Rival charities set up new super charity scam

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Ever since the Rehab scandal broke I swore I’d never give to an Irish charity again. - what was it? Out of €4.4m in scratch card sales, only about €35k actually made it into the actual fund that the charity spent to help people.....

Then shortly afterwards there was another (suicide?) charity where the guy and his family were creaming expenses, including his wife driving an Audi Q8 + all her diesel, all on the charity’s expenses.....


The only charity I ever give to nowadays is the RNLI. Why? Because I see what they do, I see them saving lives. I see them risking their lives to help others.

Good to have a fellow traveller. There is no denying that they are a great organisation and have saved many lives. And I am totally with you on that.

Their ethos is great, just like the Mountain Rescue.

Who are the RNLI?
We are a charity founded upon and driven by our values of selflessness, courage, dependability and trustworthiness, with volunteers at our heart. Values shared by generations of supporters like you who have powered our lifesaving work through your kindness and generosity for almost 200 years.

Volunteers make up 95% of our organisation - ordinary people doing extraordinary things - supported by expert staff, all working together to help communities at home and abroad save lives

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

No-one said it should be without criticism. By all means, critique away - but please do so with some rationality, something more than 'there used to be scandals' or 'no information available' for stuff that is clearly published on websites, available with a simple Google search, and available in hard copy to anyone who phones up.

People like you won't listen anyway. Fr Mc Verry is another, amongst many others.

Do you not think past scandals are worth mentioning at all? Ah sure let's forget all that mullarkey and get the hands out again for more.

Nope.

Geuze wrote: »

A fair point.

I think the Guide Dogs for the Blind are ok, although I have not done any research.

I looked at Pieta House accounts, their costs per therapy session are really high, I am sceptical of that model.

It's sad to say this, but one must approach many Irish charities with cynicism.

Correct, those who don't are bound to repeat the absolute scandal of many charities these days.

But they rely on the heart strings and all that and the guilt some feel. It is subtle, but it is there.

suicide_circus wrote: »

Yes i'd go along with that to some extent, didnt some German fella say that charity was a failure of government? However, it is undeniable that the industry has grown legs beyond all reason and is a lucrative venture for some with massive duplication.

Oh yeah the charity sector has seen unbelievable growth in the last 20 years. I put it mainly down to decisions made by FF politicians around the late 90s/early 2000s to completely privitise work that the public services used to do.

Id imagine the logic was to cut down on public service staff and save on pensions by outsourcing all this work to private charities. Politicians of the day created this new structure and charities then flooded in fill it. Couple that with new marketing techniques, radio & tv ads, mail blasts, online fundraising and suddenly you've got a very big industry. Someone back up the thread said charities now employ 189,000 people so this is quite the industry providing services that government themselves used to.

Problem is with 10,000 charities it is impossible to regulate them all properly, they need more oversight than what is currently available to ensure their donations are well spent. Only this summer I found out that isnt always the case, Ive had a direct debit to Childline for years but back in June I had a toothache which flared up around 5am. Got out of bed to take pain killers and switched on Sky News only to be faced with a tv ad aimed at children for Childline being screened at 5 in the morning.

Was pretty peeved at such a waste of money so emailed them where instead of holding their hands up saying its a mistake they would fix the marketing manager gave me some spiel about it actually being aimed at adults too. This was a cartoon ad with children singing to get children to call the Childline if needed, it was nothing to do with fundraising off adults and even then screening it at 5 in the morning on Sky News was hardly going to get good value for money. I had always thought Childline were a good charity but not after that so I cancelled the direct debit.

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

I'll listen when you have some facts to bring to the table.

I'll wait.

I don't have to it is all there in front of you, but you are blind to it as are most SJWs anyway. Sayonara my friend.

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

You've presented no facts here. You've claimed that information is 'hidden' when it is easily available on websites.

All you have is historic scandals, same as most institutions.

I Don't Care. I work with my instinct and will not be told how to think by a SJW like yourself with nothing to say apart from supporting a sector that is mostly a Government Department now.

Gervais08 wrote: »

It’s from barely three years ago - I don’t believe it to be an isolated incident.

The charity industry in Ireland is bloated, not fit for purpose and should be brought under state control.

Great, so full public sector pensions for all charity staff then?

Gervais08 wrote: »

It just doesn’t work the way it is - there is no incentive to end homelessness when so many salaries depend on it carrying on.

Look anyone with half a brain knows this. If homelessness was sorted in the morning they would have no relevance, but surely that is what they should be aiming for.

Anyway, it it is not happening anytime soon, it is all our fault and anti social behaviour does not exist either when they are housed. tip toe around them.

Not going to be told what to do by Andrew J Renko, although I have nothing personal there, still, must check how many homeless charities there are around the place when I get my brain in gear for that.

If anyone knows, happy days, tell me. And I am talking about the entire ROI here too for the record. lol.

Buenes Noches.

Gervais08 wrote: »

It just doesn’t work the way it is - there is no incentive to end homelessness when so many salaries depend on it carrying on.

It's not within the power of homeless services to end homelessness. Service providers don't get to set housing policies, addiction policies, education policies and more.

They just get to clean up the mess.

It's like blaming emergency medics for ongoing road crashes.

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

It's not within the power of homeless services to end homelessness. Service providers don't get to set housing policies, addiction policies, education policies and more.

They just get to clean up the mess.

It's like blaming emergency medics for ongoing road crashes.

That's a bit true but you don't think an industry that employs 189,000 people (a major employer by any standard) needs to be self self perpetuating? ie: needs to engage in campaigns and marketing to ensure their incomes/livelihoods? If i worked in the industry, i sure would!

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Or we could end government funding of charities alltogether... let them be the private enterprises relying on voluntary donations theyre supposed to be and require them to publish a breakdown of what % income they spend on staffing

But then the services would have to be provided by the public sector fully (instead of just half funded by it) and that's bloated and inefficient across the board as it is. No good answer.