Chairty donations warning

Ed's_Girlfriend

I have never posted a comment on here before so I hope this goes ok!

This post isn't money saving as such but it does address the way you handle your money and will hopefully be of use to someone.

Last week at work a stand appeared with a lady encouraging people to sign up to regular charity donations from their gross salary (known as GAYE - Give As You Earn). Over a cigarette I was talking to the rep about her job and she revealed that her organisation is a very profitable company, with charities paying them for each new donator acquired. Now working in Financial Services marketing, this is very similar to the commission structure applied by the Field rep companies who promote credit cards at service stations, shopping centres etc. Although this seemed slightly unethical, I understand that without field marketing activity many charities would not be able to attract the same number of donators through other ‘expensive’ mediums such as direct mail and press advertising. However, I was very shocked to find out that as well as a one off payment of, say £10, for recruiting the donator, the company also earns 4% of every monthly donation going forward. So although you think you are giving directly to charity out of a £5 monthly donation (£60 p.a.) the 'introducer' could shave £12.40 off that. So I guess the lesson here is always donate directly to your chosen charity and avoid being recruited on the street.

klare_2

just thought this might be worth a mention too. I sued to share a house with a friend that worked for a certain kidney charity wont say the name but you will have heard of it. She was on VERY decent salary as were all the people she worked with. Anyway the director of the charity was on ( allegedly, dont want to get into trouble as I never actually saw the guys wage slip) around 60K a year plus perks and everyday he would fall asleep in his office ( which was luxuriously decked out ). I have no issue with someone earning a good salary if the EARN it but I bet people wouldnt have given so much to this charity if they had known where a good chunk of their money was going.

These days I always give to local charities, generally local animal sanctuarys where I can see who works there, what car they drive, how plush their office isnt andmore importantly what the money IS being spent on. :wave:

Marmiter

Is this the same as those really irritating people that try to stop me every single lunchtime as I walk through town?

If I want to give to charity, I never go to them. I get the impression that they aren't doing it because they are genuine charitable people, otherwise they'd be volunteers, right?!

Ed's_Girlfriend

I guess it#s not fair to assume that everyone who approaches us for regular donations is not working directly for the charity, but if in doubt I intend to ask who they are employed by.

It's a fair certainty that if they are representing multiple charities and asking for you to sign up to monthly donations that they are paid on a commission basis, and their employers are skimming profits off your hard earned charitable donations.

wobbley

It seems that a lot (maybe not all) of charities are now "Big Business" I remember a similar situation to the initial post in this thread. A woman came to our depot and hassled all employees to set up a direct debit to her charity, cant remember which it was though. Now I'm a cynical sod at the best of times but this woman was wearing designer clothes, had a very expensive coat on, and a new 7 series BMW parked outside, not the usual 'tin rattler' ! I remember being made to feel a little uncomfortable because I refused politely to donate.
Back in the 1980's one of my father's friends worked for a big charity Dr "Something or other". He told a story about a situation in which the charity had recieved a couple of 'very large' donations from the wills of people recently deceased (into millions). The only problem was that this was right at the end of the financial year and these bequests took the 'books' over some sort of threshold. I'm not sure of the technicalities but the result was that nearly all the money had to be quickly spent on stuff they didn't really need. Dad's friend said most went on computers, which at that time were several thousand pounds each. He worked for the charity at the time and didn't have an axe to grind so had no reason to doubt his story. I'm sure the people who left the money would have turned in their graves had they known.
Another thing that puzzles me is the NSPCC... what do they actually do ...? I cant see in this day and age just what a charity concerned with children will actually be allowed to get involved with? Surely all responsibilities lie with official social services? Any cases involving child cruelty have nothing to do with a charity and identities of victims etc. need to be kept private. So where do the millions donated to the NSPCC go ? - My guess is it's "Jobs for the boys" - company cars, expense accounts, fancy officies, and such like. I may be wrong in my outlook but then again - maybe not !
Another thing that 'gripes' me is that I was always led to believe that the 'tin rattlers' stood outside the supermarkets are not allowed to directly approach you and ask for money. This is intimidation, and should be highlighted. How many people have dug into their pocket when 'asked' but didn't really want to, for fear of appearing mean?
If I want to give to a charity I will, and I do, occasionally but I don't need reminding.
Maybe I'm slightly biased though. My wife has MS and has for 15 years now. Never had a penny from a charity, (not that I'd take it) or the slightest hint of any offer of help.

Al_Mac

A friend worked for a charity, she helped people arrange events, most times it cost the charity more for her wages than they raised. Was conidered advertising.

Makes you wonder how much cash doesn't hit the target.
:beer:

Smiley_Mum

What gets me is that all the money that's been donated to the tsunami victims etc, so far very little of the funding to help them back on their feet has gotten through. Where is the money, there must be millions if not billions accruing interest, so what happens to all that, on top of the money donated. We don't really know the true figure, do we? So whose going to miss a little here and there.... makes you wonder. I don't like to be approached by the clipboard wielding fraternity, I get really !!!!!! off, gone are the days where a few pence in a can or a note or whatever would suffice. Now it's, credit card details etc etc, bank account details for more comittment to make a donation, pence isn't enough, we want pounds now. I think because cash doesn't really have value now, as there is so much credit card use, then people feel that money paid from a credit card into one of these charities is nothing as they don't see the money. Whereas if they actually paid £15 cash into a tin every month or whatever then they would think again. I see so many people going into local stores etc who spend up bigtime on clothes etc, and they have dozens of bags already from big store names and then they stick all the purchases on their cards etc. If they were putting cash down they'd think again. I don't have a problem with donating to charity, what I do have a problem with is that if I'm not prepared to sign up to a charity to make a donation I'm made to feel guilty about it. I'm often offered to provide a donation to the CWF but they say they can only take bank/credit card details obviously because there is so much credit card use nowadays and credit can be acquired cheaply that £15 or whatever won't be missed by someone who uses several 0% cards because they aren't paying any interest on it. I have given to various charities in the past and also to homeless etc and have found that the more I give, the more I'm expected to give. I know it seems mean but I just feel that a lot of the time, especially with the larger charities, you don't really know where the money is going. If I could hand money directly to tsunami victims I'd give them my last cent to help them but because of all these agencies etc etc that have to deal with the money and red tape etc I just don't feel I can trust that the money is actually going to reach them.

Fatboy_NSS

Ed's_Girlfriend wrote:

So I guess the lesson here is always donate directly to your chosen charity and avoid being recruited on the street.

Except that people don't do that. Charities have a percentage of their budget allocated to marketing, and the sales people on the street bring in a far better return than TV or mailshot advertising.

wobbley wrote:

Another thing that puzzles me is the NSPCC... what do they actually do ...? I cant see in this day and age just what a charity concerned with children will actually be allowed to get involved with? Surely all responsibilities lie with official social services?

You'd think so. Actually a good friend of mine works for Dr "Something or other" rehabilitating young offenders. You'd think this kind of work rests with social services, but a lot of the time they can't be bothered so it ends up with charities.

wobbley wrote:

Another thing that 'gripes' me is that I was always led to believe that the 'tin rattlers' stood outside the supermarkets are not allowed to directly approach you and ask for money. This is intimidation, and should be highlighted. How many people have dug into their pocket when 'asked' but didn't really want to, for fear of appearing mean?

The law states that collectors aren't allowed to importune (a person) to their annoyance. This means they are allowed to ask (if they have a valid permit), but if you say no they can't push it. As a serial bucket shaker it's a piece of law that I've been made very familiar with.

klare wrote:

Anyway the director of the charity was on ( allegedly, dont want to get into trouble as I never actually saw the guys wage slip) around 60K a year plus perks

Back when I was in school I worked in an Oxfam shop on Saturdays. Around that time our director got a raise that took him over £100k salary. He was slaugtered in the press and we got a fair amount of abuse from customers about it. Our response was that he was effectively the MD of a multinational company, and in the private sector he would be getting far more as a basic salary plus millons in bonuses and share options. Some people just think that anyone working for a charity should be a volunteer, ignoring the fact that they have bills to pay like the rest of us.

klondyke

Even if you are a volunteer, many people think we get paid! I help in an Oxfam shop and there are occasional customer comments that we are 'expensive'. (In fact there are pricing guidelines which we are supposed to adhere to, but many of us think are a bit out of touch) - but what really gets us is those same customers saying this is "because we are paid too much".

Still, they're the nasty ones - most of our customers are lovely people and give us fantastic donations.

In the days when I worked for a living (now retired) I did a lot of contract work and though pay was lower than normal, I was happy, initially, to take on an IT job for a charity. Thought it was a worthwhile thing to do and the people would be pleasant to work with. Not a bit of it - it was the worst place I have ever worked. The highly paid bosses were some of the nastiest human(?) beings I have ever met in my life (and that's saying something). The lowlier people and volunteers were great, but for obvious reasons there was massive staff turnover - those of use left were constantly being asked to take on work left by the latest unfilled vacancy and then in trouble for not being on top of our own. Despite that, when my short term contract was about to end, they offered me a permanent job and didn't understand why I turned it down!!

bylromarha

Smiley_Mum, I agree. The thing that really annoys me is that I am now getting follow up literature from the charity I donated my tsunami money to...spend it in Indonesia please, don't waste my money trying to get more money from me.

However, I made a second donation to tsunami victims through my church...we donated it to a friend of our church who lives in Sri Lanka and we have seen lots of pictures as to how the money is being used there. No high director salaries being paid for there, but houses being rebuilt and lives restored.

It's awful that financial charity has become such big business.