Charity Money

BERNADETTE · 13-10-2008, 22:33

Watching the news earlier I was totally shocked to find that Christies Hospital have lost a lot of money that people have donated for charity. Do you think the fact that they have all this money stashed away will make people reluctant to contribute? I have always tried to help in whatever way I can when people have had fund raising nights but feel that now I would hesitate. Simply because this money could have been being used for research IMO rather than be sitting in a bank. What are your thoughts?

Royboy39 · 13-10-2008, 22:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by BERNADETTE

Watching the news earlier I was totally shocked to find that Christies Hospital have lost a lot of money that people have donated for charity. Do you think the fact that they have all this money stashed away will make people reluctant to contribute? I have always tried to help in whatever way I can when people have had fund raising nights but feel that now I would hesitate. Simply because this money could have been being used for research IMO rather than be sitting in a bank. What are your thoughts?

Bernie....the only advise I can offer is don't panic.

Benipete · 13-10-2008, 22:41

A lot of charities stash the money for wages and expenses and just use the interest for the cause.
That's why they don't get mine and I suspect a lot more people will be having second thoughts.

BERNADETTE · 13-10-2008, 23:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Royboy39

Bernie....the only advise I can offer is don't panic.

Not panicing Roy but think it will make me more inclined to donate elsewhere

cashman · 13-10-2008, 23:11

apart from mcmillan nurses n rememberance day, they can all kiss my ass.

Royboy39 · 13-10-2008, 23:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by cashman

apart from mcmillan nurses n rememberance day, they can all kiss my ass.

That's not the way to spell arse...............and I.m dedicted to the Poppy.

Dont fancy kissing a donkey.

mothernature · 14-10-2008, 00:35

The only charities that really do use 100% of the money received are small local charities who have a 100% volunteer basis. They don't normally use any monies received for anything but maintaining the person/animal they wish to help. I personally think the smaller charities do more for their cause than the bigger charities because they don't expect to be paid for their involvement. Isn't that what a charity is supposed to be about?

Benipete · 14-10-2008, 01:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by mothernature

The only charities that really do use 100% of the money received are small local charities who have a 100% volunteer basis. They don't normally use any monies received for anything but maintaining the person/animal they wish to help. I personally think the smaller charities do more for their cause than the bigger charities because they don't expect to be paid for their involvement. Isn't that what a charity is supposed to be about?

That's what I thought when I did what I did for a couple of causes.Sadly that was not the case and I was badly let down by people that I trusted.

So I will still do what I can but I won't put 10p in a box.I'd Rather help directly.

jambutty · 14-10-2008, 03:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by BERNADETTE

Watching the news earlier I was totally shocked to find that Christies Hospital have lost a lot of money that people have donated for charity. Do you think the fact that they have all this money stashed away will make people reluctant to contribute? I have always tried to help in whatever way I can when people have had fund raising nights but feel that now I would hesitate. Simply because this money could have been being used for research IMO rather than be sitting in a bank. What are your thoughts?

It is one thing for a charity (or a local authority for that matter) having a bank account for the day to day running of the organisation, but quite another stashing the donations and speculating with them to gain a bit of interest. And then crying poverty to scoop more donations from the long suffering public.

Christies’ explanation was that they were saving the money up for several projects. That’s bunkum and just an excuse thought up on the spur of the moment. Other charities caught out by this financial crisis are also coming up with similar excuses.

My view is that once you have enough money to fund a project you use it to do so and not wait until there is also enough to start the next project and the one after that.

What’s the betting that the real reason for hoarding donations is to use the accrued interest to pay the salaries of the senior people running the charity so that they don’t appear to be coming out of public donations.

derekgas · 14-10-2008, 06:43

There was one of the bird charities that had 11 million in icelandic banks, besides stashing money, a lot of your spam email and junk post comes from charities selling off your name and address. Good thread bernadette.

jaysay · 14-10-2008, 09:58

I've been a patron of the Christy hospital for a few years, and am contaced regularly, I think the reason there was so much money in the Icelandic bank was because, a lot of what they do costs a lot of money and whilst they raise enough to carry out the project they invest in a high interest account to maximise the investment, would think this is the case with a lot of charities. Unfortunately this crisis in Iceland cameout of the blue and caught a lot of people of guard, not only cherities but the ordinary man in the street. The thing that really annoys me is the fact that places like the Christy have to rely on charity in the first place, as I know just what vital work they do in the battle to overcome cancer. The reason I got involved with this cause is that a very clse friend was given only a 30% chance of beating cancer and the Christy pulled him through

WillowTheWhisp · 14-10-2008, 10:18

My answer to this is similar to my answer to the councils thread. Charities receive donations. Donations by their very nature come in on a far more irregular basis than anything else.

Charities have projects. Christies may have several on-going projects which it pays money out to on a regular basis.

Between the coming in and the going out (some of which may not be require for example for stage two of a project until stage one is complete) the money has to be somewhere. It can either be in a jam jar in a filing cabinet in an office, in a bank account paying no interest, or in a bank account paying high interest which will result in more funds for the charity. Anything which helps the charity to gain more funds will naturally have been seen as the more logical option and would have been had it not been for the present financial crisis.

Think of it on a personal basis if you were trying to raise/save money to build something. If you had enough to lay the foundations and built the walls you couldn't build the walls until the foundations had been laid so you would pay for the concrete or whatever first and even though you hadn't yet paid for the bricks because you didn't need them yet you would still know that you would eventually need more money for the slates for the roof.

Please do not blame or penalise the charities for something which they have had no control over. They are already losing millions and to have people on top of that now saying they will never contribute again is kicking them when they are down.

jaysay · 14-10-2008, 11:07

I think you need to change your name to Willow the Wise One

BERNADETTE · 14-10-2008, 11:44

I cannot understand that on the one hand we are being told they are struggling to survive and on the other they lose millions in a bank crash. Sorry it does not add up to me.

jambutty · 14-10-2008, 11:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaysay

I've been a patron of the Christy hospital for a few years, and am contaced regularly, I think the reason there was so much money in the Icelandic bank was because, a lot of what they do costs a lot of money and whilst they raise enough to carry out the project they invest in a high interest account to maximise the investment, would think this is the case with a lot of charities. Unfortunately this crisis in Iceland cameout of the blue and caught a lot of people of guard, not only cherities but the ordinary man in the street. The thing that really annoys me is the fact that places like the Christy have to rely on charity in the first place, as I know just what vital work they do in the battle to overcome cancer. The reason I got involved with this cause is that a very clse friend was given only a 30% chance of beating cancer and the Christy pulled him through

A spokesman for Christies on the news a few days ago stated that the charity had several projects waiting to start and that is why the donations were hoarded, although he didn’t used the word hoarded. But he did seem embarrassed with the situation. A bit like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Now if they had several projects waiting to start there must have been enough money to get at least one off the ground and running.

More than 10 years ago in another forum the topic of charities was being discussed. One response was from a guy who worked for a charity and he admitted that his salary was £20k. His job? He was a fund raising manager.