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Charities board update
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Please note, our Forum rules no longer allow the posting of links to personal fundraising or crowdfunding pages, such as JustGiving. You can read the full set of our Forum rules here.
Most efficient charity to leave my money to
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Must check it out in more detail later but think this is the one
93 p in the pound goes to good causes
http://www.starlight.org.uk
I'd donate more to charity if there were more where the money went where it should rather than into the pockets of executives.
You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time
They may have been talking about the total employment cost of a person - their salary and pension contributions plus employers NI. If they were thinking of a full-time qualified/fully experienced person, that may not be so much these days.
I'm just down the road from you, Sam, and there are a couple of community groups who are run entirely by volunteers. In our group, which helps more than a hundred families with disabled children in huge local area, a small number of parents run everything. Our only costs are postage (to apply for grants), minimal printing costs if we can't get things printed or photocopied for free (sometimes the Chair is allowed to print application forms at work, with their permission), and occasional other expenses. We also try to do some fundraising ourselves, and we make small charges for some non-funded activities. One example is a play session for disabled children and their siblings. We charge £1.50 per child, and this covers the room hire, drinks, and a snack of fruit and biscuits. We also provide hot drinks for parents, for which we do not charge but accept donations.
Our group is looking into becoming a charity, but as it directly benefits our own children, we are unsure as yet whether we are able to do this. In addition, there is a lot of paperwork for a group of four parents, each of whom has a disabled child themselves. However, for both you and the OP, it mig be worth asking in your local area if there is anything run solely by volunteers. Places to enquire could include Carer's centres, council for voluntary services, or other support services.
Another suggestion, if considering children's charities, is to think about local Guiding and Scouting groups. I don't mean CHQ in London, or any regional offices, as these do have paid staff. Instead, think about donations to either a division or to individual groups. They are run by volunteers. I run Rainbows and Brownies in a deprived area, and am fortunate enough to have received grants for equipment in the past. We also do bag packing occasionally with the Brownies. Extra money is usually spent on equipment, although earlier this year we did a bag pack to help pay for a trip to the Eureka Museum in Halifax - a great day out, and the kids learned a lot.
Guiding and Scouting are both registered charities, but groups are run at local level by volunteers. If you wanted to leave to a specific local group, you could always note in your Will that in the event of it closing prior to receiving any bequest, the money should be distributed to other local groups that are still in existence. When groups do close, their assets are divided between local groups (at least, that's what happens in Guiding. I assume it is the same in Scouting).
Generally speaking, I think that if you look at local charities, they are less likely to be paying extortionate salaries, for TV adverts, or for sending out 'gifts' to thousands of people I the post in the hope that someone will donate.
In a working lifetime with children & families, the most efficient & effective charity I came across was Home-Start.
The main work is done by volunteers, but they are selected, trained & supported professionally.
Each local group is independent, which makes them flexible, but has support nationally.
home-start.org.uk
They provide a lot of very practical, hands-on help - well worth supporting.
Interesting, some give 100% and some 0%
What charities have you found that don't give 0%?
I found loads on either side which I thought was strange. But now I remember that when I used to visit some of my customers they mentioned that they were registered as a charity for tax purposes. As they were actually a business then they would give away 0% One was a college, some museums, sightseeing, tourism and historical things. Certainly not all charities are equal.