Charity appeals

Poppy9

No I am not against charity appeals but just celebrity involvement. With the Quake appeal the premiership has given £1m. Is this much when its reported players are earning £30k a week. That is just 33 players weekly wage. Same with live aid back in 1985. All the stars appearing could have donated the same amount as the concert raised and not even missed it. Instead we had Sir Bob asking for our f'ing money. Did anyone ask him for his? Even stars who make a big deal about giving to charity are still spending obscene amounts of money on themselves.

I am not saying that we should stop giving to charity - though I always like to know how much of each pound goes on direct aid and how much goes on administration but I don't want to see celebs begging money and making poor people feel guilty because they can only afford to give a few pound.

Fatboy_NSS

Remember the donation of £1m is still £1m more than if they gave nothing. It seems bizarre how you suggest this encourages you not to donate, after all it all helps. When I'm doing a charity collection in the street I make sure I thank someone who donates 1p as warmly as someone who donates a couple pounds or more. Admittedly nobody has ever put £1m in cash into my bucket.

Incidentally anyone in Edinburgh today make sure you give generously to the Cancer Research collectors. I can't make it but several of my friends are there shaking buckets in the cold!

Poppy9

BBC Charities admin costs

Always ask street collectors how much goes direct to the cause. Some charities have been known to spend as much as 90p in £1 on admin.

jellyhead

eeep! yes some charities are better than others.

i believe that bob geldof did a great deal to help, he really got his hands dirty and without his efforts there wouldn't have been a band aid single or any money collected from it, sorry to be argumentative but i think what bob did was fantastic and would take my hat off to him if bunnies wore hats :-)

Poppy9

But if Bob had just gone to his buddies and said give us 1 of your millions he would have raised as much in 1 day.

jo_b_2

A lot of the celebrities' role is just to generate publicity and awareness about these issues as much as raising funds. That can't be a bad thing surely. ???

The one thing that does annoy me is celebrity Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Especially when they had Paul McCartney on the other week (repeated episode.) Surely he could afford to donate several million to charity without the need to appear on a quiz show. ???

Seems to belittle the original Millionaire series where the money does actually have some value to the potential winners.

Poppy9

I just think some celebrities are only thinking of themself and are hypocrytical in their behaviour. Take PC he enjoyed a £400 ahead chinese meal then spoke at a charity event. Whats wrong with a £10 ahead meal and the balance to charity. If they want the good publicity they should show some modesty in their private life. If everytime they felt extravagant they went for the cheaper option and donated to charity would be better. A footballer spends £48k on a watch that he leaves in his safe and doesn't wear. He could have got a £30 watch that he wore everyday for a year and given the £47.9k to charity.

When there is a such a terrible tragedy as the recent quake I don't need someone famous telling me there is a need for my money. I and the people who give to these appeals would do so anyway.

Re Millionaire - one celeb couple did offer to donate the £8k if they got the question wrong and lost.

jo_b_2

Re Millionaire - one celeb couple did offer to donate the £8k if they got the question wrong and lost.  

Think this was the Mcartneys. Just made me think how little the money actually meant to them. Why didn't they agree to match-fund the money that that they actually raised - when they could clearly afford to? ???

Poppy9

Or what about CZJ a £1,000,000 is not much to us!!!

student100

Money given to charity is still money no matter who gives it.

Take the Band Aid example, the artists gave their time (which is actually quite valuable) to encourage people to donate to charity. They used their celebrity status for some good, which has to be a good thing.

Yes, of course they should also be encouraged to donate as much as they can themselves, AS WELL as doing all these other things to help. But it's still good that they are doing something at least, no matter how insignificant it may seem.

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It would be rather unfortunate if other charities struggle for funds this year if people think they have given enough to charity this year because they gave to the recent DEC appeal.

Poppy9

Did anyone listen to Talksport last night. He had loads of calls about how much of your money actually goes direct to helping people and how much goes on admin. It was very late about 1am and he only had the figures for Oxfam to hand. I was tired but he mentioned something about them have £195m in income from shops, donations and businesses. Of this £79m was spent on administration (salaries etc). He promised to have more information tonight on other charities as he felt he was being unfair to Oxfam.