A friend signed up to do a charity sky dive with then, then gets details to say that the first £400 raised will go towards the sky dive, and the next £150 raised she will get as a gift voucher to spend as she pleases. How is this even legal?
Agree 100% - about 35 years ago I had a similar experience when I took the place of a skydiver who jumped each year for charity - and I had donated the previous 2 years running! certainly helped me wake up to the way some people's minds work. "All proceeds go to charity" means exactly that and is totally legal.
It's awful to say, but I give nothing to charity these days, you just don't know where it goes. I used to give to a couple of charities for years. Was it David Milliband that quit the Labour party to take a job working for a charity in New York? A job that paid a 6 figure salary iirc. now I wonder where that money came from
I've been saying this for years. Look at all the begging adverts for charities on the tele. Can hardly move for the likes of a £3 donation per month for Donkeys / endangered species / GOSH / Africans / Indians etc. TV advertising is not cheap. Where do they get the money for this from?... Charity is big business and profitable for the fat cats it would seem!
Poole Quay is a good example, 1000s of bikers donate or pay a £1 on a Tuesday night, by the time "charges" and expenses have been paid there is a measly sum left for the chosen charities. i now donate my time to SERV Wessex, one of the blood bike charities, every penny raised goes to the charity, there are no payments or expenses paid to anyone. All costs are directly related to running the van and two bikes, providing the right insurance and equipment. if you donate to anything you don't know the entire structure of, chances are you are supporting a chief exec and an entourage.
The argument goes that if you want an effective charity it needs to be run in an effective way with senior execs that have highly sought after skill that command high salaries on the open market. The phrase 'not for profit' certainly doesn't mean high salaries are not paid. If someone wishes to jump out of a plane they are free to do so, but do it at their own expense, likewise for giving to charity. I do not sponsor people for charity, I do have a couple of small standing orders to charities of my choice.
Diabetes is a largely, but not exclusively, self inflicted illness as a result of poor lifestyle choices.
whilst I don't know you, it's sounds like you provably know huge amount about Diabetes. I have type 2, which in my case is entirely down to my exercise/diet ratio. I have two friends who have type 1, which is a whole different ball game. There are many factors such as age and ethnicity, which effect the chances of developing it. i don't drink or smoke, both of which are far more likely to reduce length of time on the planet.
I think if you are a "charity" you only need to donate 10% of your donations / raised cash to the charity you represent. A huge con
I have no specialist knowledge and tried to pick my words carefully to avoid causing offence, I have known friends and familly with both types of diabetes.
I think you have to pick and choose carefully but at least , government aid aside, you make your own decisions about what to give to who. On the high paid staff debate, some justify their salary by bringing in additional donations. I personally know a guy, now in his late 70s who lost two children to a form of cancer 30 odd years ago. He gave up a very successful business career to create a charity to raise money to research this particular cancer. He has raised many millions through high profile events , roping in celebs whenever possible as like it or not , this increases donations. He takes a decent salary , similar to when he was in business but the amount he has directly raised has done so much good that it entirely justifies his costs in my opinion. As others have said, pick and choose, investigate what goes where and make up your own mind about who gets your hard earned cash.
Whenever I hear someone who is going to do some activity asking for sponsorship "for charity", first I ask if the activity itself is going to cost a lot of money. If I extract the answer Yes, my response is always on these lines: If you choose to spend £100s on riding your bike from Lands End to John O'Groats (or whatever), then I shall spend my money in similar ways; if you promise not to spend that money on petrol, but give it to the charity, then I will give to the charity too.
Help for Heroes anyone? Should soldiers and their aids who do these polar treks, for example, pay for all the expense themselves and put every penny into the charity? Actually, how much of H4H actually ends up with servicemen and their families to help rehabilitation...
I agree, I get these emails from people asking me to sponsor them to basically do something that has always been their dream to do thinly disguised as "raising money for charity"
Alternatively, I'm going to run the London Marathon again this year because I want to. It will cost me a couple of hundred in new shoes, travel etc but if I can get people to donate to the local Children's Hospice then we all get something out of the equation.
I do a lot of walking for charity. Most of the money I have raised over the last 4 years has been through me "sponsoring myself".
