Is charity fund raising a waste of time?

Squark · 12 Nov 2013 at 21:22

Dimple said:
On a smaller scale a bloke I know with his girlfriend recently did a tandem sky dive and they raised £700 which sounds quite admirable but the problem was they had to pay £400 of it to do the jump.

If I go back to the 80s I did my first jump with 19 other people and we collected £1,100 but we didn't know that our training was £50 each until after we did it.

In my opinion if you're doing a parachute jump for charity then you should cover the cost of the jump yourself, not from the donations.

Participant · 12 Nov 2013 at 21:25

Dimple said:
On a smaller scale a bloke I know with his girlfriend recently did a tandem sky dive and they raised £700 which sounds quite admirable but the problem was they had to pay £400 of it to do the jump.

If I go back to the 80s I did my first jump with 19 other people and we collected £1,100 but we didn't know that our training was £50 each until after we did it.

Plus they had a lot of fun doing it. I never give money to these people. Next there'll be someone asking for sponsorship to motorboat Christina Hendricks. Do something useful for the needy like building something or educating people.

Russinating · 12 Nov 2013 at 22:08

^^ Exactly. If you're raising money for charity then it should be for doing something that you don't want to do (and sky diving doesn't count). I wouldn't even try and get sponsored for LEJOG or similar.

robgmun · 12 Nov 2013 at 22:44

Rainagul said:
Apparently they aren't allowed to hassle us on the streets these days due to some sort of ruling, usually see the ones in my town just standing around looking unhappy and bored. Seems a bit of a shame, surely they could find something more productive to do that would impact charity a little better.

Tell that to the ones between Goodge St Station and Warren St Station, ******* parasites

elmarko · 12 Nov 2013 at 23:40

Yeah, I never really got the skydiving thing - spending a chunk of the donation on the event when they do that. (if that's how it works for skydive charity fund raising - haven't done one myself)

I mean, I raised about £1,000 this year doing artwork for shelter - but I covered the £250 odd in postage & material costs (I'd have thought that would be standard).

sniffy · 12 Nov 2013 at 23:50

Dimple said:
they had to pay £400 of it to do the jump

So basically getting other people to pay for enjoyable activities under the ruse of charity. Cunning.

Destination · 13 Nov 2013 at 04:13

elmarko said:
Yeah, I never really got the skydiving thing - spending a chunk of the donation on the event when they do that. (if that's how it works for skydive charity fund raising - haven't done one myself)

I mean, I raised about £1,000 this year doing artwork for shelter - but I covered the £250 odd in postage & material costs (I'd have thought that would be standard).

Exactly, usually the person pays for their own skydive, amd they then raise money off the back of it.
In the example listed, 80% of the money collected went to the fun for the person raising sixty quid for charity. Seems a rip.

Destination · 13 Nov 2013 at 04:19

Trocaire, seem to spend money directly. Perhaps not all wisely but directly.

This is how the breakdown should be.
1% governance, 7% fundraising, 92% direct charitable spend

scorza · 13 Nov 2013 at 07:18

Dimple said:
On a smaller scale a bloke I know with his girlfriend recently did a tandem sky dive and they raised £700 which sounds quite admirable but the problem was they had to pay £400 of it to do the jump.

If I go back to the 80s I did my first jump with 19 other people and we collected £1,100 but we didn't know that our training was £50 each until after we did it.

Jeez, that's really bad if they used money collected to pay for the jump - should be classed as fraud imo.

Another thing that gets my goat these days is "raising awareness". I'm going to South America to raise awareness of third world poverty, I'm going to Greenland to raise awareness of global warming. I'm going to Thailand to raise awareness of sex tourism.

SexyGreyFox · 13 Nov 2013 at 07:36

scorza said:
Another thing that gets my goat these days is "raising awareness". I'm going to South America to raise awareness of third world poverty, I'm going to Greenland to raise awareness of global warming. I'm going to Thailand to raise awareness of sex tourism.

Can I just say that my eldest went to Uganda for 6 weeks to raise awareness of orphans and every penny was paid out of her pocket and on leaving she emptied out her bank account to help more.

craptakular · 13 Nov 2013 at 07:41

Dimple said:
Can I just say that my eldest went to Uganda for 6 weeks to raise awareness of orphans and every penny was paid out of her pocket and on leaving she emptied out her bank account to help more.

What did she actually do there?

oldbag · 13 Nov 2013 at 07:47

If charities were regulated and held to account for where the money goes, it might make noticeable difference.

godinman · 13 Nov 2013 at 07:53

Russinating said:
^^ Exactly. If you're raising money for charity then it should be for doing something that you don't want to do (and sky diving doesn't count). I wouldn't even try and get sponsored for LEJOG or similar.

Not always, I did a coast to coast bike ride which I really enjoyed, and I also decided to ask for sponsorship (with me paying all costs). I would have done the bike ride anyway but managed to raise around £500 for a local hospice. How can that be the wrong way to do it?

I do think that anyone doing these things should pay for it out of their own pocket rather than take it out of the sponsorship money however and agree with DM about spending money on infrastructure rather than temporary solutions (except in proper emergencies).

scorza · 13 Nov 2013 at 07:57

Dimple said:
Can I just say that my eldest went to Uganda for 6 weeks to raise awareness of orphans and every penny was paid out of her pocket and on leaving she emptied out her bank account to help more.

Fair play but how exactly did she raise awareness? What was the outcome of this trip and how did it improve the lives of Ugandan orphans?

I've noticed a few of these what I call charity holidays, where you can pay to go and stay in a third world country with reasonable security and comfort for a while and do charity work during the day. I totally understand why people are prepared to do this, I'd like to do it myself one day however it don't believe for one second that I'm going to have any significant impact at all of the people I'm putatively helping. My main reason for doing this would be the hope that my life would improve as a result.

panthro · 13 Nov 2013 at 08:45

craptakular said:
I was at work today and was hounded about doing something for Red Nose day, I refused to do anything physical except hold a bucket.

I said charity is crap, my colleague was shocked by this, but all the money raised is spent on Terry Wogan or guns for Africian War Lords anyway so it is a complete waste of money.

Does anyone else hate charities like me?

All the costs on admin and stuff is appalling, don't even get me started on CEO Charity salaries.

I mean my colleague worked for a charity before hand in an admin role, I mean Jesus how did she live with herself knowing that she was sponging off of good honest donations.

So are you against the idea of giving away your own money/money raised to a charitable cause, or is it just the organisational structure of said companies you're against? What do you propose as an alternative?

kinobestew123 · 13 Nov 2013 at 08:58

If you don't want to donate your money because you can't see the benefit that comes from it then donate your time instead.

My fiance spends around 1 1/2 hours per week visiting an elderly lady to keep her company. Of that 1 1/2 hours spent, she sees first hand the rewards of her "donation". Doesn't cost us a penny, but the difference it makes to that lady's later years is immense.

CircleFaust · 13 Nov 2013 at 09:42

kinobestew123 said:
If you don't want to donate your money because you can't see the benefit that comes from it then donate your time instead.

My fiance spends around 1 1/2 hours per week visiting an elderly lady to keep her company. Of that 1 1/2 hours spent, she sees first hand the rewards of her "donation". Doesn't cost us a penny, but the difference it makes to that lady's later years is immense.

that's a nice think to be doing

i never really gave to charity and am not the sort of person who gets involved in all this sort of thing
i still believe it's needed though. i normally just give my odds n ends away to charity boxes at tills etc

Von Smallhausen · 13 Nov 2013 at 10:01

I regularly donate to charities and do not think it a waste of time. I donate monthly to Cancer Research UK and can't believe helping to fund vital research will ever be a waste of time.

The only charity I won't donate to is the RSPCA.

estebanrey · 13 Nov 2013 at 10:02

Von Smallhausen said:
The only charity I won't donate to is the RSPCA.

..because?

Von Smallhausen · 13 Nov 2013 at 10:11

Some years back a critically injured dog was put out if its misery by a traffic cop by using a shovel. While not textbook, the officer did the right thing yet the RSPCA prosecuted him which I didn't like given more deserving cases that they should focus on. I think the case was discontinued or he was found not guilty but I did not like the action they took.