Charities are getting annoying

I do sort of know what you mean - I was in Newcastle this weekend and a walk through the town centre got me hassled by at least 6 different charities raising money!

I know what charities I want to support and donate where I can - I very rarely give money while I’m out and about anymore
 
Bear said:
I did say I was wondering. A company makes a charitable donation, it pays less corporation tax as donations are deductible from profits before tax is applied.
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So what?

Same for individuals - that's essentially what gift aid or payroll giving does... there isn't some angle to be exploited here.

If Bob earns 30k but gives 2k away to charity via PAYE then Bob gets taxed on 28k of income...Bob doesn't stand to benefit from this (other than feeling good about himself) - that initial 28k of earnings is taxed in the same way whether or not he donates the 2k or not... if he doesn't donate 2k to charity and earns 30k then he also pays some tax on that 2k too.

What I didn’t think through properly was that the charitable donation would be even to the company as the collections would add to their profits before the donation.
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Well of course it isn't their profits, its just a donation they're collecting.

Either way though people often seem to bring out some trope/handwaving argument about "tax write offs" etc.. when it comes to charity donations - it seems to be a common misconception that there is somehow something to be gained, when , in terms of a regular donation to a charity it is simply that the donation doesn't need to be taxed... that isn't a scam.
 
I don't mind the ones where it rounds up a few pence.

It's the ones you have to dodge in the streets that I don't like. I now just treat them as if they don't exist and stare through them
 
Diddums said:
In the last week, whilst paying by card, I've been asked to round up my transaction at Mcdonalds, Shell, KFC, my local petrol station, NCP car park (Wimbledon) and even at an ATM. These are the ones I can think of off the top of my head but there are more.
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You can add The Beefeater to that list, been there twice in the last 5-6 weeks and both times got asked if we'd pay more for 'charity'
that kinda takes the **** when we're already paying an extra ~10% ontop of our bill for a waiter tip,

Maybe we should pay the 'charity' then say to the waiter/waitress no tip for you as we gave to 'charity'..
that'l learn em
 
Diddums said:
I'm starting to think that the incessant begging from charities is becoming counter-productive. I'm not even sure who's behind all these campaigns, I don't think it's the charities themselves but rather the companies who are white-knighting.

In the last week, whilst paying by card, I've been asked to round up my transaction at Mcdonalds, Shell, KFC, my local petrol station, NCP car park (Wimbledon) and even at an ATM. These are the ones I can think of off the top of my head but there are more.

It's gotten to the point where it's just an automatic step now to press no, by default, without even reading anything. At my local petrol station, the machine doesn't even tell you what charity it is, it just says "donate to charity", you have to scan the whole checkout (which at a petrol station is generally covered in more tat and junk than a Chinese market stall) to find a tiny little card informing you that it's for the air ambulance.

It's gone from doing a good deed to just another step in your daily life, like accepting cookies on a website, anyone else think the same?
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Not as annoying as people using the word 'gotten' on an English forum
 
Trying to remember a info short I saw a couple of days ago where they stated companies were donating in bulk receiving all the kudos and tax benefits then your donation at the till is repaying the company not a direct payment to the charity.

I'll try and find the source
 
Diddums said:
whilst paying by card, I've been asked to round up my transaction at Mcdonalds, Shell, KFC, my local petrol station, NCP car park (Wimbledon) and even at an ATM.
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Isn't it something to do with tax breaks?

Edit: scratch that, I see it's been covered.
 
/ignore. Some of them do feel a bit scammy.

Except for poppy appeal at the right time of year.

We all give money to charity via taxes which the UK spends a lot on.
 
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I remember someone once telling me that she donated some money or items to a charity following the death of her husband and then they kept cold calling her to sign up to make a monthly donation by direct debit. I think the concept behind charity has been lost and now it's just seen by the big corporate charities as an exercise in sales and pressuring people to hand over their money. They're more interested in direct debit than one-off donations.
 
mmj_uk said:
I remember someone once telling me that she donated some money or items to a charity following the death of her husband and then they kept cold calling her to sign up to make a monthly donation by direct debit. I think the concept behind charity has been lost and now it's just seen by the big corporate charities as an exercise in sales and pressuring people to hand over their money. They're more interested in direct debit than one-off donations.
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This sort of thing happened to my grandmother before she passed.

She had barely any money left from her pension each month and nobody could figure out why she was always so skint. When my uncle and mother looked into it, it turned out she was being targeted by a number of cold callers and constant phone calls from charities she'd made one off donations to. Turned out she was being guilt tripped into donating to a bunch monthly, of course her mind was starting to go at that point as she had dementia (unbeknownst to us at the time) so it took actually looking at her bank statements before it started coming to light.
 
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Only really have a problem with ones on the street you have to walk past But it happens so often now I no longer care about ignoring them
 
A couple of years ago I went to Hawksmoor in Manchester, nice meal asked for the bill only to find an extra Charge on the bill. The charge was for a charity they were supporting. Needless to say I never paid it. Charities cango swivel, they will not get a penny from me.
 
The annoying chuggers on the streets get paid an absolute fortune by the charities for each donation they secure as well. A mate did it for a while and it was in the order of a few months worth of donations he would be paid in commission.
 
mmj_uk said:
I remember someone once telling me that she donated some money or items to a charity following the death of her husband and then they kept cold calling her to sign up to make a monthly donation by direct debit. I think the concept behind charity has been lost and now it's just seen by the big corporate charities as an exercise in sales and pressuring people to hand over their money. They're more interested in direct debit than one-off donations.
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I've had a charity on the door step asking for donations. When I offered some cash they refused it and said they only accept a direct debit mandate. I put my money back in my pocket and closed the door.
 
Pertinent to that post above regarding charity CEO rewards, once I learned, many years ago, just how small a fraction of donations actually get to where they are supposed to, I stopped donating.
 
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