Charities

[Coldicote]

It’s not as easy as one might think to find out how many registered charities there are. It looks as though there may be something in the region of 164, 000. I wonder why there are so many and are they all really necessary? I donate from time to time but would be more inclined to do so if charities gave actual examples of what they spend the money on. How do others feel about this?

[EDDIE51]

Most charities very small local ones that attract little or no attention outside their local area. They may be set up to help one local school or club for example.
They are often set up to handle a bequest in a will and do not need or want to raise funds or generate publicity.

[Prudie]

And some of them are things like zoos...

[starone]

I would rather give to one which I knew, as for example there is a children's hospice near where I live. You can see what good they are doing there and it is well worth giving.

[Barmaid]

Never mind those that are registered. Some not for profit organisations do not have to be registered because they are so small.

Most of the large charities will send you a copy of their accounts showing how their money was spent and it will often give examples of the type of things they spent money on.

[frugalfred]

One can view the audited accounts of every charity on the Charity Commissioners' website.

[frugalfred]

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission

[Coldicote]

Thanks. There are obviously differing points of view. I'll come back to this post in the morning.

[woofgang]

The charities I donate to all tell the public where the money has gone. I do wonder, with things like the the cancer research charities why there is more than one.

[EDDIE51]

There is a charity that just works for breast cancer and another that just supplies and trains cancer nurses just 2 of many in what is a very wide field.

[woofgang]

i can uderstand why things like macmillan are separate, its the research ones i was talking about.

[Buenchico]

Many charities are raising funds for one specific cause (such as a group supporting just their local children's hospice). Such groups quite reasonably want to ensure that every penny they raise goes to their specific cause, and nowhere else.

There are also many thousands of charities that exist for the benefit of their own members but never seek to raise any money from anyone else. For example, there are thousands of sports clubs that are registered charities.

Similarly, many educational establishments (including Eton College and Harrow School) are registered charities.

[Cloverjo]

Most Village Halls are registered charities. They must make up a large proportion of the total. Also things like Cubs, Brownies etc.

[VHG]

Many (all?) private schools are charities, the National Trust is a charity, my local area has a Carers Centre to support carers and that is a charity.

However I do think some are a bit of a con. My mother used to get lots of letters from animal charities. One was a donkey sanctuary in Devon that only had about 25 donkeys.

She used to get letters from them on a regular basis, very professionally printed, but by giving money you were in effect paying for the couple who ran it to live in a nice house in Devon with a couple of fields next to it with a few donkeys in it.

Very suspect !