How do you choose?

cherryblossomzel

Which charities to support?

I want to make a regular donation to a charity, and have shortlisted it to two, both do good work, both seems to spend their money well, over 90% on charitable work. One is large and receives a lot of funding from the government etc, the other is smaller and relies almost entirely on private donations. The larger one obviously has a bigger impact.

I know that it is ultimately a personal choice, but I was wondering how other people think about these things?

kathrynha

It's a matter of deciding what is important to you.

For me I prefer to give to humans than animals, and I prefer to support local charities, medical charities, lifesaving charities, and young people charities.
Also remember there are ways other than giving money to support charities.

My charities I support are:
GirlGuiding by giving my time
Local hospices by supporting their charity shops in both donations and purchases

and financially:
Yorkshire air ambulance
Help for Heroes
Cancer research
British Legion
RNLB

There is no reason why you have to narrow your choice down to one charity. Why not split between the 2

asajj

I lost my mother to cancer years ago and because of this I have been volunteering and donating to Cancer Research for years.

For many, it comes down to this I think A personal story.

Apart from that I know about problems small charities face and how they lose out generally and I tend to lean towards supporting them/local charities.

I also try to buy merchandise from their shops (most will have their own range).

It can be difficult to decide but I suppose you can divide your support perhaps as suggested above

cherryblossomzel

I have a couple of "categories" that I want to donate in, but these two were from the same category. You're both right, though, I think I will give to both.

BritishBibliophile

Personally I support the MND Association, like the chaps above say, it has a personal connection for me (my grandfather had MND).

If it was me in your shoes then I'd donate to the smaller charity. The bigger one might have greater reach, but you say that they already get government funding, and in my experience bigger charities often have bigger costs for things like admin, marketing etc.

If you want to feel that your money is having a greater impact, go with the small one.

chucknorris

I donate to 2 dog charities, the dogs trust and the last chance rescue centre. I think the dogs trust do a great job and promise never to put a healthy dog to sleep (something that the RSPCA sometimes do, so I stopped donating to them). I also donate to the Last Chance Rescue Centre who target and take dogs from councils that kill dogs after 7 days (that is all a council pound is legally obliged to do, even worse some don't feed the dog on the 7th day because they think that it is a waste of money).


EDIT: I also used to also do volunteer work for various dog rescue centres, but when I got busy at work I had to stop.

Babbawah

I tend to only donate to what a thinking person might call an innocent victim.

In my world this is currently limited to children & animals.

The major charities operating in these sectors are arguably the most profitable. Who wouldn't give their hard earned £££'s when faced with a story of child neglect or animal sufferring?

Sadly. The major charities operating in these areas are fully aware that this is where we want our £money to go. Sadly the major charities operating in these areas are the ones that we really should NOT be wasting our £money on.

I don't know anyone who still donates to Children In Need & anyone who still believes that the RSPCA is all about the animals is no friend of mine.

Be carefull where you chuck your money. Be very, very carefull.

Be especially carefull about promoting where your £money is chucked because none of these . . . so called charitable organisations . . . take kindly to be examined closely.

kerri_gt

I donate to charities that I have a personal connection with or feel have some local impact.

Local hospice - financially and they are my chosen charity shop for donations
Local cat charity - pet food donations - they helped us adopt our current mog who was a stray
Local Food Bank - food donations

Faith177

I do the poppy lottery every month which goes to the RBL and that's a personal connection for me

I have a guide dog puppy I sponsor called Harley. He has just graduated so I'll be getting puppy no 3 shortly :j OH had an issue with his eyesight a few years ago and we were told he might lose it that really woke me up to what the Guide Dogs do.

Lastly I give to Battersea Dogs Home. One of of our dogs came from there a few years back and they medical bill along was huge! A lot of our animals are rescues and I feel like I'm helping other animals to gain the kind of life my lot have

PDC

Unfortunately I've been put off many of the larger charities due to some of their marketing methods so personally I now mostly stick to local charities I can see doing good and those larger ones I have some personal connection with.

brightonman123

something that could (or has) helped my family - local area - cultural change

eg-
Diabetes UK
cycling routes
Clean water programmes