Where poppy day money goes...

[jake-the-peg]

£139m spent out of which

Membership support services: £8.5m
Spent on campaigning: £10.2m
fundraising: £24.8m
staff costs: £25m (2007)

'Pathway For Growth' plans £9.055m - this includes £2m for new staff to be appointed between 2012-2014, plus £5.8m over 10 years for property, £1m for IT services and £255,000 in redundancy costs.


care homes and break centres £20.5m,
£69.2m spent on welfare services.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20508924


If you supported Poppy day - are you happy with how this money is being spent?

[youngmafbog]

It's a shame that the snouts get in the trough, even in charity. but that is the way of the world these days.

I tend to support local charities where i know more of my money goes directly where I want it.

[pdq1]

Its typical of the government to treat servicemen like cannon fodder and spit them out when they can no longer contribute hoping the public will be generous in looking after them through charity appeals. The government if it wishes could add 1p to the income tax and use it to treat ex servicemen with the dignity they deserve rather than having to rely on charity. Poppy collection just shows how unreliable it is.

[bazwillrun]

" The government if it wishes could add 1p to the income tax"

There is no need whatsover for any more taxing

all they have to do is stop giving it to the EU , stop throwing it at foreign aid, and do the right thing for once, use it for our citizens, military or not

[cathfromsaron]

they can't give counselling, advice and support without staff!

i'm happy with their restructuring, most of which will be funded by future savings and interest on funds anyway!

[jake-the-peg]

It's true I'm no fan of the military or the RBL but I was trying to keep that out of it.

A number of people have criticised foreign aid charities for letting money get into the wrong hands and I wondered if they would feel the same way about a charity they liked - whether they were willing to turn a blind eye to inefficiencies if the charity was close to their hearts.

Looks like that is the case in some places.

I agree that charities have to spend money sometimes to raise money but it seems to me that the RBL's spending is surprising when judged alongside other charities.

For example although Help for Heroes has been criticised for spending too much money on renovating listed buildings as treatment centres they clain that 98% of their running costs are met by their trading company.

I think the RBL could do with taking a leaf out of their book!

To me their attitude towards their overheads seems very complacent taking their position as a special case charity for granted and even perhaps exploiting it

[naomi24]

The figures include extra expenditure and therefore don’t appear to be an accurate reflection of the day to day administration costs of the charity. That said, in my (considerable) experience of major charities they all squander money - but without the money they don’t squander a lot of people would be a lot worse off. The RBL does praiseworthy work.

[jake-the-peg]

More praiseworthy than

Cancer research?
Children in need?
Mind?


For me these charities work with people who had no chance to avoid their misfortune

But that's another conversation

This one's about what is an acceptable overhead for a charity however worthy the cause

Would you still give if only 10% went to servicemen?
is 50% enough?

Perhaps the law should set a limit?

[ludwig]

// jake's not bashing the armed forces - quite the opposite: he's asking if servicemen and women should be getting more, and charity managers less. //

Yes, he's always on here expressing support and concern for the plight of our armed forces and ex-service personnel.

[jno]

I can't see any evidence of military-bashing in this thread, can you, ludwig?

[ludwig]

Not on this thread perhaps, but jake's dislike of all things military (including the poppy appeal and those who support it) is there to be seen on many others.

That's why this question is more about going 'Ha Ha! - what do you think of your precious poppy appeal now suckers?', than it is about being concerned about how the money is spent.

[naomi24]

jno, //I can't see any evidence of military-bashing in this thread, can you, ludwig?//

Look again.

//For me these charities [Cancer research,Children in need, Mind] work with people who had no chance to avoid their misfortune//

[ludwig]

^ Oh yes, I missed that Naomi. 'They don't deserve anything anyway - they've only themselves to blame'.

Just a little bit of bashing there.

[naomi24]

Seems you and jno both missed it. ;o)

[anotheoldgit]

jake-the-peg

/// It's true I'm no fan of the military or the RBL but I was trying to keep that out of it. ///

So that we can all understand your apparent dislike for the Military, would you care to explain the reasons why?