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[MSE Lawrence]

Poll between 15-22 July 2008.

Pick this site’s official charities for the next year.

Here’s the shortlist for the site’s charities, those that are selected could get up to £20,000 each, so please vote carefully.

How they were picked…

Any site user could nominate and over 600 charities were suggested. The tough shortlisting job went to five regular site users. Four of the charities below will join the automatic pick Re-cycle. The vote closed at 1pm Tues 22 July. This money is alongside the sites own charity the MSE charity, for more info see the MSE Charitable Fund.

Please vote for your top pick of the most relevant and effective charities from the following.

BLISS… for babies born too soon, too small, too sick.
Site: Bliss - 8% (3060 votes)

CAP UK... personal help for those needing debt counselling.
Site: Capuk - 12% (4146 votes)

Carers UK… caring for carers, practically, emotionally and financially.
Site: Carers UK - 8% (3024 votes)

Citizens Advice... providing free information and advice where it’s needed.
Site: Citizens Advice - 5% (1804 votes)

Foal Farm… restoring sick and unwanted animals to health.
Site: Foal Farm - 3% (1217 votes)

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People… transforming lives.
Site: Hearing Dogs for Deaf People - 3% (1254 votes)

Help for Heroes… practical, direct support to our armed forces’ wounded.
Site: Help For Heroes - 22% (7770 votes)

iT4 Communities… bringing charities and IT support volunteers together.
Site: it4communities - 2% (668 votes)

NCH... helping vulnerable children and young people achieve their potential.
Site: NCH - 6% (2271 votes)

Samaritans… providing confidential emotional support to the UK.
Site: Samaritans - 11% (3898 votes)

Shelterbox… giving emergency aid worldwide.
Site: Shelterbox - 18% (6511 votes)

St Giles Trust… helping reduce crime and social exclusion.
Site: St Giles Trust - 1% (422 votes)

This vote has now closed, but you can still click 'post reply' to discuss below. Thanks

[angel]

I was thrilled to see Foal Farm there as I love to support small charities as well as the big ones. They do great work especially as there is a desperate need for this kind of work in South London and the surrounding areas.

I hope that they do well!

[gonzolagonda]

Obviously the choice of charity to vote for is a personal decision, but I suggest voters bear in mind that the current leader in the poll Help For Heroes, whilst undoubtedly deserving, rather takes the onus off the perpetrators and causes of those members of the forces injured in conflict. Whether or not you support UK foreign policy, any consequences of wars entered into by our government should be borne by our government, including proper care, treatment and compensation for those injured. It really shouldn't be dependent on charitable donation. In every conflict in history there are more civilians that get killed than soldiers. Soldiers go into their role in the full knowledge of the possible outcome, whereas civilians caught up in conflict have no such choice. I have voted for one of the childrens' charities, NCH, as children can find themselves in difficult circumstances through no fault of their own.

As I have said, this is a personal choice, and I don't doubt there will be some robust responses to this post(!) However, if you share my view you might be interested to read more about the subject of the prevention of conflict here http://www.ppu.org.uk/

[Inverness]

The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) help everyone with everything. Their twin aim is to influence social policy and bring about "consumer revenge" as well as many other issues such as debt, housing, welfare benefits, employment issues, family matters, immigration etc. For these reasons I think CAB deserve the money and the credit. Nothing could be more appropriate for this website to support.

Not everyone knows the Citizens Advice Bureau are a charity and that the advisers are well trained and well supervised volunteers. Likewise, may assume they get governmental or council funding but they are independant and receive only nominal support from most councils despite helping the council's customers all the time for free.

It's time this invaluable organisation received some proper recognition and had more money to carry out this invaluable service. For the record, I became a volunteer last April and am so impressed by the peoploe that work there and disgusted at the lack of finance they are given.

[columbini1]

I notice that Samaritans is not doing too well in the poll.This is a charity that finds it very difficult to raise funds,as,by its very nature,it has to remain anonymous to the general public.Therefore it is impossible to do fund-raising events as volunteers have to protect their identity.
If you have ever needed a sympathetic ear in times of great distress,you will appreciate what a great job they do.Nobody knows how many lives they have saved.
One day you may need them too.Please add to their vote!
Barbara.

[chou_123]

I voted Carers UK, and then noticed it was doing rather well in the polls. I have a friend who works as a carer for mentally handicapped people and the work is very stressful and hard, for not much pay. So it will be nice to see some support for the carers themselves.

[raisin]

I do not envy the task that was faced by the site users who picked the charities, I found it difficult to choose one to vote for and looked at several links before deciding. I'd just like to point out that the St Giles Trust only supports people in the South and East of England.....

[W_s_n]

Hi everyone, i've voted for NCH

[SeasideSam]

In terms of real need would have hoped to see more Third World charities listed. Charity begins at home will no doubt be pleaded, but is basically a selfish creed.
Would be useful to know what specific criteria are used as a selection basis. Perhaps more discussion is needed on such issues-for example new cancer drugs benefiting a minority who get much publicity and we feel for, compared to a similar spend benefiting many suffering from hip problems or diabetes for example.

[gonzolagonda]

I agree with Seaside Sam, I would have liked to have voted for War On Want for example, who do good works all round the world with an ethical slant.

[Bargainetta]

I voted for Help for Heroes because I expected the animal charities to be the front runners and the statistics for the homeless in the U.K. are shocking - something like a third or a half of the people on the streets are ex-forces some quite unable to cope with what they have seen. They may have chosen to join up but then look at the slick advertising and how vunerable the young are to that sort of thing. Mental illness is so often overlooked.

[gonzolagonda]

Originally Posted by Bargainetta

I voted for Help for Heroes because I expected the animal charities to be the front runners and the statistics for the homeless in the U.K. are shocking - something like a third or a half of the people on the streets are ex-forces some quite unable to cope with what they have seen. They may have chosen to join up but then look at the slick advertising and how vunerable the young are to that sort of thing. Mental illness is so often overlooked.

Agreed. The Peace Pledge Union campaigns against this slick advertising and argues that militarisation is not inevitable.

[southernbelle]

I have voted for Help for Heroes, as they are doing an amazing job.

As a member of the forces myself, hopefully going to Afghanistan next year, it means a lot that there are people who are raising this money which would help me if I were to be injured. We hear a lot about fatalities in the news, however not so much about injuries, some of which are horrific.

Hooray for Help for Heroes!

[darleydame]

Are there just too many charities out there today?
All trying to raise money often for the same thing i.e. cancer and all have staff and offices to run and pay for.
While I admire people that set up a charity in memory of a lost loved one surely they could do this under the umbrella of a larger established charity?

I voted for Carers UK as I think most do a thankless job that gets overlooked and often have no choice in whether they want to do it or not.

[david72]

Whichever charities are chosen, as MSE is a UK-wide website, I do hope that the money raised is distributed to all of the home nations in fair proportion.

Most charities do not operate throughout the UK as a whole entity, and it is extremely common for legal and political reasons for there to be legally-separate corresponding organisations for England(..) and Scotland, and sometimes even for Northern Ireland and Wales as well. They may share the same name and the same objectives, but their organisation and their accounts are separate.

I am sure that Martin and the MSE staff are smarter than that, but it would be very disappointing if, due to an oversight, all of the money was unthinkingly sent to the account of the English charity only, and the rest of the UK received nothing!

Nevertheless, it is genuinely a wonderful thing that this website is both able to and has chosen to contribute to good causes. Thank you, Martin.

[worldtraveller]

Originally Posted by southernbelle

I have voted for Help for Heroes, as they are doing an amazing job.

As a member of the forces myself, hopefully going to Afghanistan next year, it means a lot that there are people who are raising this money which would help me if I were to be injured. We hear a lot about fatalities in the news, however not so much about injuries, some of which are horrific.

Hooray for Help for Heroes!

Well said southernbelle. As a proposer for the Help for Heroes charity I was somewhat saddened to see that some posters in the thread have brought politics into the discussion. That is their right of course, which I have absolutely no problem with, but nevertheless it does sadden me, particularly when Help for Heroes make it very clear that the charity is non-political and is not trying to say anything about the rights and wrongs of current military campaigns, it is simply trying to raise awareness and funds for those men and women who don’t make it home unscathed and gives people the chance to show that they care, appreciate and support all our Servicemen and women.

I hope that it receives the support that I believe that it deserves and many thanks to all those that have, and those others that hopefully will, vote for it.

[davepitchford]

Hi Lawrence

A heartwarming poll, and great to see Martin's generosity.

That said, you have set us all an interesting task: to choose "the most relevant and effective charities". No-one has a clue which are the most effective, unless they work for them or are beneficiaries. May I gently put in a plug therefore, for the website designed to help people understand which charities are more effective (among other things). Many of those on your list are evaluated there: http://www.intelligentgiving.com.

Thanks

Dave

[andy1984uk]

I've voted for Help for Hereos.

Whilst many people don't agree with the ongoing conflict they should still support our troops 100%. My brother was almost killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq which blew up under his vehicle. Luckily he escaped without injury but there are so many more troops who are either killed or have life changing injuries that are never reported on.

This government should be supporting our troops instead of handing out millions in compensation to injured Iraqis....I'll stop there before i start going all political!

[GreenMan]

It was with real sadness that when I looked at the list of twelve charities that only one had any remit outside the UK. Given that the UK is the fourth richest nation on earth and that millions of people worldwide do not have access to a clean water supply or the most basic of health care I'm perplexed that 90% of the charities were based in this country.

[halia]

I went for shelterbox
I've worked for not-for-profit and charitable organisations all my adult life (and a portion of my teenage years too)

Alot of charities do duplicate each other and alot spend funds on marketing etc rather than real need.

Hence shelterbox, I don't know alot about it but it met some of my personal criteria for 'aid'; will it go direct to the people who need it in tangible form?
is it straightforward to deliver? Is it adaptable to different circumstances and cultures? Is it easy to see where the costs are? Does it work together with charities, governmental and other groups? Is it meeting immediate shortterm need rather than ongoing handouts?

BLISS… should be funded by taxes,
CAP UK... need should be addressed in different ways, by numeracy and financial education of children and young people (as an exyouth worker I can say most schools do a terrible job at preparing kids for the real world and its finances)
Carers UK… should be governmental, reflecting the fact that each carer reduces burden on NHS
Citizens Advice... close call, probably my next choice as I agree there is a need for an independant group doing this work. And government funding tends to restrict your independance
Foal Farm… I might support my own local animal charity in variuos ways but I don't think money from a national site should go to just one local animal rescue centre
Hearing Dogs for Deaf People… This really should be governmentally funded as a hearing dog or a guide dog allow a disabled person to live independantly
Help for Heroes… no, if forces cannot provide adequetly for their personel who are injured in line of duty then thats something that needs to be addressed within the public sector. And I personally dont' want a big armed forces or to be involved as a country in iraq. yes the marketing is slick, again I'd rather see real intervention and education programmes aimed at young people and giving them the skills to make better choices.

iT4 Communities… had personal experience of this charity which wasn't positive
NCH... Charities like this do good work but are a cop out for the government who should be addressing the underlying issues of child abuse, child suicide, falling education standards etc
Samaritans… just listening isn't enough, (very personal view)
Shelterbox… giving emergency aid worldwide. Site: Shelterbox
St Giles Trust… looked like they did good work, would need to know a bit more about them

Overall I like the idea of work which actually changes the situation long term, tackling root causes or which works on short term intervention basis to stop things getting out of control in a crises.

So to use an example: parenting - bloody tough job!
I'd support; charity which gave one off nanny/babysitter/holiday care to a family who felt they had reached the end of their tether. Give everyone a breathing space and hopefully prevent the crises point hitting of mom (or dad) having a breakdown
I'd also support work done to look at root causes of WHY parents are under so much stress, is there any way to identify the at risk groups earlier etc etc