Never give your money to Charities.

[Green Web]

Even more outrageous when the charity is subsidising MOD building projects.

 

An absolute disgrace, HFH's should not be promoting more inevitable injuries on our soldiers, these are exactly the kind of projects HFH's should be vehemently against.

[Anna B]

I will not give to any charity whose CEO is earning more than £100,000. (It's fairly easy to check up online.) I've already cancelled direct debits to two well known ones.

 

I now give the money to local charities instead.

 

I've also noticed a marked increase in TV adverts to give money to institutions like Great Ormand Street Hospital. Surely they should be covered by the government, via the NHS.

[rodnreeluk]

Well name and shame then show us their accounts.

 

http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/showcharity/registerofcharities/registerhomepage.aspx?&=&

 

Or make a complaint;

 

http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/About_us/Complaining/Complaint_about_a_charity_index.aspx

 

BTW - what is your understanding of a charities "tax free status"? Charities have to pay VAT on all purchases, pay employers NI for employees. All surplus has to be re-invested in the charity (ie. no taxable profit).

(1) Complaining is a waste of time as what they do is legally, if not morally, correct.

(2) They don't pay tax on profits. In fact a charity does not make a profit - it makes a surplus.

(3) "Re-investing" in the charity can simply mean leaving the money in the charity's bank account, generating interest.

(4) Yes, charities do pay income tax, deducted from employess wages, so no cost to the charity. They do pay the employer's share of national insurance, so that does cost them, but only in respect of actual employees. They pay nothing in respect of all the free labour they get from good-hearted volunteers, which I suspect comprises the majority of charity workers.

[spats]

If you are not happy giving money to Charities there are other ways to give. Most have a 'wish list' of things they really need, use a lot of, or want. That way you know your money is directly getting to the recipients of the Charity's work & not being swallowed up in staffing & running costs. A homeless person will benefit much more from you buying them a hot drink or providing them with a warm item of clothing. An animal will not go hungry that day if you purchase food for them to use at it's Shelter or give blankets to keep them warm, a child living in abject poverty is delighted to receive a shoebox of everyday items we take for granted in this Country. Or why not treat the Volunteers who work tirelessly to keep our Charities up & running to a nice box of biccies or chocs? They give their help freely & ask for very little in return. There are other ways to give...not just financially. Yes, I agree, many Charities are not run or managed how we hope a charity should be, but not to support them will only result in more hardship & suffering for those who rely on their help.

[Guest]

I know from working in this field there is so many corrupt agencies, charity workers, CEO’s bonuses, admin costs, training providers, end of year celebration events, literature promotional packs, advertising etc etc and god knows how many other people with their fingers in the pie to pay for, rarely does any of the money donated reaches the people it is intended to help.

 

And helping a charitable cause isn’t always about giving money, eg you can donate your time, give blood or simply find a person in need, help a neighbour, there is always someone worse off than yourself and you never have to look that far either.

 

In nearly all cases you will always do a better job of helping someone yourself than donating to charity, so should we now stop donating our money to charities and do the good deeds ourselves?

 

Hey GW- what about one community giving help (charitable) to another.

 

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2013/03/07/3121396/muslim-group-helps-save-ancient-english-synagogue

[janie48]

I know from working in this field there is so many corrupt agencies, charity workers, CEO’s bonuses, admin costs, training providers, end of year celebration events, literature promotional packs, advertising etc etc and god knows how many other people with their fingers in the pie to pay for, rarely does any of the money donated reaches the people it is intended to help.

 

And helping a charitable cause isn’t always about giving money, eg you can donate your time, give blood or simply find a person in need, help a neighbour, there is always someone worse off than yourself and you never have to look that far either.

 

In nearly all cases you will always do a better job of helping someone yourself than donating to charity, so should we now stop donating our money to charities and do the good deeds ourselves?

You can do both if you are in that postion,ie give money you can afford or help someone by another deed, it doesn't have to be one or the other.

 

As to not giving to organised charities just because you think they are badly managed,can you imagine the suffering it would cause if everyone stopped giving donations and those charities ceased to operate.

Just think, anyone of us could be in the sad postion of needing to be a recepient of one of those charities at some stage,lets hope its not one of those people who have voted yes in your poll or any of those close to them.

[orbs]

after a lunch time in town trying to avoid the tin rattlers but still costing me, i got back to work moaning about them, and a woman told me of her friend who always went out with the tin when was short of cash. there is an opening in the bottom. i never donated again after that. i have direct debit to nsppc.

[Dromedary]

Charity is a very sensitive issue, and we must all tread carefully. The last thing that I would wish to do is to offend someone who collects for a cancer charity or Help For Heroes.

 

You should do some research on Help For Heroes, who runs it, what charitable organisations they tried to set up before, why the same people kept setting up failed charities until this one took off, they way they spend the money, what % of the buildings purchased and being renovated will be used by private paying patients, and why they have a separate private company that sells HFH merchandise for their own gain.

 

Its time that organisation was seriously looked into.

[andyofborg]

You should do some research on Help For Heroes, who runs it, what charitable organisations they tried to set up before, why the same people kept setting up failed charities until this one took off, they way they spend the money, what % of the buildings purchased and being renovated will be used by private paying patients, and why they have a separate private company that sells HFH merchandise for their own gain.

 

Its time that organisation was seriously looked into.

 

while some or all of what you claim might or might not be true

 

i'd make the observation that there are advantages for charities to operate their trading activities via a private limited company.

[kidley]

Hi

 

I think a prime example of this was live aid Bob Geldof organised, he raised millions of pounds i think it was Africa whom he raised the money for, About four years after the live aid he went back to Africa the first words he said was where has the money gone, nothing had changed no money ever got to them and they had raised millions and millions of pounds for among other things the Children of Africa they got nothing.