4 ms·

In the UK a typical suggested donation might be £10 per month and the first three payments will go to the sales person's employer - which is typically a third p

In the UK a typical suggested donation might be £10 per month and the first three payments will go to the sales person's employer - which is typically a third party, not the charity. If you cancel after the first month they get paid but the charity gets nothing. It's sleazier than you think!

raverbashing 7y ago
For most of those charity orgs, you're being more generous to the middle men than to those in need
- mikorym 7y ago
  I like the charity-starts-at-home approach. I don't know how people do this in first world countries, but in developing countries is relatively easy to find a cause.
bencollier49 7y ago
I'm a member of a club in the UK which raises money for charity - we've stopped giving money to corporate charities because their overheads are such a high percentage of their takings - at this point they're largely just self-perpetuating bureaucracy machines. We give cash to small volunteer-run charities where we know that 100% of the money raised goes to the cause in question.
- reallydontask 7y ago
  What do you consider a high percentage? Looking at Oxfam, it's 10% admin and 7% fundraising [1], which doesn't seem too bad given their global reach. Admittedly their reputation has taken a bit of a tumble due to the scandals. [1] https://www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/how-we-spend-your-money https://www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/how-we-spend-your-money
  - bencollier49 7y ago
    I think there's a fairly open question about how those percentages are calculated. Oxfam is an outlier, with a very low stated percentage being used for overheads, but it'd be interesting to see a breakdown of how the remaining cash was used. For example - are staff costs in a target country (say, Haiti) considered admin, or is the UK base only counted?
  - tomjen3 7y ago
    Personally I would like a general rule of no more than 10% split between admin and fundraising, with 5% being considered the normal. 10% makes a nice Schilling fence. Ideally I won't allow any budget for advertising, because that will just move money from one charity to another. Alternatively I would only donate to the top of Give Well.
hiq 7y ago
That's insane. A better approach to donating to charities could be: https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities If you want to give to a charity because you heard about it on the street, at least try to give the money directly and cut the middle man.

raverbashing 7y ago

For most of those charity orgs, you're being more generous to the middle men than to those in need

mikorym 7y ago
I like the charity-starts-at-home approach. I don't know how people do this in first world countries, but in developing countries is relatively easy to find a cause.

bencollier49 7y ago

I'm a member of a club in the UK which raises money for charity - we've stopped giving money to corporate charities because their overheads are such a high percentage of their takings - at this point they're largely just self-perpetuating bureaucracy machines. We give cash to small volunteer-run charities where we know that 100% of the money raised goes to the cause in question.

reallydontask 7y ago
What do you consider a high percentage? Looking at Oxfam, it's 10% admin and 7% fundraising [1], which doesn't seem too bad given their global reach. Admittedly their reputation has taken a bit of a tumble due to the scandals. [1] https://www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/how-we-spend-your-money https://www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/how-we-spend-your-money
- bencollier49 7y ago
  I think there's a fairly open question about how those percentages are calculated. Oxfam is an outlier, with a very low stated percentage being used for overheads, but it'd be interesting to see a breakdown of how the remaining cash was used. For example - are staff costs in a target country (say, Haiti) considered admin, or is the UK base only counted?
- tomjen3 7y ago
  Personally I would like a general rule of no more than 10% split between admin and fundraising, with 5% being considered the normal. 10% makes a nice Schilling fence. Ideally I won't allow any budget for advertising, because that will just move money from one charity to another. Alternatively I would only donate to the top of Give Well.

hiq 7y ago

That's insane. A better approach to donating to charities could be: https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities If you want to give to a charity because you heard about it on the street, at least try to give the money directly and cut the middle man.