Is anyone wary of giving to charity ?

[stew]

I sponsor a kid from South America, I researched the company and 78% of the funds I send go toward taking care of the child and the rest enables the charity to function. I was very wary but with a few phone calls and an hour or two online you can really take the guess work out of it.

[Maguire01]

not to hijack the thread but if you won the lottery say £80 million, how much of that would you give away?

prob bout half away to charities..den sort family etc out..then buy myself a wee island (maybe the maldives  )

also id love to win that amount so i could do charity work in countries all over the world..would be such a gratifying thing to do.

Would you give £40m to charities if you thought half of that was going to be spent on admin?

So we shouldn;t bother ever giving money to charities then?    That's the type of excuse stingy f**kers use so they never have to donate to causes.

Did I say we shouldn' bother giving money to charities? No.
But i do think you should question where the money is going - unless you're just giving to charity to feel good about yourself.

One thing that has really annoyed me is the 'clipboard brigade' on the streets. Some of these guys are earning £10/hour. Now i'd assume their job is effective - otherwise charities wouldn't persist, but how many people do they have to sign up before their wage is covered?

[fred the red]

c***ts in airports trying to get you to sign up to charities by DD 

[Our Nail Loney]

If I won the lotto I don't think I would give any to charity, friends and family would get some but not charity.

[Tony Baloney]

If I won the lotto I don't think I would give any to charity, friends and family would get some but not charity.

Miserable ****!

If you won the lottery I'd be opening a bookies beside your house!

[Our Nail Loney]

If I won the lotto I don't think I would give any to charity, friends and family would get some but not charity.

Miserable ****!

If you won the lottery I'd be opening a bookies beside your house!

I am not stupid, I wouldn't let the lottery win go to my head, I wouldn't change my betting style. You gotta keep a level head. Think on.

[mountainboii]

not to hijack the thread but if you won the lottery say £80 million, how much of that would you give away?

prob bout half away to charities..den sort family etc out..then buy myself a wee island (maybe the maldives  )

also id love to win that amount so i could do charity work in countries all over the world..would be such a gratifying thing to do.

Would you give £40m to charities if you thought half of that was going to be spent on admin?

So we shouldn;t bother ever giving money to charities then?    That's the type of excuse stingy f**kers use so they never have to donate to causes.

Some of these charities do spend extortionate amounts on 'administration', if you compared with your local SVP I bet their admin would be a tiny proportion of money received and at least you can see tangibly that your own community reaps the benefits. 
90% of the turnover is a disgrace and yer man from that Air Ambulance charity sat in front of the camera and blatantly lied about how much was spent on admin.

Something definitely didn't seem right about those guys. Coming over from England to raise money for something that the authorites here don't think is really necessary, then keeping 90% of what they take for themselves. I wonder if they have any other 'charities' set up 

[Maiden1]

I am definitely wary of charities and wonder what percentage of money makes a difference but I still give some money to charities like shelter, you never know what is round the corner, e.g.  you lose your job and the wife kicks you out.  There is only so long you can kip on a mates floor before they get sick looking at you.  There is a lot of charities that do a lot of important work.

[ardmhachaabu]

I am definitely wary of charities and wonder what percentage of money makes a difference but I still give some money to charities like shelter, you never know what is round the corner, e.g.  you lose your job and the wife kicks you out.  There is only so long you can kip on a mates floor before they get sick looking at you.  There is a lot of charities that do a lot of important work.

I think if you look at what they hold back in administration costs that you might change your mind.

Personally, I don't give a penny to anyone who shakes a collection tin at  me, sends me spam in the mail (e or snail) or otherwise tries to get my hard-earned cash unless I agree with their aims and objectives and the cash I am donating goes to the intended charity 100% - hence it's only local ones I would contribute to.

[Maiden1]

I am definitely wary of charities and wonder what percentage of money makes a difference but I still give some money to charities like shelter, you never know what is round the corner, e.g.  you lose your job and the wife kicks you out.  There is only so long you can kip on a mates floor before they get sick looking at you.  There is a lot of charities that do a lot of important work.

I think if you look at what they hold back in administration costs that you might change your mind.

Personally, I don't give a penny to anyone who shakes a collection tin at  me, sends me spam in the mail (e or snail) or otherwise tries to get my hard-earned cash unless I agree with their aims and objectives and the cash I am donating goes to the intended charity 100% - hence it's only local ones I would contribute to.

All charities have to have some administritive costs so I don't think it is realistic to expect 100% to go to helping people.  I wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot of directors in certain charities who get well paid to do not much.  I'm too lazy to find out exactly what percentage goes to staff wages etc. but e.g.  Help the aged or Childline do important jobs.

[Caid]

Set up a give as you earn direct debit this month through work.

Was wary of some charities but wanted to donate to Africa (Malaria, Aids, African poverty/debt being some of the biggest problems in the world) so plumped for Concern Worldwide.

Just checked their accounts.  In 2008 generated £132m and spent £123m on chartible activities.  That's not bad IMO

[ziggysego]

Just back from my flag day in Omagh. Very enjoyable morning and I feel I've done something worth while for a change. I can tell you one thing, it's very different on this side of the collection.

[fitzroyalty]

Just back from my flag day in Omagh. Very enjoyable morning and I feel I've done something worth while for a change. I can tell you one thing, it's very different on this side of the collection.

How'd u get on, i did it once  before in Portadown (which was always gona be an uphill struggle  ) for a childrens charity, have to agree, people definitely go out of their way to avoid any sort of eye contact. When i did it we just stood there, were told not to shake the tin and if anyone was interested just explain to them what the charity was about.

[ziggysego]

Just back from my flag day in Omagh. Very enjoyable morning and I feel I've done something worth while for a change. I can tell you one thing, it's very different on this side of the collection.

How'd u get on, i did it once  before in Portadown (which was always gona be an uphill struggle  ) for a childrens charity, have to agree, people definitely go out of their way to avoid any sort of eye contact. When i did it we just stood there, were told not to shake the tin and if anyone was interested just explain to them what the charity was about.

I did well in Omagh. I did the collection for Leonard Cheshire Disability. I wasn't told how to act, but I took the advice of people here and didn't look them in the eye until they approached me. I was surprised to observe who did and didn't donate, but I won't go further into it. But fitz, since you've did it, I'm sure you know what I mean.

[corn02]

The Northern Ireland public has so far donated £700,000 towards a helicopter air ambulance, the BBC has learned.

The majority of the money collected by the Ireland Air Ambulance charity - 90% in its first year - has been spent on wages and administration costs.

Health Minister Michael McGimpsey said he did not believe there was sufficient demand for the service.

"Frankly, I am bemused that this is progressing the way it is," Mr McGimpsey said.

"We are collecting money for an ambulance helicopter that, as far as I am aware, there has been no order placed for, there has been no understanding created for and actually, when I look hard at it, there is no real need for."

"The proposed helicopter that you are talking about operates only in good weather and in daylight.

"The maritime agency will provide us with a helicopter in all weathers, day and night, throughout the year so that is our prime resource in the event of needing a helicopter.

"Currently, the demand, according to the ambulance service, is not there."

The IAA has said it hopes to launch the service in November, although to date it has not found anywhere to base its helicopter.

The charity has also said it planned to have a leased a helicopter before the beginning of June.

Speaking at the beginning of last month, charity spokesman Mark Sellers said the aircraft had already been sourced.

"We are signing contracts within the next 10 days. We are very fortunate.

"The company that have supplied us with the aircraft have really looked after us."

However, the BBC understands that a lease has yet to be signed.

Before any air ambulance becomes operational it needs to have robust agreements in place with the health and ambulance services to cover deployment practices.

Mr McGimpsey said these agreements do not exist.

"There have been attempts to discover a protocol or a way forward but to date the proposers for the ambulance have not been able to satisfy the health service as to how this ambulance would operate," he added.

Very much annoyed about this.

Last year our had a charity night and all-stars match in aid of Gerard Fearon to raise funds for these ones, I bombarded the board with ads about it so i'd say plenty know the night i'm on about. A lot of hard work went into it by a lot of people and we came away with 65k, and now we find out frig all went to the cause?

Keep an eye on the local news tonight.