Social media charity culture

shifty_uk

shifty_uk

shifty_uk

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Are we becoming a culture obsessed with broadcasting good will and charity giving via social media?

To start with, I have no issue with the above. I'm all for giving to charities which are close to your heart. These organisations do amazing things for those in need and I admire any cause. However, i thought it maybe worth discussing..

There seems to be a copious and forever increasing amount of requests for money in circulation across social media by companies, friends, colleagues and family members for an endless array of charities(obscure or mainstream) and charity fund raising events like marathons, walks, football, skiing...whatever really. There's also the increase in [often celebrity endorsed] viral campaigns being broadcast across these channels, too.

I'm personally not sure what to think of it, is it all good, are messages becoming lost in the 'look, im giving to charity' culture, are other charities who arent as hot on the social media wagon losing out, should i feel guilty for not organising a pool game and posting a link to JustGiving for it?

Perhaps my facebook/friends/colleagues are all just ridiculously charitable and I'm the only one whose noticed this rise in popularity!

Thoughts?
 
It's because many charities spend $MILLIONS on marketing. Far too much goes to the marketing compared to the actual charity people are donating to. That Ice Bucket thing is a perfect example of this. Everyone should research ANY charity thoroughly before donating as far too much of the donations are mis(re)directed towards things other than the actual cause for the donation itself.
 
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I'll only give to Cancer or other health based charities, and I don't willy wave it online. I do it as a personal thing because it took my mam away from me. Nobody will automatically think better of you for broadcasting it.

There's a few attention seekers on my Facebook though who constantly do fund raisers to fund their next trip to help in a poor African country. 95% of it though is spent on the accommodation and plane tickets. Now if they were going over there with a luggage full of contraceptives, they might be onto something.
 
it does seem to be whatever will get you the most likes.

the no makeup selfie and ice-bucket challenge is just a popularity contest my stream was filled with the videos I guarantee not one of them donated

but when I did a charity boxing event (white collar) which went towards local facilities that would actually directly benefit people I know or run schemes for young parents kids, No one would donate not matter how much I asked.
the only reason I could come up with is that they couldn't directly brag about it on facebook/twitter etc etc
 
Monkeynut said:
There's a few attention seekers on my Facebook though who constantly do fund raisers to fund their next trip to help in a poor African country. 95% of it though is spent on the accommodation and plane tickets.
Click to expand...

My daughter and her mate paid 100% for their flights to Uganda to work in an orphanage for a month.
They also took £500 to spend on toys for the kids but it all got spent on food.
Funnily enough two Americans who they met are asleep upstairs as I type.
 
doofer said:
It's because many charities spend $MILLIONS on marketing. Far too much goes to the marketing compared to the actual charity people are donating to. That Ice Bucket thing is a perfect example of this. Everyone should research ANY charity thoroughly before donating as far too much of the donations are mis(re)directed towards things other than the actual cause for the donation itself.
Click to expand...

This is it in a nutshell, the amount of money some of these charities make is astounding, and it doesn't all go to the people they supposedly helped.

It's like the Chariots of Fire event in Cambridge which is an annual event that raises a lot of money...for whom we're not so sure. It's an expensive event to enter, £25 per person iirc and teams of five so £125 per team, and an awful lot of teams enter and raise further money on top. My running club pulled out of the event because someone asked the organisers where the money goes, and the response was vague at best, but included organisation and marketing, who wants to run a charity event for that?
 
Yeah it drives me mad, if I donated to all the causes that appeared on my Facebook feed I'd be giving away half my wages.

As for what the money is used for, if I wasn't on my phone and getting ready for work I'd hunt out an article I read about measuring the effectiveness of charities. Essentially the author argued it's nothing to do with what % of donations get to the front line that should be measured, it's what that money does when it gets there. Some charities give an exceptionally high % of income to the front line, but when it gets there it does very little actual good due to poor management or decisions about what to do with the money.

He argues that a charity that spends big on staff to ensure every last penny that gets used is doing real good, but because of that a smaller % of donations do, is better.
 
Charities are capitalizing on the increasing vanity and narcissism of people on social media.

Whatever, good luck to them. Beats hiring chuggers.

I already have my monthly donations set up direct with the charities, they leave my wage packet tax free every month. I don't really feel the need to prove myself in my social circle but some people don't have much else to live for.
 
Billions of pounds poured into Africa and yet Shongololo is still dying of thirst / starvation / illness / lack of education / whatever.

I give to cruk although I have no need to let others know.

Sadly too many charities are corrupt and do as little as possible but are more than happy to take your cash.
 
kaptainmarc said:
it does seem to be whatever will get you the most likes.

the no makeup selfie and ice-bucket challenge is just a popularity contest my stream was filled with the videos I guarantee not one of them donated
Click to expand...


replacing writing in public with donating to charity in public and that clip sums up a lot of people's attitudes to donating to charity through Friendface / Chitter
 
I have worked with a couple of charities over the years. I have been astounded by the amount of money they waste in regards to the area of work we consult in. Spending money for spending sake. Then you see an advert and even though you have no proof, you just sit and wonder just how much of the donated money actually gets to the cause it was donated for and how much is squandered on inflated overheads.
 
pitchfork said:
Based on what?

I've worked third sector so I'd be happy to hear why you think so many charities are corrupt.
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Having dealt with numerous charities over the years I'd have to say I agree with him. The lack of transparency from a lot of them on their expenditure is pretty much all you need to know.

Comic Relief is one of the worst examples.
 
1) Find charities that work with causes you care about
2) Research them and check their books to see if they seem worthwhile
3) Use the Give As You Earn scheme for maximum tax efficiency
4) Win :)

I don't like all the "LOOK AT ME DOING STUFF FOR CHARITY" culture either.
 
Columbo said:
Having dealt with numerous charities over the years I'd have to say I agree with him. The lack of transparency from a lot of them on their expenditure is pretty much all you need to know.

Comic Relief is one of the worst examples.
Click to expand...

What do you mean lack of transparency? A statement of expenditure is almost universally provided by charities.
 
Yeah I don't do ice bucket, selfies, necknomination etc either. I'll do the odd £5 sponsors a few times a year for friends/colleagues, and will have clear-outs to give away. It happens that I've got a bag of CDs and tapes waiting by my door atm. Will hand it over to Katherine House Hospice in Stafford a bit later on today.

Kinda on-topic: chuggers make me RAAAAEG! They're just so aggressive. I feel like printing one of those t-shirts that have a no-smoking sign, except that it says "chuggers" in the sign instead of a cigarette.
 
Urrgghh, I hate it so much. The ice bucket challenge did my head in. No make up selfie just reminded me why I like it when girls wear makeup. It's all just attention seeking, but I guess that's 95% of what social media is about.
 
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