Charities board update
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.
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

How to find out which charities are most reputable?

Options
Hi all

I am hoping to start giving money to charities on a regular basis. It is my 40th next month, and I am starting by asking friends and family to donate what they would have spent on presents to a charity instead (which I would like to choose).

The trouble is, I often get an admittedly unfounded hunch that some charities are better than others. I mean in terms of things like how donated money gets used, what kind of salary managers and CEOs are on, and how they approach the projects they set up.

Are there websites which can help determine which charities are most reputable? Or any other ways to find out?

In case it matters, at the moment I am most interested in foreign aid charities and animal charities. But the question is pretty general seeing as I hope this to be an ongoing thing and I may choose to support other charities in the future.

Many thanks

Max

Comments

  • Kim_kim
    Kim_kim Posts: 3,726 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I donated to water aid & they drove me mad looking for more & more.

    I changed to save the children - they accept my dd & don't hassle me.
  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 47,264 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    All registered charities have to publish their accounts, and you can find them on the Charity Commission website.

    You then need to look at their accounts, annual reports etc.

    It's a bit of a judgement call: personally I think there's a limit to the impact a small charity can make, but that's not to say a small charity isn't the right size for what it's doing. With a larger charity you might think "oh my goodness they're paying a lot for ...", but it might be more cost-effective to pay that than 'make do'.
    Signature removed for peace of mind
  • Seagull27 wrote: »
    Hi all


    Are there websites which can help determine which charities are most reputable? Or any other ways to find out?

    I've used this website to compare charities. It lets me check what proportion of donations goes to charity (rather than on administration) and what sort of projects the charities do.
    http://www.aliveandgiving.com

    HTH
  • For my 40th, I requested donations for my son's special school instead of gifts. That way, I knew that the money would be spent on something that directly benefited the children.

    Do you have a local animal shelter that would appreciate a donation? Smaller places often spend less on admin and sometimes have volunteers instead of paid staff, so it might be worth considering.
  • sooty&sweep
    sooty&sweep Posts: 1,316 Forumite
    Hi,
    I appreciate that it costs money to run any organisation but to be honest I've got a little fed up with how pushy some of the bigger charities have become.

    I'd suggest that you choose a local charity or community group / project that you would like to support. They don't have access to the same level of resource that the bigger national charities have and with the public sector funding cuts a lot of local community groups are really struggling.

    Jen
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 350.7K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 243.7K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598.4K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.8K Life & Family
  • 256.8K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.