Should there be a MoneySavingExpert.com Charitable Trust? Blog Discussion

max2002ad

Dear Martin.
I am currently writing my will and would like to give a legacy to the fund. However i have been told by my solicitor that i will need a charity registration number to help with the administraion. Do you have a charity number yet??

MSE_Martin

max - thats a very generous offer - no we dont have a charity number yet, but should do within the next couple of months

max2002ad

This site and the community that has developed around it has helped me change the way that i think about my life and run my life. I now have a more fruitful life and i think it's right that i should contribute some of my success back to the site so that more people can be helped.
When you do have the number and details of how we can donate please post them as i have £25 to donate from the bank charges i have reclaimed and £500 to donate in my will. Mind due i have to warn you i hope not to be giving you the £500 for a few years yet as i am only 26!

Timmne

Hi Martin,

Just found this thread!

How about (and it's not going to be popular) having a page where members could donate? Also is it feasible to start charging members to use the forum - or not 'charging' persay, more a 'suggested donation' for using the forums? I'm sure most people on here would be more than happy to donate a tiny quid a year (or a quid a month?) to support the charity.

If you compare a quid to the amount people who use this forum have saved I'm sure the quid would be a small price to pay! Given the 20 billion members (I have no idea how many members there are but I'm sure it's a close guess ) this could be a great way of rasing charity funds and it would mean everyone's had a hand in building it up!

Thoughts?

MSE_Martin

I am most certainly going to allow users to make donations and ask them to do so. However what I won't do - in any way - is ask anyone to pay for using any section of the site.

Donations will be purely voluntary

Timmne

Yeah I see what you mean... I suppose it would go against the whole idea of the site I suppose.

Let me know when you're collecting; I'll be happy to pay my way!

NeilHewitt

I can well understand your conservative stance on charity. Their are a lot of people who will try to 'use' your charitable status.

I have read many of the bloggs and they are very personal, which they will be for anyone who has suffered hardship as a result of the large financial institutions.

I used to run a small, but frontline software company, many years ago, I crossed swords with IBM, unintenionally, but was immediately threatened by this 'squeaky clean' organisation.

Large corporations profess to be 'nice clean guys', but they are the worst.

No one gets rich, seriously rich by being a nice guy.

I had to go bankrupt over 10 years ago, I felt totally lost, having previously felt so in charge, although plainly I wasn't.

I tried to find help, and all there was were charlatans and people who wanted to make money out of me, I had nothing, obviously!

Most people get into this situation as a result of stupidity, they are not bad people, just believe in something that is not completely logical.

In USA I believe you can keep 5 cars and something like 20 acres. In the UK you are a criminal still.

I suggest a charity for you to support bankrupts, sure it would have to be 'means tested', their are a lot of rogues out there, but there are also a lot of well intentioned niave people, who had no intention of fooling the system. They just got it wrong.

I, at the time contacted the 'Bankruptcy Association', they were so negative, they made me feel even worse than I already felt!

A support organisation that really cared for people who had tried hard but obviously made serious mistakes. unintentionaly would realy be appreciated.

I am long out of the 'woods' now. But I still remember the pain.

I can see your cause, it needs to be related to 'this insensitive commercial world' we live in. All suppliers proffess to be 'touchy feely', however they are far worse than they used to be. Quoting all sorts of stupid reasons like 'health and safety' and 'data protection act', as their reason for not supplying an adequate service. I could rant for ever about the !!!!!!!! the corporations give out about the data protection act.

I try to sort out financial aspects for my wife and 19 year old kids, and no one will talk to me! Please have a rant about the !!!!!!!! of the data protection act. It is useless and meaningless, but it still allows 'Jack' from India, who has got my name and number and some of my financial details from somewhere, who can not even pronounce my name properly, to call me, and tell me about information he should not have. If the data protection act has any relevance at all. it should be relevant world wide, otherwise it should be repealed. We seem very good at passing acts, without public support, we also seem incapable of repealing the.

As a result of the advent of external call centres, If the 'data protection act' is not enforceable in those countries, then it is irrelevant in England, if we allow UK companies, including the big banks and Internet and phone companies to have offshore phone companies, they are totally flouting the law.

Let us ban offshore support centres, they may be cheap but they are useless, I put the phone down allways, what a waste of money for that company. Their techniques are illegal under English law, so how come they are allowable?

Regards


Neil Hewitt