Dec

5

who will you be donating to at Christmas?

Filed Under giving | 7 Comments

Now that I’ve debunked any anti-charity sentiments that you might have held, who are you planning to donate to this Christmas? So far, I’ve decided to do a couple of things.

Firstly I’m going to give a couple of things to the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal. They are looking for gifts for children under the age of 17 and for the elderly. I’m planning on choosing something appropriate for a teenage boy, as people don’t commonly buy for them, and also for a small baby, as baby toys are easy to pick out.

Secondly, I’m going to be making a donation to Shelter. I may not consider myself to be a Christian, and I am certainly aware that the celebration predates the Nativity, but it seems appropriate to give to a homelessness charity at Christmas when you consider that the story tells of a couple who had nowhere to stay for the birth of their first child. Two thousand years ago that may have been acceptable, but it certainly isn’t now.

I’m sure that you’re all more warm and generous than I am, so tell me about your Christmas charity plans and ideas.

Nov

21

I don’t give to charity because…. debunked

Filed Under giving | 22 Comments

I’m a big fan of giving to charity. Obviously I’m not sufficiently organised to do this in any other way than automatically, so I’ve got some direct debits set up to my favourite charities. Not everyone donates though, and when called on this, they usually cite some dubious excuse. I’m going to go through a few of these and explain why they don’t stand up to the cold light of day.

1. I don’t believe in charities

Honestly? I can assure you that charities do in fact exist. Here’s a list:

2. Charities waste a lot of money

All charities have to spend some money on running themselves. Telephone bills and stamps don’t pay for themselves. And with the biggest charities, volunteer work may only go so far. It’s quite difficult to find people willing to volunteer full time, but you can find people willing to work full time for very reasonable wages. Some charities do spend too much on adminstration, but it’s really a very small number.

3. I don’t have very much money

It’s unlikely that you don’t have enough money to give away a little. Plan for it. Cut back on one luxury a month. If you are reading this, you are privileged to have access to the internet. You can afford to give to charity. If you really, really, really can’t find the room in your budget, give time, donate clothes to the charity shop or food to the soup kitchen, or try to persuade your employer to donate.

4. I can’t find a cause that I like

You haven’t looked hard enough. Seriously, there’s a charity for every cause. In fact there are charities for diametrically opposed causes. So you don’t want to support the military, there are charities that work for world peace. So you think that atheists have got it all wrong, there are charities that try to convert the unchurched. You can donate to support capitalism for heaven’s sake.

5. I’m too lazy

As a deeply lazy person myself, I have to say that this is possibly the worst excuse yet. Walk through any shopping street and you’ll probably find yourself accidentally signed up for a direct debit scheme with a charity that you’ve never heard of. Make it automatic. If you can’t be bothered to think of a charity to donate to, click on this link, which will take you to one of my favourites and donate there.

Nov

2

charity telesales

Filed Under giving | 9 Comments

My phone just rang, Scope, the cerebral palsy charity that I got suckered into donating to wanted to know if I would increase my donation. Even though my plan is stop donating to them, I ended up increasing it anyway. I did this, not because it was great sales tactics by the women I was speaking to, but because she was paid to call me, and I felt that I needed to cover her costs.

At least they are a worthwhile charity, right?

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