Funding charity the modern way.

[Wully]

A bit of a rant you can’t pay for nothing with a card now days without them trying to get some sort of extra money from you. I don’t mind charity but this is becoming a joke. Especially when they Automatically add it and you have to opt out. It’s really getting worse.

 

[gasgas]

The reason they do that is they get a commission from the charity for the amount they collect. My local petrol station has the facility on their card machine but the cashier always switches it to No before handing the machine over.
We have just been on a cruise. Those of you who have will know that when you board you have to register a payment card with the cruise line. As you buy drinks, or excursions or whatever during the cruise they debit your account and you pay it off when the cruise finishes. This time we went with MSC cruises, and they debited each passenger's account with €1 for their charity. The annoying thing was that we were not told before or during the cruise that this would be done. There was much complaining going on. No one objects to donating €1 for a good cause but to take it without asking was taking the urine. As the ship could take up to about 4,000 passengers on a 7 day cruise, they were collecting €4000 each week on that cruise, and they have five or six ships in the company. That's millions of euros each year.

 

[nabsim]

I go to pains NOT to donate to anything when it's done in this way. I give to who I feel needs it when I have spare

 

[nabsim]

The reason they do that is they get a commission from the charity for the amount they collect. My local petrol station has the facility on their card machine but the cashier always switches it to No before handing the machine over.
We have just been on a cruise. Those of you who have will know that when you board you have to register a payment card with the cruise line. As you buy drinks, or excursions or whatever during the cruise they debit your account and you pay it off when the cruise finishes. This time we went with MSC cruises, and they debited each passenger's account with €1 for their charity. The annoying thing was that we were not told before or during the cruise that this would be done. There was much complaining going on. No one objects to donating €1 for a good cause but to take it without asking was taking the urine. As the ship could take up to about 4,000 passengers on a 7 day cruise, they were collecting €4000 each week on that cruise, and they have five or six ships in the company. That's millions of euros each year.

I object to giving a penny if its done in this type of underhand way, trying to shame people into things

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Liz goes on a cruise at least once a year and it's same with tips, they make it embarrassing to get you to let it of, but I trained her well, if we tip we tip the person, not the company then we know they are getting it.

 

[maingate]

It seems that many big charities have very good terms of employment for their workers. We found this out a couple of years ago when our ex Daughter in Law died aged 50. Her 2 Sons (our Grandsons) received a generous amount of money from her employer. This was from her pension scheme and Death in Service payment. I personally have nothing against this but it explains why only part of a donation goes to where it is needed as these schemes are not cheap to set up. The one thing that stops me giving particular charities anything is when I hear that they have employed a DEI Manager on an exorbitant salary. A military charity will now never get another donation from me. I also read lately about the number of DEI Managers employed by the NHS on far bigger salaries than Junior Doctors. This really annoys me.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

And don't get me started on the tin rattlers in towns.

Shaking charity buckets seems to be a UK thing. I did a survey of several sites. Almost all agreed with: “You can shake but you can’t annoy. That’s the law according to the Charities Aid Foundation book , “How to Guide – Running a Public Collection” (1998 £7.95)”

Please check with your local authority for full details. The rules vary from council to council.

You must remain stationary, which means you can’t directly approach people. You must not position yourself somewhere which obstructs or endangers the public. All buckets and tins must be sealed (with cable ties or stickers) and clearly labelled with the name of the charity. Contrary to popular belief, shaking or rattling your bucket/tin is perfectly legal, if perhaps a little annoying! — Charity Street Collection Rules - how does it work?
You must ensure that you do not obstruct the public, or cause them any other annoyance or danger. Collectors must stand at least 25 metres apart from each other, and should remain stationary unless part of a procession. Any collecting buckets or tins must be sealed, and should clearly display the name of the charity or fund. You may not shake collecting tins. — Street Collecting: What Are the Rules?
Poppy sellers from the Royal British Legion have been banned from shaking their collection tins in case they are seen as a 'public menace'. Asking anyone if they want to buy one and even approaching people have also been declared illegal. Instead volunteers have been told they must remain still and silent or face being removed from their stands or prosecuted

 

[trevskoda]

One big charity was expossed many years back on tv, after directors etc got there cut only 1 penny in every pound went to the people in need.
On the cook report.

 

[oppy]

As some of you know we set up and ran a charity some years ago in the Carpathian region of Eastern Europe funding a few aid workers. After a while we decided to pass it on to our chap in Romania who we still support but on a personal level, but every penny we received went directly to the field plus, because we were a registered charity, the tax refund too. He and his team run regular mercy trips to the Ukraine and fetch back refugees who are homed in and around Sighisoara

 

[Rumour]

What rattles my cage is the misuse of the phrase "Gift Aid"! Gift Aid is something you sign up for that costs you nothing, The Government pays it to the charity on your behalf from the income tax you have paid in. But more and more charities ask you to make an extra payment in the form of a higher entry to a place for Gift Aid. That is NOT Gift Aid. I have had many a conversation with managers at these places and pointed this out. They just shrug and say they need the money!

 

[AlyJay]

Another annoying way these so called charity's collect is how they bombard the elderly with letters and applications to set up standing orders etc, attached with sob stories about a cat or whatever that needs your help.
I find it no more than a legal scam, some of the people they target are vulnerable or have illnesses like dementia etc , these so called charity's are fully aware of the criteria of the people they are targeting, I don't know how these charity's get away with it.

 

[marchie]

Another annoying way these so called charity's collect is how they bombard the elderly with letters and applications to set up standing orders etc, attached with sob stories about a cat or whatever that needs your help.
I find it no more than a legal scam, some of the people they target are vulnerable or have illnesses like dementia etc , these so called charity's are fully aware of the criteria of the people they are targeting, I don't know how these charity's get away with it.

Scottish charities are regulated by OSCR (Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator) and any suggestions of impropriety should be reported to them

Steve

 

[AlyJay]

Scottish charities are regulated by OSCR (Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator) and any suggestions of impropriety should be reported to them

Steve

Thing is if reported they will just say its blanket coverage and letters are not sent to anyone in particular.
Jeremy Vine covered it a few yrs back on his afternoon show and the stories people or relatives of those scammed were scandalous, yet here we still are.
My Mother (whos 86) donates £6 per month to one of them and they are continously badgering her to up her donation.
To me this is not charity.

 

[marchie]

Thing is if reported they will just say its blanket coverage and letters are not sent to anyone in particular.
Jeremy Vine covered it a few yrs back on his afternoon show and the stories people or relatives of those scammed were scandalous, yet here we still are.
My Mother (whos 86) donates £6 per month to one of them and they are continously badgering her to up her donation.
To me this is not charity.

It is the modern way of operating a charity, and the more 'good causes' that see local authority grants/contracts etc cut or cancelled, the more pressure there is to recruit extra donors, and to *encourage* existing donors to increase their donations to keep the charity in operation.

Or, as Henning Wehn, the anglicised German comedian says, 'in Germany, we don't have charities, we just have services that work ...'.

What he didn't say was that, to have services that work, there needs to be a tax base large enough to meet the cost of the services, so the tax rates need to be realistic, and the myriad of tax avoidance loopholes that the UK is a world leader in, need to be closed

Steve

 

[mistericeman]

Interesting reading on here ...

Salary survey: charity chief executives' pay sorted alphabetically | Society | SocietyGuardian.co.uk

www.theguardian.com

From the lowest

Salvation army at @10k )

To the Royal Opera House at @ 200k

 

[trevskoda]

attached with sob stories about a cat or whatever that needs your help.

I had one of them last week from a young girl in tywan saying her pu--y requires attention and she was only asking a £100.

 

[CriftinsCampers]

Interesting reading on here ...

Salary survey: charity chief executives' pay sorted alphabetically | Society | SocietyGuardian.co.uk

www.theguardian.com

From the lowest

Salvation army at @10k )

To the Royal Opera House at @ 200k

That’s an interesting article I personally have alway felt some massive charities are really big businesses in disguise, especially the national trust who spend seemingly disproportionate amounts on cafes & visitors centres full of imported crap from china etc.

I wish CADW, English and Scottish heritage had the funds NT have available

 

[Pudsey Bear]

That’s an interesting article I personally have alway felt some massive charities are really big businesses in disguise, especially the national trust who spend seemingly disproportionate amounts on cafes & visitors centres full of imported crap from china etc.

I wish CADW, English and Scottish heritage had the funds NT have available

That doesn't stop them from sending begging letters and using volunteers to do what should be paid work, we just got so disgusted with them that we opted out after 15 years with NTS.