Charities Wasting Money !

[Iggle Piggle]

If charities want to make the best use of their money, why do they have custom made head offices in central London?
I don't support any charity that has a head office in London for the simple fact that it is not necessary !
As for the ones who have offices custom built well ....

[seadogg]

The amount of cash donated that goes to admin is horrific in some charities. In R.N.L.I. we have one of the lowest takeoffs.

[DaisyNonna]

Appalled by the number of times I am phoned by charities I subscribe to by DD. Trying to guilt trip me into giving more. Emotional blackmail. Seriously thinking of cancelling a few.

[ferlew]

This happened to me Daisynonna, I happily supported a charity, for many years.
Then they had the brass neck to actually phone, and ask us to double our contribution, now they have nothing from us.

[twix123]

How much do they spend on all their constant TV advertising, together with the expense of the 'celebrities' fronting the campaigns. Stops me donating straight away !

[marval]

When you see what some of the top people running some of these charities earn, it is obscene. I don't want any money I might give to go to fund workers and admin. I want my money to help the people it is meant for.

[dunnitall]

Agree with everyone over this, the mail shots they keep sending too, sometimes I return them in pre paid envelopes saying don't waste the charity' smokey on such things, that's not what people donate for! What must it cost them for TV ads too, seems some of them are quite good at spending other people's money on things that don't aid the charity.

[dunnitall]

'Money' not smokey!!

[Svejk]

i'd love to know how many 'fancy meals' and vintage wines are paid for with charity credit cards.

[twix123]

@Sheikh - do you mean by people having cards that donate part of th 'spend' back to the nominated charity, or 'company' cards used by overpaid charity executives spending freely with reimbursement covered by public donations (where the 'good cause' is the employee and not the actual nominated charity) ?

[twix123]

^^ @Svejk - *** predictive text !

[knittynora]

Ferlew, Those people ringing you to ask you to increase your donation won't have been from the actual charity. They pay another company to do it. Another waste of money in my opinion.

[ferlew]

Shameful indeed.

[jennyjoan]

I posted about this some time ago but it was more the missing of £3,000 from £17,000 that my nephew and his wife had made for a charity.

The head office have said this and that ie complimentary tickets to the ball - but nephew is not convinced and very sad and also has said he will never do anything again for a charity.

[Svejk]

You can call me Sheikh, twix. ;-)
And yes, i meant 'company card' wielding charidee exec.
Many years ago i read that 'save the children' or similar, were spending 95% of their 'budget' in Paris. Mmmm, didn't know there were so many starving kids in France.

[knittynora]

I've just got involved with my local Hospice and am shocked at the way they waste money. I'm also shocked at the comments/actions of fellow volunteers who feel that it's OK to take donated books, etc home to read then bring them back without making a donation. They think it's a perk of the job! You wouldn't do it if you worked anywhere else so can't see why it's different when it's for charity.

[hc4361]

Charities are fighting for a share of peoples donations - there is only so much to go round.
There is a huge difference between volunteers who do charitable works and the essential employees who work for a charity, many of whom are highly skilled professionals such as solicitors, accountants and directors. They deserve to get a comparable salary to the private sector otherwise they simply would not do the job - they are not volunteers in any sense and don't pretend to be charitable workers. They are professionals employed by charities.
It is one thing to do voluntary work for a few hours (or many hours) a week if you can afford to, but not many office workers would work full time in a charity's office for nothing and very few can afford to work 'at a discount' just because they are employed by a charity yet that work has to be done.

It has been proven time after time that tv appeals work in raising lots more money than the cost of producing and broadcasting them; same with newspaper, billboard and mailshot appeals. If people are not aware of the charity or the work a charity does they simply won't donate.

[knittynora]

Svejk, A friend's grand-daughter, fresh out of university, went for interview for a job with one of the big charities. Starting salary was over £30,000.

[hc4361]

That is not an extortionate salary for a graduate, knittynora. Do you think she should work for half her value just because the employer is a charity?

[whiskeryron]

The one I used to love the most was the one who used to send money in an envelope to encourage a monetary return. I also had D/D accounts to charities which were cancelled as soon as they started to get greedy. I only give these days to genuine collectors with tins & even then I am suspicious of some of them.

[Svejk]

A graduate should start on £30,000, hc? Only last week we heard 75% of them are illiterate.(i find that hard to believe, personally, but they were the headlines)