Do you give money to "charity" ?

Tom05

I think "charities" are some of biggest scams going.


Over 80% of the money they bring in can go into "administration" before they even give out a penny to the people that need it.

If someone from a "charity" asks me for money the first question I ask them is how much their CEO is being paid.

When they tell me the salary of the CEO I say to them "you must be joking your asking me for money when your CEO gets 140k".

A far better solution to having "charities" would be to give money directly to the people that need it. With the likes of gofundme etc.

Stigura

I caught a thing, just the other day, where a GFM sort of outfit actually had a rider stating that they can't guarantee all the money will go to who ye intend, or be used for what ye intended.

Can't slap up a link as it's just something I saw out the corner of my eye while reading stories.

No personal experience of GFM type set ups. I'd sooner send money direct to who ever concerned me though.

Charridies? They ask? They don't get. I'll not pay for their chuggers.

Graces7

No way.

I am blessed with family and colleagues who work in eg India and Nepal, rescuing thrown away babies.

They would give the food off their plates to any in need.

So every cent I save here goes straight there; they take no wages, and live as simply as i do. Even more so given their location.

All my market earnings were dedicated to that.

2011

I have been donating to Unicef on monthly basis for a number of years.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I give to two animal charities regularly. It goes on vet bills, Food and the general welfare of animals.

OU812

Used to. But since scandals started I only give to the Red Cross at times of appeal (100% of Red Cross admin costs are met by the government which means 100% of donation gets used for the intended benefit).

Also buy toys for the local woman's aid shelter at Xmas.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

liamo

I think it depends a lot on how you donate.

If you donate to random collectors then you may never know how much of your donation will reach those you intended it to.

If, however, you make a conscious decision to donate a fixed amount to a specific charity (or more than one) on a regular basis then you can research that charity to establish the admin costs and then set up a standing order to that charity's bank account. It doesn't have to be a large amount. If it's a regular donation, it all adds up.

That's what I do with one particular charity. I do intend to choose a second charity and do the same.

People donate to charity collections for many reasons - one of them being guilt. I no longer feel that I should donate to collections that I encounter in the street as I'm already doing my bit (I still do donate sometimes, though).

If a collector calls to my house in the evening (which is something that really annoys me) I simply tell them that I donate monthly by standing order and don't donate at the door.

Of course, none of the above stops you from ad hoc donations: collections for the local school or sports club in your local supermarket; a couple of Euro to a homeless person on a cold night. They all count too.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Shenshen

I don't donate to "charity", but I do donate to a number of local charities. None of them have a CEO, none of them even employ paid staff, they are run entirely by volunteers. And the work that they do is amazing.

I prefer the Kiva model of "charity" myself. _By far_ most of the money I have invested in it - I have received back. But I am under the impression it does benefit people in the world.

I give to it directly with my own account - but also indirectly with the accounts of associations I am part of who themselves have accounts. Atheist Ireland for example have a "Good without gods" account there.

I can certainly understand losing faith in traditional charities when their CEOs are highly paid - or they are found to be misuing the funds like in the Rehab/CRC case and others.

I am sure there are "good" charities out there - but I think the average Joe and Jane on the street can be forgiven for having simply given up on them at this point.

sbsquarepants

Tom05 wrote: »

I think "charities" are some of biggest scams going.


Over 80% of the money they bring in can go into "administration" before they even give out a penny to the people that need it.

If someone from a "charity" asks me for money the first question I ask them is how much their CEO is being paid.

When they tell me the salary of the CEO I say to them "you must be joking your asking me for money when your CEO gets 140k".

A far better solution to having "charities" would be to give money directly to the people that need it. With the likes of gofundme etc.

I used to think more or less the same thing, then I watched this TED talk and now I'm somewhat conflicted. It's about a quarter of an hour long and well worth a watch.

https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about_charity_is_dead_wrong

I think in the case of Dan Pallotta, what he says is true - you pay the big bucks to get someone who has the skills to make a real difference, there are people out there who would like to help and who have the skills and education to make a real difference, but at the end of the day why should they sacrifice their own families future to do so when they could be earning big bucks elsewhere. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to do well for yourself and your family.

However I still reckon he's the exception rather than the rule, most times when I hear of a CEO on huge money I just think scam, possibly scamola.

As for myself I have 1 direct debit that comes out every month to a childrens hospice, two words that shouldn't even go together. Apart from throwing the odd fiver into a collection box or signing a sponsor card in work every now and then I don't really give anything more.

crisco10

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I used to think more or less the same thing, then I watched this TED talk and now I'm somewhat conflicted. It's about a quarter of an hour long and well worth a watch.

https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about_charity_is_dead_wrong

I think in the case of Dan Pallotta, what he says is true - you pay the big bucks to get someone who has the skills to make a real difference, there are people out there who would like to help and who have the skills and education to make a real difference, but at the end of the day why should they sacrifice their own families future to do so when they could be earning big bucks elsewhere. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to do well for yourself and your family.

However I still reckon he's the exception rather than the rule, most times when I hear of a CEO on huge money I just think scam, possibly scamola.

As for myself I have 1 direct debit that comes out every month to a childrens hospice, two words that shouldn't even go together. Apart from throwing the odd fiver into a collection box or signing a sponsor card in work every now and then I don't really give anything more.

Was literally about to post the same thing. Certainly challenged my (perhaps) cynical small minded view.

That said it just made it all a bit greyer!

DrPhilG

We sponsor a child through a charity, and we checked them out before hand. They do spend a percentage of the donation on admin costs of course but they score very well with websites who give reports on these things.

HONKEY TONK

I had my bank card cloned before and someone went on a spending spree of more then a 1000 euros

The last transaction they made was to donate to the Jack & Jill foundation.

So Yes, I did inadvertently donate to charity





I also donate to the Irish Cancer Society when I Win or Lose bets with friends or colleagues

goz83

Not since the whole CRC fiasco. I regularly donated to charity and worked for Concern 20 years ago. I was donating monthly to the CRC from my business when the news broke out. Cancelled the DD and have not given to a charity since. I had given quite a lot over the years and felt pretty burnt by it all.

El Tarangu

Another vote for Kiva - you lend (rather than donate) money to people in poorer countries so that they can start a business or what have you. They pay you back, and you lend the money on again.

Their admin costs are very transparent.

https://www.kiva.org/about

I give a fair amount to 3 animal rescue groups that I have volunteered with myself so I am happy little if any of that is being wasted.

I give a small monthly direct debit to the red cross and some to a reputable cancer charity.

L.Jenkins

When I do donate, it's locally and to voluntary groups.

Parchment

I donate locally to a charity that i actually volunteer with too - i know where their money goes and they work so hard for the cause.

Im happy to give money now and then to Doctors Without Borders and The Donkey Sanctuary.

Squall Leonhart

Have donated 25/mo for the last 4 years and counting to a small charity that I have done some work with personally and have seen myself the good it does and I'm happy to keep the small donation going.

baby and crumble

I may get piled on, but I work for a charity.

I get a decent wage (I'm not CEO!), it pays the mortgage and the bills.

I'm doing what I love, using my skills to effect change.

We don't collect money from the public though. Never have and I sincerely doubt we ever will.

I urge everyone who is thinking about donating to a charity to look them up, check them on the regulators website, look at the financial statements (they should have them on the CRA site and their own site, but if they aren't there ask for them), there are lots of good charities out there that are doing a lot with quite a little.

99% of the charities I know are so keen to prove their worth and demonstrate transparency. We hate what the scandals have done, that's not what we got into the sector to do. I could be making a lot more money if I had stayed in my original career path, or if I moved out of the sector, but I won't.

Tom05

If you want to become rich the way to do it is either set up a charity or a religion.

witchgirl26

I donate to 2 different charities. One is a children's one, the other is a hospice. The children's one I did some research on how the money is spent through the accounts etc and I didn't see anything that raised concerns for me in terms of salaries etc.

In regards the hospice - I know that the head does not take a salary at all and that there are only a couple of admin people who are fully employed, the rest are volunteers. The nurses, doctors and social workers are paid for by the hse.

c68zapdsm5i1ru

I give to the Civil Service Third World Fund because I know every cent goes towards third world projects.

I also have standing orders to two other third world charities.
Other than that, it depends. I won't give to people collecting for some vague cause such as 'help deprived children' or somesuch. You see a bit of that outside Tesco sometimes, and I'm dubious

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I give to selected charities and work with a couple. I don't give to chuggers or organisations with highly paid CEOs. I also don't give to groups raising money for the poor in countries like India who have huge natural wealth, a nuclear programme, a space programme etc., and expect the rest of the world to look after their social injustice. And as for those collecting to walk the Andes or cycle through Spain as a 'fund raiser', not a hope.

murpho999

What is a highly paid CEO?

€130k is not that much money for a CEO who probably brings in a lot more money and services.

People need to get over this idea that charity work should be voluntary.

Not promoting the excesses of CRC before people say it.

baby and crumble

murpho999 wrote: »

What is a highly paid CEO?

€130k is not that much money for a CEO who probably brings in a lot more money and services.

People need to get over this idea that charity work should be voluntary.

Not promoting the excesses of CRC before people say it.

I think people make the assumption that you are literally paying the persons wages when you think you are paying for health treatments for kids etc. That must be galling if you don't think it through like an investment.

If a charity is getting say €100,000 a year in donations, and take on a CEO or fundraising manager that costs €50,000 a year but within that year triples their donations, then that's arguable a very good deal. Even taking the salary into account they've multiplied their income by 2.5, meaning more than double to service can be provided. It comes down to value.

andekwarhola

Sometimes I "occasionally" give a "sum" to charity, depending on my "mood".

Omackeral

Some smug little fcuker called to my door and his opening line was ''Hey man, do you drink?''. I was wrecked after the night shift and was in no form for his jovial patter and told him to cut to the chase. His angle was that for the price of a pint I could cure SuperAids in Pangaea and all I had to do was give him my bank details. I'll never give out my bank details at the door or anywhere else for that matter. I said to him that if he gave up his fancy iPad that he was scrolling away on showing people how little everything costs and switched to a pen and paper, he could make the biggest difference of all.

I'm very charitable on my own terms but don't knock on my door looking for money ever.

Chain Smoker

The charity I donate to most is the Wikimedia foundation, which is about as selfish of a donation as I can give beyond actually just giving the money to myself.

i71jskz5xu42pb

Regularly http://kiva.org (microlending), https://watsi.org/ (fund medical procedures) and occasionally to Merchants Quay.

I'm no longer a big fan Irish charities, too little governance, too many of them doing the same thing.

Arcade_Tryer

I previously donated €5 per month to Amnesty International but cancelled my subscription when I stopped working full time to return to study. Now I just follow Colm O'Gorman on Twitter.

There are homeless people (Well Roma Gypsy so they don't count as people obviously) in the town where I live and I often throw them a few cent too.

Very hard to believe in the charity sector in Ireland. In a decent, fair society charity should merely be a subsidy, an addition, to Government failings. Obviously the charity sector is now an industry in Ireland, and like all lucrative industries, tends to incorporate the worst of Irish institutional behaviour, seen in the cases of Console and Rehab recently for example.

Elemonator

Tom05 wrote: »

I think "charities" are some of biggest scams going.


Over 80% of the money they bring in can go into "administration" before they even give out a penny to the people that need it.

If someone from a "charity" asks me for money the first question I ask them is how much their CEO is being paid.

When they tell me the salary of the CEO I say to them "you must be joking your asking me for money when your CEO gets 140k".

A far better solution to having "charities" would be to give money directly to the people that need it. With the likes of gofundme etc.

I think GoFundMe take a small fee but its fairly nominal.

I admit I don't anymore. I used to a bit but between multiple scandals and extortionate pay to employee pay, I have stopped. In many of these charities, a large percentage of the money will not see its intended benefactor. I have friends who worked with UNICEF doing door to door donations recently to pay for college and they were getting 12 euro an hour. I am nearly sure I have seen an Oxfam job ad for the same amount.

Then you have the Console etc. scam, is there any real charities who work with mostly volunteers out there who give most of the money to the ones who need it the most? I'm sure there are but few, all of which have suffered because of the stuff mentioned above.

Omackeral

Arcade_Tryer wrote: »

There are homeless people (Well Roma Gypsy so they don't count as people obviously) in the town where I live and I often throw them a few cent too.

Walter H Price

Depends on the charity , have monthly direct debits with Phibsboro Cat rescue , Dogs Trust the DSPCA and Cat's aid.

I'd give money ad hoc to the asthma people or the cancer society if there was a bake sale in work or that

Arcade_Tryer

Omackeral wrote: »

pilly

Have monthly direct debit to Focus Ireland because 80% of the money goes directly into services. I don't really care what the CEO earns to tell the truth if he's doing a good job and keeps that % at 80.

Also directly give money to anyone who asks me on the street because I reckon if they're desperate enough to beg then they need it. Don't care what their back story is or whether they buy drink or smokes or whatever out of the money.

Kalimah

baby and crumble wrote: »

I may get piled on, but I work for a charity.

I get a decent wage (I'm not CEO!), it pays the mortgage and the bills.

I'm doing what I love, using my skills to effect change.

We don't collect money from the public though. Never have and I sincerely doubt we ever will.

I urge everyone who is thinking about donating to a charity to look them up, check them on the regulators website, look at the financial statements (they should have them on the CRA site and their own site, but if they aren't there ask for them), there are lots of good charities out there that are doing a lot with quite a little.

99% of the charities I know are so keen to prove their worth and demonstrate transparency. We hate what the scandals have done, that's not what we got into the sector to do. I could be making a lot more money if I had stayed in my original career path, or if I moved out of the sector, but I won't.

I couldn't agree more! I have worked for two separate charities and before I went to work for either, looked through annual reports and checked that they were compliant with recommended accounting practices for charities. I also had a look at salary levels. I was manning in the phones in one charity and when the whole Rehab/CRC scandal broke, the veritable hit the fan. We came out of it well but i was practically sending my payslips out to donors to prove our bona fides.
I give a €10 a month to a tiny Irish charity, and €10 to an international one.I cancelled my contribution to Rehab many moons ago when the scandal broke. As I work for a charity and donate on a regular basis besides the odd donation here and there I reckon I'm doing my bit.

freshpopcorn

We'd have a relative who's a priest in Africa and we'd give him money to buy supplies because he does a lot out their for charity. Would also donate to local charities around our area.
I generally wouldn't donate to charities that require your bank details and we used to always give to animal rights charities but wouldn't anymore.

diomed

I give bicycles to World Bicycle Relief, not old second-hand inappropriate choppers or mountain bikes shipped out at enormous expense, but I pay for bikes World Bicycle Relief make in Africa (employing Africans) that are designed for local conditions and given to secondary school students in rural areas. I'm well into double figures. Anytime I win on the horses I contribute and also at Christmas when some kind rich person contributes a bike for every bike bought.

I contribute by monthly debit to an orphanage in northern Argentina.
And money to build a school at Lodwar in northern Kenya.

You might notice I don't contribute to the six figure salaries of charity management in Ireland.

Beasty

Yes I give money to charity and other good causes

However I am quite choosy over who I make my donations to. I need to have trust that it will not be wasted

I also like to donate to causes where I think I can make a big difference either to the cause as a whole or individuals in need.

sbsquarepants

baby and crumble wrote: »

We don't collect money from the public though. Never have and I sincerely doubt we ever will.

Where does the money come from then?

pilly wrote: »

Also directly give money to anyone who asks me on the street because I reckon if they're desperate enough to beg then they need it.

You've a lot to learn pilly.

pilly

sbsquarepants wrote:

You've a lot to learn pilly.

I'm a middle aged Dub so I don't have much to learn about people. I prefer not to always assume the worst, true. What harm if I give someone a few euro and they buy drink? No skin off my nose.

Mr. FoggPatches

sbsquarepants wrote:

I think in the case of Dan Pallotta, what he says is true - you pay the big bucks to get someone who has the skills to make a real difference, there are people out there who would like to help and who have the skills and education to make a real difference, but at the end of the day why should they sacrifice their own families future to do so when they could be earning big bucks elsewhere. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to do well for yourself and your family.

The corollary to Dan's beautifully crafted idea is:
Why should anyone give anything to charity instead of keeping it for themselves and their own family?

mickmac76

I've given €30 a month to charity for the last six years. I know we in Ireland have had financial problems since the celtic tiger collapsed but we're still an awful lot better off than most of the world and I feel obliged to help when I can.

Temptamperu

"yes"

Silo18

I do.

I've been to enough disadvantaged places to realise how fantastically lucky I've been through a mere accident of birth.

Mr. FoggPatches

I threw a bucket of iced water over my head for Facebook.

lawred2

Mr. FoggPatches wrote: »

I threw a bucket of iced water over my head for Facebook.

oh god that was the stupidest thing ever

I donate to an animal charity regularly
I just checked the latest books I could find and most of the income was spent on the actual charity work rather than admin so phew
Homeless ones also when I can. They usually seem to be direct