Starting a charity

joseph9a

Hi All,

Just after a bit of advice really. I currently work part time in a job which I get no satisfaction from. At the moment I earn approximately 20k. I have thought for a while now I would like to try and make my mark on the world and leave something behind when I am not here.


I have a physical disability and I have thought about setting up a charity to raise funds for people with disabilities to help them pay for alternative therapies such as massage. There are a few things i'm thinking. the first is what is the first step to start your own charity? Thats why Ive posted this on MSE The other thing i'm thinking is if I set up a charity and it is is successful, is it ethical to take a wage from it? I'm hoping that I can leave my current job and run the charity full time myself. I have no doubt I would be able to do this as I have a passion for helping people.


If I took a salary of lets say £20,000 is this unethical? The way i am looking at it is if I did do that I would be a lot happier as I would be in a job doing what I enjoy and I would be raising money for a good cause. Obviously I would be hoping to raise atleast 50k minimum if I was taking 20k for my salary. Also as the charity grows and starts making more money can you get more paid part time staff etc, obviously aswell as volunteers.


Also is there help out there for premesis etc.


Thanks

PlutoinCapricorn

The consensus on here is that starting a charity in the hope of getting a salary out of it is the worst possible reason.

Have you had a look at the Charity Commission's register, especially the section on starting a charity?

Where do you expect to get funding from?

Are you aware of the zero sum game aspect, where money given to you could well be at the expense of a similar charity?

paddyrg

I'm going to come across a bit blunt here, but we can cut to the chase...

Disabled - does that mean has access to DLA/PIP? That is a payment to make extra things available to help mitigate the lack of mobility. Would theraputic massage not come under this?

As I understand it, patrons of charities are not able to be beneficiaries of the dispersed funds (they may employ employees though)

I suspect the whole area of setting up a charity to raise enough money to pay yourself a wage for something you might be accused of benefitting personally from when you already may receive a government contribution which could cover it might be a non-starter.

OK, negativity over - before proceeding, though, you probably should have a good read of the charity commission website. You may also find if you want to help wheelchair-bound people as your primary motivation that raising money for an already existing charity will reduce overheads and may cause more good overall.

joseph9a

thanks for replying

at first I would like to set it up alongside my current job and not take a salary. After that my intentions were that if the charity grew big enough I could leave my current job an take on the charity full time. The reason i thought of this is I am currently working in a job which i find really boring.

In my opinion there are 2 things i can do. the first is carry on working at my job until i retire in a job which i don't enjoy. the second is set the charity up and take a salary and push for as much funding I can each year. If I decided to start the charity and hypothetically it brought in 50k and i took a 20k salary, then thats still 30k for the community. After a few years it could be raising 100k plus a year.

I can understand why people think it is wrong to take a wage, but the only other option is don't do it. Everyone needs money to live, if i started the charity i still have to pay my own bills etc. I could work at it a few hours a week and not take a wage. that would be a small charity then but i wanted to try and make it much bigger than this, and therefore it would take most of my time.

Paddy, yes the DLA or PIP money that people get is to help people with their disabilities. In a lot of cases though that money just isnt enough. I had to have deep tissue massage over a course of a couple of months. The cheapest person i found was £45 an hour and I was seeing him twice a week. Over the 2 months I paid him over £700. Luckily my disability doesnt affect my ability to work, but some people obviously can not work, so if they needed the treatment I had which is not available on the NHS, then they wouldnt be able to have it. I can understand people who may say you get the benefits you need etc. But having lived on benefits for a couple of years I know how hard it is to scrape by.

Mojisola

joseph9a wrote: »

If I decided to start the charity and hypothetically it brought in 50k and i took a 20k salary, then thats still 30k for the community.

I wouldn't give a penny to a charity which spent nearly half of its income on one person's salary! There will also be office costs, postage, advertising, printing, etc.

joseph9a

My other option if not might be to apply for fundraising jobs. So not necessarily starting my own charity but work for one and get paid and the job satisfaction aswell.

PlutoinCapricorn

That is a much better idea. There are hundreds of thousands of registered charities, and a new one would almost certainly take money away from an existing one. It is best to start by working for an existing charity, and learn how they are run.

lincroft1710

Your posts give the impression (rightly or wrongly) that joseph9a's income source is the prime consideration rather than raising funds. If you want to set up a charity to raise funds to help fellow sufferers then this should not become your source of income.

Bear in mind that as there are far too many charities chasing too little money, it will be an uphill struggle to get funds. I agree with Mojisola, raising £50K and taking £20K as salary is a complete no-no. Many charities are getting a bad reputation because of the methods used to obtain funds.

Most people work in unsatisfying jobs, it isn't a crime and these jobs do help make the world go around.

Is there definitely no charity which covers the area you would hope to cover.

PlutoinCapricorn

Have you got the £5,000 you would need to get a registration number, which some potential donors will consider essential?

joseph9a

My intention is to raise money and still make a living and hopefully in years to come the charity could be nationwide. but taking on board what people are saying it may be better to look for a job as a fundraiser for an existing similar charity

joseph9a

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

Have you got the £5,000 you would need to get a registration number, which some potential donors will consider essential?

No its just an idea at the moment. If I did decide to do it there's obviously a lot of researching and fundraising to be done first.