Is this questionable practice?

PoGee

Long story - I reclaimed vet fees which I donated to charities. I donated a fairly large amount (400) to an animal charity after I saw that they had a campaign to raise £4k to care for their animals. They have a list of donations given by supporters and just before my donation, they had raised 650 from 21 donations. My one isn't showing - I just want to know that my donation went towards the £4k, don't care if they put it down as anonymous but they won't give me a straight answer. All I get is - thank you so much with your donation etc etc.
Is this what charities do? I want it to go towards the care of animals not eg to new office furniture. Any advice would be appreciated.
The rest was donated to another animal charity and a homeless charity.

Robin9

Some of these charities are quite small and admin isn't always the best -  the care of animals come first.

Be patient

PoGee

Donation was made a fortnight ago. They said - we've got the donation but don't show online all donations received. They're not showing the full picture - could be to pull at the public's heartstrings. They've already confirmed that they don't show all donations received (by email) so the question is, 'is this what charities do?'

Savvy_Sue

The question is, was the £4k appeal going to go into 'restricted funds'? Because you may not want your money used towards eg new office furniture, but if new office furniture is needed, the charity has to get the money from somewhere. 

I know that places who advertise gifts of chickens, goats, bees and the like usually state that your money will end up being used for whatever is appropriate, simply to avoid having funding for too many chickens and not enough goats. 

Is this what charities do? Well, it certainly can take time for accounts to be fully updated, and that may only happen on a monthly basis.

And another question: how did you make the donation? if you did it through an online portal specifically referencing the appeal, and if that's where you saw there had been £650 raised from 21 donations, then I'd expect your donation to appear there. But if you sent the money some other way, it would almost certainly take longer to appear in the right place on that portal. 

flaneurs_lobster

Not sure that any charity could provide a breakdown of where a particular donation was spent, unless you were donating a million or so for a new wing for the cat's home. If I'm donating to Wateraid I don't expect to find out which tap I've paid for.

How would you define "the care of animals"?
Buying food to feed the animals?
Buying bowls to put the food in?
Buying protective clothing for the people who feed the animals?
Paying fuel bill to keep the animals warm?
Paying fuel bill to keep the people who feed the animals warm? 
Paying the CEO of the animal charity £120k a year?

DullGreyGuy

PoGee said:

Donation was made a fortnight ago. They said - we've got the donation but don't show online all donations received. They're not showing the full picture - could be to pull at the public's heartstrings. They've already confirmed that they don't show all donations received (by email) so the question is, 'is this what charities do?'

A lot will depend on how their website is set up. 

Anyone sensible these days will have setup a website with a content management system and so selective staff can easily go in and make updates in which case you are only reliant on them having the time to do so. Having a content management system however requires upkeep and whilst some will have enough volunteers to have someone to do this for free others will be beholden to a for profit web developer somewhere. 

Many small websites arent on any content management system and so the only way they can get content changed is by getting their web designers to update it. I commented to a local business the other day that their website still stated you had to wear masks and socially distance when in the venue and the manager explained that their web designer charges £750 per change per page no matter how small the change and so they haven't felt it was worth the £3,000 to remove the references on the 4 pages. 

If the charity has an equally bad deal, there is no point them spending £750 to show that your £400 donation was received.

PoGee

Thanks for replies.It is what it is I suppose. Just off to bake a pineapple upside down cake.

Savvy_Sue

flaneurs_lobster said:

Not sure that any charity could provide a breakdown of where a particular donation was spent, unless you were donating a million or so for a new wing for the cat's home. If I'm donating to Wateraid I don't expect to find out which tap I've paid for.

The (partial) exception is where the charity marks an appeal or a particular part of its finances as 'restricted'. No, I wouldn't expect Wateraid to be able to identify which tap you'd paid for, any more than I think that the photos in a sibling's loos from the Toilet Twinning charity indicate a direct path from their donations to the loo in the photo.

BUT if a charity asks for funds to buy eg a new van, then it can make sense to 'restrict' those funds, especially if they're applying for grants - because there will be grants for which you need to say what you want it for. And 'restricted' funds (if so designated in the accounts) can't be spent on other things - so if the roof springs a leak, you can't just divert the van donations to sort that out. 

Now, sometimes a charity will identify something they'd like to do, if they had the money, and they might even call it 'the van fund', and watch it grow, and appeal for funds, but if they don't 'restrict' the funds, then they can decide to spend it elsewhere if a more pressing need arises.

And the big difference is that if the funds are 'restricted' but you change your mind, then 'best practice' is to go back to your donors, where possible, and offer to return the money.

Which is why I asked the OP if the appeal they responded to was 'restricted' or not, and that would be a question to ask if still not happy.

Undervalued

PoGee said:

Long story - I reclaimed vet fees which I donated to charities. I donated a fairly large amount (400) to an animal charity after I saw that they had a campaign to raise £4k to care for their animals. They have a list of donations given by supporters and just before my donation, they had raised 650 from 21 donations. My one isn't showing - I just want to know that my donation went towards the £4k, don't care if they put it down as anonymous but they won't give me a straight answer. All I get is - thank you so much with your donation etc etc.
Is this what charities do? I want it to go towards the care of animals not eg to new office furniture. Any advice would be appreciated.
The rest was donated to another animal charity and a homeless charity.

I understand the sentiment but realistically it comes to the same thing. If they spend your £400 on caring for the animals then that frees up four hundred other pounds which they might spend on office furniture or whatever.

Yes, there is a concept of "restricted funds" in a charity's accounts but normally that would apply to a donation given to do something new that they wouldn't otherwise do. Surely "caring for the animals" is the ultimate objective of the whole operation but, within reason that needs office furniture, paying the electricity bill and everything else, not just tins of kittycat?

I have a lot of reservations about some of the charitable sector but I think, except for very substantial donations, you just have to be comfortable with what the charity does overall and accept that you cannot micromanage the fine detail. 

Savvy_Sue

Undervalued said:

PoGee said:

Long story - I reclaimed vet fees which I donated to charities. I donated a fairly large amount (400) to an animal charity after I saw that they had a campaign to raise £4k to care for their animals. They have a list of donations given by supporters and just before my donation, they had raised 650 from 21 donations. My one isn't showing - I just want to know that my donation went towards the £4k, don't care if they put it down as anonymous but they won't give me a straight answer. All I get is - thank you so much with your donation etc etc.
Is this what charities do? I want it to go towards the care of animals not eg to new office furniture. Any advice would be appreciated.
The rest was donated to another animal charity and a homeless charity.

I understand the sentiment but realistically it comes to the same thing. If they spend your £400 on caring for the animals then that frees up four hundred other pounds which they might spend on office furniture or whatever.

Yes, there is a concept of "restricted funds" in a charity's accounts but normally that would apply to a donation given to do something new that they wouldn't otherwise do. Surely "caring for the animals" is the ultimate objective of the whole operation but, within reason that needs office furniture, paying the electricity bill and everything else, not just tins of kittycat?

I have a lot of reservations about some of the charitable sector but I think, except for very substantial donations, you just have to be comfortable with what the charity does overall and accept that you cannot micromanage the fine detail. 

Absolutely agree. I spent many years working in admin for a charity: over the years we upgraded our phone system twice, our IT system twice, redecorated our offices, bought new furniture, and spent some money on staff welfare. All of that made working there more pleasant, and more efficient, and was therefore beneficial to those we worked with. Making life difficult for paid staff and volunteers doesn't actually benefit the beneficiaries long-term, even if it saves money very short-term!