IMHO It's time to raise awareness of the need to give donations to charities.

Undervalued

soolin said:

I suspect a lot of people donate regularly and just take it as 'something they do' without seeing a need to post on a special board that they are doing it. I don't post my own history of voluntary work  but just mention it on other threads if it has some relevance to a post I am making and certainly don't feel there is any benefit in me giving amounts of percentages to explain how much I donate in time or money.

I shop several times a week and don't feel the need to post anything on the shopping board either- it's just life.

We all have our favourite charities, but would it serve any purpose to all start posting with links to charities that we feel passionate about? Yes the board would be very busy but with just a stream of single post threads with charitable links that I don't think would assist anyone. Perhaps one suggestion might be a 'charity of the week' or month type post, with a charity or forum user invited to put up a post with some in depth background information on a specific charity, I'll put that to the Forum team to see if it is something that might be useful going forward.

This board has always been a bit ambiguous as to its purpose with the headline explanation being 'For posts that benefit registered charities with the aim to help support them where possible – including sponsorships, donations and more." but having to do that without using identifiable information or for your own benefit- so it's a fine line. I suspect a board like this is never going to be high priority, and I think that's right- the boards that do get all the traffic are those giving specific advice about debt, consumer rights etc - and to me that's  what this forum is for. realistically a moneysaving forum doesn't need a charity sub board at all except perhaps for things like reminding users to gift aid if possible .

In a way, as this is a money saving forum, maybe there should be somewhere to post concerns about less deserving charities of which, sadly, there are more than a few?

That may encourage people not to donate to those organisations and instead give there money to those that are more deserving.

As I said earlier there are many, many good causes that deserve support and surely even the most generous would like to see their money used wisely.

soolin

Personally,  and of course I cannot speak on behalf of MSE rules or how they are meant to be interpreted, I think posting about less than honest charities should be possible on this forum.

 I recall many years ago a very useful warning probably on this board warning about the ‘charity’ bags left in letter boxes that had become prevalent where they asked for good clothing or clean household items to be donated. it seemed that despite some claims about being all for charity a read of the small print suggested that many of them were in fact businesses who resold for profit and made a nominal donation , sometimes as low as 2p in the pound from sales. I thought that was a very useful warning if only to remind us all that small print is often worth reading rather than the large font words like ‘charity’. 

I_Love_comps

A lot of members on here probably cannot afford to donate to charity on a regular basis.  I buy from charities and donate to them via giving of gifts and clothes .
I buy books, gifts sets and clothes all save me money.  Books are 50p.

Also people give money to charities which are close to there heart. 
Giving time as a volunteer is also useful to the charity - I help when I can at a local food bank.

Most charites have online shops where you can purchase from eg greetings cards.

Richard1212

It is really true that so many people in this awful economic time can't afford to give to charity, just as 
I-Love_comps says. It's a scandal in our country which is a member of the G7 and with one of the biggest economies in the world. 

I am grateful for the reference to volunteer work that was rightly highlighted in that post. In many ways , it shows more charitable thought and compassion than any amount of money.

My wife and I , as usual, were serving Xmas dinner to old folk who would otherwise have been alone on Xmas Day and it is a wonderful thing to see how determined, cheerful and resilient those lovely people are. They are an example to us all.

Today we are at home and getting ready for a fish that we bought for this day some time ago and which has been taking up room in our freezer since then. Hoping everyone has a special day today.

A Very Happy New Year to all.  

billy2shots

Richard1212 said:

 I have given 5% of my earnings to charities (on a rotating basis) since my first salary was paid into my Bank over 50 years ago.

 On top of those monthly payments, I have also contributed for lengthy periods to crises which arise unexpectedly---for example, I have most recently been donating monthly payments to the Red Cross appeals in relation to Ukraine and Somalia.

I also donate to various UK charities as part of my 5% regular payments, especially cancer research and Macmillan Nurses ( and, like mine , I am certain that many forumites have seen their families hit by cancer). 

Your intended message has probably been lost in what appears to be a humble brag post. 

What you give or do not give is irrelevant. As is what I give or do not give. 

Raising awareness of charities does not involve individuals highlight what they contribute. 

A good deed is not truly a good deed if it is done for recognition or you feel the need to publicise it. 
I suspect that's why MSE does not match your expectations in regard to posts or comments about charitable donations. 

Richard1212

But a good deed that is done and then mentioned on an anonymous site can give people( who perhaps have never considered the matter) an incentive to get out there and help during this awful economic crisis for so many. The same applies to charity donations for those who can afford them but have never considered them---not because they are bad folk but because we are all tied up in our own hectic jobs and busy lives and it's easy to overlook things that may be important.

Happy New Year.

soolin

I_Love_comps said:

A lot of members on here probably cannot afford to donate to charity on a regular basis.  I buy from charities and donate to them via giving of gifts and clothes .
I buy books, gifts sets and clothes all save me money.  Books are 50p.

Also people give money to charities which are close to there heart. 
Giving time as a volunteer is also useful to the charity - I help when I can at a local food bank.

Most charites have online shops where you can purchase from eg greetings cards.

I think you raise a very valid point, the busy boards on here tend to be concerned with debt, bankruptcy, saving money and spending wisely. That might be an indication that many members are already struggling with keeping their own lives together without feeling guilty about donating to charity.  Having spoken over the Christmas period to helpers at a food bank it seems that more and more people, many that would in the past have been considered ‘well off’ can no longer afford to feed their own families let alone worry about donating to good causes. This is probably not the best sort of forum to be pressing people to donate more money or time. 

I also think that some of the stories over the past couple of years about some charities and what they actually spend money on (as well as certain scandals) won’t help with people’s perception of why they need more money. 

I have submitted a suggestion to the main team that , as suggested above, perhaps a charity of the month type of post might be worth considering, with a charity or user being able to give more in depth background into how they use their money and to what benefit. It will of course be entirely up to the team to decide whether to go ahead with this idea or not. 

However I certainly don’t envisage any push towards users being expected to go into any detail whatsoever about what they do, or don’t donate. That should be a matter entirely private between the donor and charity. 

Richard1212

I accept the contents of soolin's thoughtful post and I like the very constructive  "charity of the month" suggestion and I hope it is adopted by the main team.

If soolin feels that we should keep our own experiences and actions to ourselves, I am completely content to accept that ( and I will do so with immediate effect) ; though it does seem a little odd that other Boards on forum are littered with personal details of incomes, windfall amounts, savings amounts, shares held by forumites etc etc. 

I'm just glad that this Board may now be able , thanks to soolin's idea, become more active and give forumites more awareness.

A Very Happy New Year.

soolin

I’ve had another thought based partly on I_love_comps post and my Christmas discussion with helpers from a food bank. How about a thread on what foods we should be donating to food banks,  assuming we want to donate.

i was asked to say the first thing that came into my mind that I thought of to donate and I said ‘baked beans’. Apparently this particular food bank reckon they have months and months worth of stock of baked beans, as ‘everyone’ donates them, and they said that the thing they would like donated is pet food . As well as pet food they reckon the requirements for certain things wax and wane, so some weeks they might not have any sanitary items, but the next week they need pasta. They also said to try and avoid donating fresh food as many food banks get stock regularly from local supermarkets. 

So if anyone is connected with a food bank, perhaps start a thread with some suggestions as to what to donate or what things perhaps to avoid. I realise this changes week to week and also area to area, but is my baked beans story usual, or is it just in one small area? 

strawb_shortcake

soolin said:

I’ve had another thought based partly on I_love_comps post and my Christmas discussion with helpers from a food bank. How about a thread on what foods we should be donating to food banks,  assuming we want to donate.

i was asked to say the first thing that came into my mind that I thought of to donate and I said ‘baked beans’. Apparently this particular food bank reckon they have months and months worth of stock of baked beans, as ‘everyone’ donates them, and they said that the thing they would like donated is pet food . As well as pet food they reckon the requirements for certain things wax and wane, so some weeks they might not have any sanitary items, but the next week they need pasta. They also said to try and avoid donating fresh food as many food banks get stock regularly from local supermarkets. 

So if anyone is connected with a food bank, perhaps start a thread with some suggestions as to what to donate or what things perhaps to avoid. I realise this changes week to week and also area to area, but is my baked beans story usual, or is it just in one small area? 

There is someone on the forum that has a suggestion of pet food for donation to food banks in their signature