How much do you give to charity?

ailuro2

We made a donation to shelter a few years back instead of giving each other Christmas presents, as we really didn't NEED anything.

About 6 times a year a letter arrives from them with envelope attached, asking for another donation even though I always tick any box that says please don't contact me...

It galls me that our money went on buying more envelopes and paying managers to organise mail shots instead of helping out the homeless.

While I'm at it.. how many other people turn over whenever a £2 a month ad comes on. I really object to someone pulling at my heartstrings by showing me footage of a skinny dog or crying child to try and relieve me of some money.

I do, when I can, give local charities one-off donations - paper money stuck in their collecting tin.

I buy the Big Issue too, as long as the seller isn't smoking - that's something else I'm not going to fund.;)

juno

£5 a month to my local day hospice. They sent me a nice thank you letter and a pen, and I'm signed up to their newsletter telling me about their events, but other than that I receive no correspondence - ie no begging letters!

LilacPixie

I don't give money, very little actually reached the intended party. I fling in some cat food to local cat shelter quite alot and donate kids clothes then grow out of quickly to a local charity shop.

duloch

No D/Ds but have a maggies collection box in the house which I put any spare change into. Sponsor family/friends throughout the year, donate clothes toys books etc to local charity shops. Would love to give more but 1 I cant afford to and 2 wouldnt know what charity deserves it more.

HappyLottie

This thread has actually surprised me- I thought people would give more.

We give over £150 a month- mainly by sponsoring children abroad, church charities etc. That probably seems a lot now given other people's responses but bear in mind that there are many people out there that cannot afford a house, food, water even! My 'debt' (so to speak) is just my student loan and morgage (no other loans) and seeing as I work for the NHS and my husband for the council, we don't have big pay packets either.

I wouldn't class giving money, time, belongings etc to friends or family as charity as you would naturally give them things being their friend.

I agree that when picking a charity I would look at what they stand for, things like admin costs etc- I would want as much money as possible to go to the source- the people who are in need.

lauren_1

I used to pay about £25 a month but had to stop it all due to tightening my belt.

Now I shop more in charity shops and donate too.
I do more things for charity such as race for life, sponsored walks etc etc (it does give you more satisfaction than setting up a DD)
Keep a bag of pennies so the kids can give to collectors on the street
Donate old blankets and bedding to animal shelters
Volunteer your time if you can or if you cant have a look in to oxfams unwrapped, http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/results.aspx?catalog=Unwrapped&category=UWBestSeller#intcmp=shophub_shoppromo5 i buy a goat annually.

clairehi

Oldbiggles wrote: »

. Some of these charities pass around addresses of soft touches. So be careful what or who you donate your hard earned cash to.

:rotfl:

I love the way you make this sound like a secret conspiracy. Just to enlighten you, this is common commercial practice among businesses not just charities, they sell your data on to mailing list companies if you let them. (This will raise money for the charity as the mailing list co. will pay for your data.) It is not altogether surprising that other similar charities will then buy your data and send you info. as you may be a potential donor for them too.

Next time, tick the box that says "NO, I do not want my details passed on to any other organisation".

Willowx

I give 12-15 hours a week to charity whose cause I support and whose management I looked into before volunteering, yes they are all on decent wages but they are nowhere near as high as the figures that you see quoted for some of the charities.

Giving to charity is a very personal thing and at the end of the day only you can make the decision, look and see how much money you can afford if any and then look into the individual charity do you support it's cause and does it have a history of scandals management or otherwise. Some big charities are better than others but then again so are the smaller ones.

juno

lauren_1 wrote: »

I do more things for charity such as race for life, sponsored walks etc etc (it does give you more satisfaction than setting up a DD)

Oh yeah, I did the Race for Life a few weeks ago, and am later doing the Great North Run both for Cancer Research

ariba10

Monthly DD to the Salvation Army.

I am not at all religious but when I did my National Service I found that they were the only people that would Give you anything.

I have repaid what little I received many times over and hope to give a lot more.