Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[clan chieftain]

I always buy a poppy and give to cancer research and the heart foundation but some of these TV adverts do my nut. Send a donation to Africa.....but Oxfam have been doing it for years...send contraceptives would be more like it. Sponsor a Tiger or a Dolphin no way. I would want to see the one I was sponsoring.
Then we come to Comic Relief and Red nose day...more like brass neck day. Half of it is going abroad...why ??
We have pensioners who are freezing because they cant afford the heating. Priorities in this country are all wrong.
Maybe I should get off my soap box before I start going on and write pages about foreign workers.
Before I forget do you give to charities.?
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The Clan Chieftain

[RUSTON]

Do I give to Charities? Not really, though as my Wife has MS we do pop some money in when we see a collection box and I also buy a Poppy in November. I do not send to overseas Charities for the reasons already given, the countries never learn and their governments do s*d all to help the people and just cream it all off for themselves. I do get sick of seeing appeals for starving kids in Africa etc when I sit down for my tea, yes I know that is what they are intended to do (make you feel guilty) but time and time again help has been given and STILL the same old problems continue, and I'm afraid they always will do. If this attitude makes me a bad person then so be it, I will just have to live with it!

Pete.
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Measure twice...cut once!

[V8 Nutter]

I have to agree with most of what you say, one of the bigger charity's that is concerned with Africa (I won't mention it's name) is reputed to spend 80% of its income on wages and admin.

When I used to organise the A.A.C.U.K. I was approached by a club member who wanted the club to donate any money our biggest event made to the charity that employed him as a fund raiser. His personal transport was a brand new Ford Thunderbird. How much did he earn to own a car like that?

[47p2]

My wife works for a 'charity' and I use the word 'charity' loosely here as it is a very large organisation that receives money/funding from local authorities to look after vulnerable people with learning disabilities. The 'charity' status is in my mind is a tax loophole and this along with many other so called 'charities' are run as business ventures in every sense of the word. Last year the 'charity' decided that because the local authorities had cut the funding available to them, the workers should take a pay cut, but only the floor staff should be affected to the extent that my wife is around 19% worse off than she was last year, not only that but she is now in charge of 2 projects instead of the 1 she has managed for the last 13 years.

Recently on my annual vacation abroad I was making my way through Glasgow Airport when I was faced with the very same charity standing with the 'begging bucket' as we went to the departure gate. I was so tempted to say something but my wife grabbed me by the arm and steered me swiftly past them before I could open my mouth.
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ROVER
One of Britain's Fine Cars

[clan chieftain]

"Get the Big Issue" help the homeless. I just tell them that no one is born homeless and I walk on. Quite a few of the sellers take the money and dont give out a magazine.
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The Clan Chieftain

[Geoffp]

I can support charities where you do know how the money is being spent, which is why I don't support comic relief; I've no idea where the the money is going. Charity of course begins at home, but doesn't necessarily end there. I wouldn't support Oxfam as they spent some of their money last year on jetting people to a climate change conference in Dubai or somewhere like that, but on the other hand the money that I gave to the Methodist Relief and Development Fund (subtle plug here) bought a goat for an African village that will not only give milk, breed and finally provide meat and leather but will make them less dependent on aid in the future. Nearer home, the Macmillan Nurses (I've seen what a good job they do) and the RNLI.

Oh, and the British Heart Foundation spend over 80% of their shop income on expenses even though they have volunteer staff and a lot of the goods are donated

We recently had a load of good bedding to dispose of; we gave it a local charity (again run by a church) which runs a hostel for the homeless. (and a future classic(?) R reg Transit Minibus with most of the lower bodywork missing, so not completely off topic ) Don't condemn the homeless out of hand without knowing the facts, a lot of them are there because of circumstances beyond their control such as being in care from when they were little children and effectively being thrown out when they were 16 .

Sorry for the long rant, but I wanted to put the other side of the argument

Geoff

[Bitumen Boy]

[Keith D]

My wife spent many years as an unpaid volunteer for the St Vincent de Paul Society in one of their food outlets in a very low socio/economic area of Perth.
Everybody working there were unpaid volunteers and the shops supplied food to unemployed or other people on welfare at very low prices. The food consisted of day old bakery products, foodstuffs approaching their use by dates and much stuff donated by shops as well as generous individuals.
The system worked very well and I'm rather proud of my wife for her considerable efforts over the years. She was able to give a little of the wonderful lifestyle we enjoy, back to others less fortunate.
Keith

[ukdave2002]

I give to children's charities, believing that everyone deserves a decent start in life.

I have also done charity work in South Africa and India, both times building schools. I'll admit a part of going was the experience for me. I did wrestle with why we were doing charity work in counties that have money in the economy, in India's case it has a space program in South Africa the head mistress at the school we worked at had a new BMW The existing classrooms however were shipping containers with a hole cut in for a window!

In both South Africa & India the actual funding for education was very low, and we did make a difference.....what made it worthwhile was the gratitude from the kids, it was genuine and humbling. It was also interesting that the parents, most of whom were literally on the bread line really valued the education their kid got that they never had. Although they had next to nothing, they would ensure their kids had a smart school uniform and were respectful to teachers, some values that many in the UK could benefit from.

What ever the charity, there is always a deserving argument presented, be it pit pony's in Wales or aids prevention in Africa, quite why we need charities like Help for Hero's amazes me, imho anyone who is injured representing their country should be looked after by the state and not have to rely on charity?


Dave

[Roger-hatchy]

H4H is another business.
Just recently they gave themselves a BIG pay rise, the H4H goods sold in their shops goes to wages not the charity.

Also they only help some, not all servicemen.

At least with the other armed forces charities the major part of the charity money goes to the needy service personnel, and not just a select few.

H4H is the only charity that gate crashes the poppy selling time, even setting up at the same locations as the poppy sellers.

There was big publicity about their help to a hospital, it was the government money that was used not H4H.

[47p2]

So how much do the charity Fat Cats earn?

Much more than you and I

Click
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ROVER
One of Britain's Fine Cars

[Geoffp]

[Bitumen Boy]

Another problem nowadays is that a lot of so called "charities" are really thinly disguised quangos, answering to and with all their funding coming from either local or national government. Welsh based members will probably remember the AWEMA scandal that broke not so long ago - a "charity" entirely funded by the Welsh Assembly, doing nothing very much for the ethnic minorities of Wales with the big boss creaming off pots of money for himself and setting up various members of his family in cushy little non-jobs. The Charity Commission seems to be doing nothing to stop abuses like this.

[clan chieftain]

Geoff....I think the morris marina charity is a great idea. I must get some collecting cans and string ready for the shows this summer
Very interesting stats 47p2.
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The Clan Chieftain

[Riley Blue]