding the dough to set it up will be tough. Charitable donations are down around 20% as are state donations to, e.g. overseas aid charities.

Bandara

one nice way to do it is to approach a charity and get them to agree to let you setup a website to collect/fundraise on their behalf, you'll be able to straike a 40/60 deal with them for any monies raised.

Costs you a tiny amount to setup the site and you get 40% of the revenue.

Wouldn't be my cup of tea but i have a mate who does it for a few different smaller charities and he does VERY well out of it.