I donate monthly to the red cross but is my donation better off withany other charity

qwertyford

Basically I signed up and it just gets taken out of my account. I regret to say that my university lifestyle and lack of enthusiasm means I'm not pro-active in charitable events, runs, auctions etc but am just after a simply no hassle, no nonsense means to give to those less well off than me. Also, my beliefs are that charities saving lives are more worthwhile to donate to than those saving random pigeons and sheep.

Any suggestions anyone. Am I right in thinking that large charities like the red cross waste too much of the charitable donations on red tape and random bureacracy and that dontating to a smaller charity will get more done.

Regards, Tony.

Jays

Hi Tony :A

Have a look at this website:

http://www.kitchentablecharities.org/

I heard about it last year, it was the Times Christmas appeal. I really liked it as all the money donated goes directly to numerous small charities right in the heart of the communities that need to help, many give loans etc to help people set up businesses to help themselves, they then pay back to loan making it available to the next person who needs help. :beer:

If you give regularly, as you have been doing, don't forget to GiftAid, so the charities can claim your tax back from the Inland Revenue, and if you are lucky enough to pay highter rate tax, claim it on your tax return to get some tax relief too.
Hope this helps

Jays

Savvy_Sue

Personally, I think there's a need for charities of all sizes: and being an administrator for a small charity I tend not to think of admin as a 'waste' - after all, if I hadn't spent half today trying to work out why the printer wasn't working, one of our 'front-line' staff would have had to ...

Small charities tend to get more done on a small scale. When large-scale disasters happen, the larger charities are probably better equipped to move in fast.

charlies_mum

I give to the Douglas Macmillan hospice at home team - they stayed with us 24 hours a day when my Mum had cancer, and I don't think we could have managed without them.

kittiwoz

If you are a student you probably can't do gift aid. The charity can only claim the tax back if you have paid sufficient income tax for it to be claimed back from. If you don't pay income tax and you sign/tick for gift aid the charity has to waste money in applying for a rebate on tax you've never paid.

cougar_3

Your parents are more likely to be able to do gift aid. Give them the money and get them to pass it on (or just stick their names down)

Crabman

Red Cross... they're the ones who want to (or already have) ditched the cross because they're "scared" of offending other religions :rolleyes:

rolandkeates

qwertyford wrote:

Any suggestions anyone. Am I right in thinking that large charities like the red cross waste too much of the charitable donations on red tape and random bureacracy and that dontating to a smaller charity will get more done.

Regards, Tony.

In the past I have worked for different charities were donations was used to pay our hotels when delivering aid and our flights, and not to the people were the money should be going.

I have seen aid left in warehouses to rot because of red tape, in the end we had to burn it becuase it became out of date, so when people give money to big charities like the live aid concert back in it's time, don't think all your money went to the people, it's still big business and profit was made.

oldtoolie

There are effective big charities and effective small charities. And there's honest ones and not so honest, just as in any human enterprise.

To deliver help effectively to people in need, you need competent people who understand the situation. Sometimes those people are volunteers -- and many charities including the one I work for couldn't manage without them. But the day to day management and administration is usually in the hands of paid staff, overseen by an unpaid board of trustees. The staff like anyone else have families to feed, so some of your money goes to that.

Would you want your charity save money by not having an accountant? Would you want your charity to fly over a poor community and throw money out the door? No, you want them to keep track of what comes in and what goes out and you want them to figure out what works and what doesn't.

And your charity needs to spend some money on fundraising -- keeping donors informed and telling new people about the good work. That's what I do. Don't call it begging. You are getting a chance to take part in something important -- and if I'm good at my job in telling you what we did with your gift -- you will feel good about it for much longer than spending the same money on a night out at the pub.

I suggest you do what I do in deciding what charities to support. I look into charities doing things I'm interested in. I look at their website, I call them up and ask some questions. I look at the Guidestar website (http://www.guidestar.org.uk/) a directory of charities, it is based on the information charities are required to file with the Charity Commission. And I ask my friends, too.

To help out with big disasters, I support the Disasters Emergency Committee (https://www.dec.org.uk) The DEC is a coalition of the most experienced disaster relief agencies. By working together they avoid competing for support when aid is urgently needed.

There are charities out there that I would not support. That includes the ones that spend too much on fundraising. That patronise the people they help. That provide sticking plasters for issues when a campaign for change might end the need for a plaster.

I'll climb down off my high horse now. But please, when I go to Africa to visit our projects, don't hold it against me if I stay in a TravelLodge standard hotel rather than the backpacker hostel. I've been there but I'm 55 now -- I don't mind roughing it if I have to -- but I really appreciate it if you let me have a good nights sleep.

oldtoolie

GiveItBack

I'm with oldtoolie on this.

There are great charities of all sizes doibng great work, just as there are bad ones wasting resources.

Check out:

http://thecharitysleuths.blogspot.com/ to be a little more active in your giving.

Even if you are a student the charity can claim gift aid, it comes down to the tax you pay on earnings, savings and anything else. As long as you pay the tax, they can claim it back.

Once the sleuths get their site running, you should be able to find and compare charities by type and area.

GIB

see me on CAG: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/

Crabman

GiveItBack wrote:

I'm with oldtoolie on this.

There are great charities of all sizes doibng great work, just as there are bad ones wasting resources.

Check out:

http://thecharitysleuths.blogspot.com/ to be a little more active in your giving.

Even if you are a student the charity can claim gift aid, it comes down to the tax you pay on earnings, savings and anything else. As long as you pay the tax, they can claim it back.

Once the sleuths get their site running, you should be able to find and compare charities by type and area.

GIB

see me on CAG: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/

Doesn't include VAT though which is what everyone pays...