Good use of donations to charities

Natalie_Plumer

In what ways can you find out how well charities use the donations they receive?

Savvy_Sue

Sign up to get their emails and read all about it.

Peruse their annual reports.

If you have specific questions about the above, ask them.

Sagz_2

Reistered charities have to file accounts every year, from them you should be able to see how much is being spent on what.

A quick Google came up with this site, I expect there will be others too
http://www.charitychoice.co.uk/charities/?_ga=1.83406548.398896323.1467485841

Upsidedown_Bear

The Charity Commission website is worth looking at.

upoiupou

When you check, please bear in mind that admin is a necessary cost! It's very hard for charities who are criticised from the outside for spending too much on support staff, and concerned on the inside that they can't attract decent staff, or that their workforce is overworked and stressed.

I've worked for a major charity that ended up spending more on brown envelopes for writing to donors because they were criticised so much and had a drop in donations for using white ones, which were perceived as more expensive even though they were cheaper!

Having said that, they absolutely need to use money wisely. I agree with the ways other posters have given to check.

Mohawk_3

upoiupou wrote: »

When you check, please bear in mind that admin is a necessary cost! It's very hard for charities who are criticised from the outside for spending too much on support staff, and concerned on the inside that they can't attract decent staff, or that their workforce is overworked and stressed.

I've worked for a major charity that ended up spending more on brown envelopes for writing to donors because they were criticised so much and had a drop in donations for using white ones, which were perceived as more expensive even though they were cheaper!

Having said that, they absolutely need to use money wisely. I agree with the ways other posters have given to check.

That's interesting about the brown/white envelope thing. Many moons ago, I did temping work at a finance company, and if you were accepted for finance, the letter went out in a white envelope, but the cheapo brown ones were used if you were rejected. I thought it was a waste to use white ones at all, but clearly many people see a lot of significance in it.

Not long ago, I noticed that some people were upset with a celebrity who had expressed political views that differed from their own. They took it upon themselves to investigate their charity, and discovered that they spent money on staff! They failed to recognise that the charity did a lot of campaigning to change attitudes and bring about cultural change, rather than doling out cash to the needy, and were threatening to report them to the charities commission!:eek:

No-one would expect the MacMillan nurses to work for free, so why do people think other necessary staff members should do it? You can only do so much with volunteers.