Vent - Charity Shops Again -'are spending less than half of cash on good work'

missbiggles1

hollydays wrote: »

Where you get this 10p in the pound statistic from please?

Well, certainly not from Oxfam.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/blogs/2012/09/how-much-of-my-money-do-you-spend-on-admin

I think people often forget the campaigning role that charities have and the costs this incurs.

paddyrg

The 10p figure is !!!!!!!!, frankly speaking. I think the true figure is somewhere over 80p but it goes to show what you can do with fearmongering the fact that it's being repeated as fact in this thread with absolutely no substantiation whatsoever.

Look on the charities commission website, every registered charity has to supply this intimation and you'll find smaller charities often end up spending a higher proportion of income on indirect activities than the larger ones. There are also some VERY spurious 'charitable' activities, including one charity that was doing a bucket shake 'for children with cancer' who were spending money raised telling parents to REFUSE medication. The NHS is right there to help poorly kids, but this charity was going to create more sickness, death and misery. I've seen others shaking tins to send more missionaries to refugee camps, instead of actual, tangible aid. This is easier to spot and filter out with the larger charities.

LadyDee

hollydays wrote: »

Yep , give food to homeless people , don't shop in charity shops at all seems your best solution.

Oh, don't be silly - I do shop in charity shops, but I not in Oxfam shops. I am though, a regular shopper in the hospice shop and other smaller charity concerns. and I am confident that a much larger percentage of what I spend there does go to those causes.

hollydays

LadyDee wrote: »

Oh, don't be silly - I do shop in charity shops, but I not in Oxfam shops. I am though, a regular shopper in the hospice shop and other smaller charity concerns. and I am confident that a much larger percentage of what I spend there does go to those causes.

I was simply stating what seemed to be your best solution .
I've worked for a so called local charity and the jollies the management went on were disgraceful.

117pauline

One of the most maddening things I find is the number of charity shops who prop their doors open in winter and also have the blower fan on over the door.

Towser

I give to the nearest charity shop but it is all stuff that has already gone through my recycling process - ebay, freecycle, auction ect that is suitable to go to the charity shop. I say good luck to them if they can turn it into something good for others.

Although there are some really rude people who work in charity shops. One women was saying oh we have been inundated really moaning.
One manager is morbidly obese and just lies (as in on the floor with cushions) in the back room with the door open keeping an eye on the till.
Another owner or manager strips the shop bare of anything nice by selling in Dress agency shops and on carboots as I frequent those places too and have seen her there too. I just assumed she was making as much money for the charity by other means. I really dislike most people who work in these shops but the thing is I wouldn't do it. So good for them. I wish I could have my own charity shop but I know shop overheads are not a walk in the park - so I can believe the figures.

I buy from all charity shops but sometimes can't be bothered if the prices are too high or Vent - Charity Shops - Sorting by Colour not Size

It makes my blood boil as it takes ages now to find anything I want.
I know it makes the shop more boutique like but I really can't be bothered to go through the whole shop just to find my size.

Oxfam and Barnados are the main perpetrators. Some of the hospice shops do it but at least then sort by size.

What else annoys you whilst trying to shop in the charity shops? I could go on.

hollydays

Towser wrote: »

I give to the nearest charity shop but it is all stuff that has already gone through my recycling process - ebay, freecycle, auction ect that is suitable to go to the charity shop. I say good luck to them if they can turn it into something good for others.

Although there are some really rude people who work in charity shops. One women was saying oh we have been inundated really moaning.
One manager is morbidly obese and just lies (as in on the floor with cushions) in the back room with the door open keeping an eye on the till.
Another owner or manager strips the shop bare of anything nice by selling in Dress agency shops and on carboots as I frequent those places too and have seen her there too. I just assumed she was making as much money for the charity by other means. I really dislike most people who work in these shops but the thing is I wouldn't do it. So good for them. I wish I could have my own charity shop but I know shop overheads are not a walk in the park - so I can believe the figures.

I buy from all charity shops but sometimes can't be bothered if the prices are too high or Vent - Charity Shops - Sorting by Colour not Size

It makes my blood boil as it takes ages now to find anything I want.
I know it makes the shop more boutique like but I really can't be bothered to go through the whole shop just to find my size.

Oxfam and Barnados are the main perpetrators. Some of the hospice shops do it but at least then sort by size.

What else annoys you whilst trying to shop in the charity shops? I could go on.

How many charity shops have you got near you?

Goldiegirl

If charity shops make people so angry, why do you still shop there?

If it was any other type of shop people would vote with their feet, and go else where.

But I guess the lure of getting something cheap makes people overlook their anger

knightstyle

Read "The Great Charity Scandal by David Craig" it will really open your eyes.
The six biggest anti-poverty charities have 142 staff being paid £60,000 a year or more and 17 with salaries of more than £100,000. In all, about 16,000 charity staff are paid more than £60,000 a year and perhaps 3,000 are getting more than £100,000.!
The chief executive of the Serpentine Trust that manages two small art galleries in Central London paid its chief executive more than the boss of Oxfam received.

Towser

If it was any other type of shop people would vote with their feet, and go else where.

That is it, I do I skip "those" ones.

I live in the country so two about three miles away. The thing is because I live in the country there are about five towns less than 40 minutes away with an average of six charity shops all within striking distance. So around thirty. I don't have to shop anywhere else. When I go to a particular town I usually have an errand or two but call these days out my buying trips and have lunch there and make a day of it. It is my favourite hobby but some make my blood boil which I have to skip.