Giving to Charity - advice please

Milliehaha123 · Oct 2, 2020

Hello everyone,
Apologies if there is a thread on this already, couldn't see one!
I have decided that I need to start giving a bit of my money to charity each month. I earn a decent salary and can't watch anymore adverts on TV without feeling immense guilt!
I would love to help particularly with the yemen crisis or something similar - but there are just so many options, I don't know where to start! I've also heard stories about charities pocketing a lot of the money before it gets to actually helping.
Does anyone have any advice here / could point me in the right direction - I want to make sure my money lands in the right hands

Thank you! xx

BettyCrocker · Oct 2, 2020

Give your money directly to local charity organisations- food banks, homeless shelters, women’s refuges etc
Don’t give to the huge organisations. Unfortunately a lot of them aren’t as “good” as they try to imply.

Scorpihoe · Oct 2, 2020

Milliehaha123 said:
Hello everyone,
Apologies if there is a thread on this already, couldn't see one!
I have decided that I need to start giving a bit of my money to charity each month. I earn a decent salary and can't watch anymore adverts on TV without feeling immense guilt!
I would love to help particularly with the yemen crisis or something similar - but there are just so many options, I don't know where to start! I've also heard stories about charities pocketing a lot of the money before it gets to actually helping.
Does anyone have any advice here / could point me in the right direction - I want to make sure my money lands in the right hands
Thank you! xx

the Red Cross emergency appeals for Yemen are incredible. You know they do everything they can to help people in need! Definitely do some research and see where your money will go directly to those who need it. Good luck

Facehugger · Oct 2, 2020

I'd definitely support local charities, little organisations that need every bit of help they can get.

The ads on the TV are meant to just play on your heart strings I think, to get every penny, not all of which goes directly to where it's meant to.

Like these water aid things, showing kids drinking dirty water etc......well I watch naked & afraid, Bear Grylls Island and all that, the first thing they are taught is how to make a fire to boil dirty water so they can drink it. Harsh a bit maybe, well, I'm not falling for that one.

I also believe in the old saying that charity begins at home.

Raininvain · Oct 2, 2020

I'd say spend your money on yourself/your home/kids and pets first. Honestly. You never know what might happen you might get made redundant or anything at the moment.
If you do really want want to give then I'd give to a local charity where you know your money goes on whatever its supposed to do.100%. I agree with the others.

Facehugger · Oct 2, 2020

It also depends on what matters to you personally.

My son was a prem baby many years ago, just by luck he was ok but I've always done stuff to support local services helping mums with tiny babies who need equipment like tiny clothes and monitors etc.

Milliehaha123 · Oct 2, 2020

Raininvain said:
I'd say spend your money on yourself/your home/kids and pets first. Honestly. You never know what might happen you might get made redundant or anything at the moment.
If you do really want want to give then I'd give to a local charity where you know your money goes on whatever its supposed to do.100%. I agree with the others.

I own my own house and don’t have kids (yet) I’ve got lots of savings and feel pretty safe in my job (I work in as stable of a role as you could ever have!) I’m not talking £500 a months worth of donations more in the £50-£100 remit. Whilst I understand your sentiment I really do want to donate and not to put more towards my own life.

Kim Mild · Oct 2, 2020

I realised that we ended up giving money to charity through out the year . School is always doing charity stuff and then there's children in need, red nose day , Macmillan coffee morning ,local lifeboat collections etc. We were paying a few pounds a month anyway.

Hello Kitty · Oct 2, 2020

I've just started donating to a few animal charities this year. It isn't as much as you would like to donate but it's still something and makes me feel happy each month. I may up my donations next year too.

Countrybumpkingirl · Oct 2, 2020

I donate to the air ambulance services. They are run on donations and you never know when you might need one to save you or a loved one. I was told by one of the paramedics that it costs £5k just to take off. Also have you looked at smile on amazon. Everytime you order through amazon your chosen charity gets a little %. Over the year it all adds up

Dollylovesshoes · Oct 3, 2020

Animal charities,my fave is Celia Hammonds,you know your money is going to help rescue cats in dire circumstance.

MyJunk · Oct 3, 2020

LendWithCare (https://lendwithcare.org/) is a microfinance organisation - it provides loans to small businesses in 3rd world countries - a single donation can be used over and over again to many different littles businesses. In the last 8 years my £50 has been used to held 30+ businesses

Thelife&times · Oct 3, 2020

Is your workplace signed up to a charity scheme? I give to Pennies from Heaven which comes directly out of my wages. It’s not ground-breaking donations by any means, but I then tend to give to more local charities throughout the year and have been trying to add a couple of items a week to my food shop for food banks since the Coronavirus crisis began. It really does depend on the scale you want to give and who you’d like it to benefit.
Good luck

Mrs McCarthy · Oct 3, 2020

Choose something that you are interested in or something that worries you.
For example, if you are interested in walks and watching wildlife you can support your local wildlife fund or a rescue. If you are worried about the injustice towards BAME communities you can support one of the BLM charities.
We support our local foodbank, our local wildlife fund, National Trust (through membership and days out) and our local air ambulance.

Pegsypog · Oct 3, 2020

I did some research back in the days and action against hunger was one of the best in terms of pocketing a very small %
nowadays I donate money and food to a lot

Lynseyp · Oct 4, 2020

I'm a firm believer that Charity begins at home, I donate to Children in Need but I don't support Comic Relief nor any of the adverts where its overseas.
What help do UK get when we are in need.....none yet we are expected to help other Countries.

Do research in who you want to donate to, I used to donate to a Charity for deaf children - however they kept pestering me to up my monthly donations. In the end I cancelled it and donated elsewhere.

There's an animal charity where they are begging for money yet the CEO quite happily takes 100k salary and bonuses - that's one to avoid.

I support many Hospice's, Cancer charities and local Air Ambulance too.

Happy Lady · Oct 4, 2020

I agree with charity starts at home, and there are so many organisations here in the UK that would benefit from any donation. Like others have mentioned, choose something you are interested in, and establish how your money will be spent.

rainbowlemon · Oct 4, 2020

I mainly support maytree who under normal conditions provided support for those feeling suicidal. They aren't providing stays now, but offering email and telephone support.

Maytree | We’re open to suicidal feelings

Maytree offer a free 4 night, 5 day stay for adults, with the opportunity to be heard in complete confidence, in a caring, safe environment.

www.maytree.org.uk

I also donated to the NHS PPE fund and the food bank in the past year.

Begborrowsteal · Oct 4, 2020

I'd go for local charities over the bigger named ones. When funding gets cut, the smaller local ones are hit hard.

OnlyHereForTheLolz · Oct 6, 2020

Do your research and give to small, local charities in foreign countries. For example I am South African and there is a real crisis with poverty out there. You cannot give to big government charities there as they just pocket the money. There is a few charities I support that I know give directly to the homeless, poor and animal welface etc. The small charities that I support don't have permanent staff so this is people doing it in their spare time so 100% of the money goes to the needy - apart from the animal welfare group, they have a few staff members