Which charity to give to can be a difficult decision because other than the ‘High Street’ names we do not know much about local charities. That is often because they are poorly funded and sometimes not well managed. But conversely some large charities have mediocre management in fancy offices and have layers of paid staff just managing rather than doing direct service delivery as well. That is partly brought about by funders demanding innovative features in funding bids rather than just saying they will fund a need which to any ordinary charity worker has been there since time immemorial. It is also partly brought about because some funders want to focus on ever larger numbers of people seen - at the expense of the public receiving holistic and sometimes far reaching help – something which some funders find quite hard to assess. A small charity could however actually be providing a brilliant service despite its shortcomings and a High Street one could be providing a shallow service. I would nearly always advocate against giving to the large charities such as the Princes Trust, The Red Cross or Age Concern, because quite often the large PLCs, the Grant giving charities and other organisations give them enough to keep them viable. Following their herding instincts, some of these large giving organisations feel good because they think they are seen as doing the right thing.  If you do not know any local charities, then there is list of quite a few in this poorly served borough. See this link (from page 84 onwards).  http://www.ac-communities.org.uk/documents//Directory06.pdf My view which is bound to rouse some dissent, is that charity should firstly go to disabled and also to older people at the end of working life, because the chances of them of improving their lot is less than the opportunities for younger people.

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
Give your £50 Council Tax Rebate to Charity!	14/11/09 01:12:00	Iain Muir
But which Charity?	16/11/09 11:51:00	George Knox
Re:But which Charity?	17/11/09 02:53:00	Eric Alan Leach
Re:Re:But which Charity?	17/11/09 13:36:00	Phil Taylor
Re:Re:Re:But which Charity?	17/11/09 15:24:00	Eric Alan Leach
But which Charity?	18/11/09 00:33:00	George Knox
Re:But which Charity?	18/11/09 15:45:00	Helen Johnson
Re:But which Charity?	18/12/09 11:48:00	Tony Colliver
Re:Give your £50 Council Tax Rebate to Charity!	18/11/09 15:55:00	Helen Johnson
Re:Re:Give your £50 Council Tax Rebate to Charity!	18/12/09 12:20:00	Eric Alan Leach

Forum Home