Charities

[J]

I need some help...

Please can you each name three charities you think are the most important, and list besides each one the reasons why you think they are important?

I want to do a sponsored event but I feel really stuck when it comes to choosing a charity or two to give the money to.

Some of you may have read my post about cycling from the foot of Spain to London, and I'm starting to make moves for the planning stage of this.

I was thinking about donating money to a water project, but I'm worried that what I give will make no difference and be soaked up on pointless beuracracy and paying of someones wages who could volunteer their time rather than be paid for it.

I want to give to a charity that will make a real difference...

I'm thinking about the ride itself for Christmas time 2009 as this gives me plenty of time to train, as well as time to raise as much as humanly possible. It's ideal timing being at university as there are thousands of students, plus the use of university media (Such as university newspaper and maybe even a radio station wich I'm trying to create) will help me raise awareness and even more cash.

Maybe I will donate to one UK based charity, and one that deals with issues further afield. I think this is fairer?

Input greatly appreciated.

J

[Olly_B]

Hi J,

Great post, and interesting question.

The first thing to decide is what issues are important to you and find charities that support that.

The second thing to decide is how you want your money to be used. Smaller projects can appear to benefit from a small donation because they have smaller overheads, but there is still a lot of admin/support work that needs doing in any charity. With larger charities this is often done by seperate people to those doing the "charitable outputs" which can mean it looks like they have greater overheads but it means the people doing the charitable work can concentrate on that. Smaller charities may have to buy in those services (or they don't do them at all... questionable practice)

And whilst volunteers can do a lot, there are 600,000 people in the UK employed in the charity sector. And as one of them, yes I'd love to volunteer the time I spend working at YouthNet (http://www.youthnet.org), but I also have bills and rent to pay. (And from a management perspective, employees are a lot more accountable/plannable than volunteers).

You might find three websites really useful: GuideStar (http://www.guidestar.org.uk/) provides factual information on all charities (here's YouthNet (http://www.guidestar.org.uk/gs_summary.aspx?CCReg=1048995)'s entry). Intelligent Giving (http://www.intelligentgiving.com/) has a guide to how accountable some of the larger charities are (YouthNet doesn't qualify for their full treatment... but you can see our mini profile (http://www.intelligentgiving.com/charity/lite/2397)).

A recently launched website, how2fundraise.org/ (http://www.how2fundraise.org/), has lots of ideas on how to raise money.

Hope this helps...


Olly

PS. If you do want to support YouthNet (http://www.youthnet.org/), then why not consider running a half-marathon (http://www.youthnet.org/getinvolved/events/theroyalparkshalfmarathon) in October?

[J]

PS. If you do want to support YouthNet (http://www.youthnet.org/), then why not consider running a half-marathon (http://www.youthnet.org/getinvolved/events/theroyalparkshalfmarathon) in October?

I'll consider it, but at the moment I couldn't run a mile without having a heart attack!

Thanks for the tips and links Olly_B :)

[Melian]

Nysdtagmus Network. For anyone who doesn't know, Nystagmus is where the eyes wobble. For most people (including myself) it also causes poor sight and very few people with it are allowed to drive. Their aim is to raise awareness of the condition and aid research (done by Leicester university) into a cure for it. I also believe Southampton university are looking into research regarding Nystgamus being genetic.

www.nystagmusnetwork.org

[JsT]

I've done a lot of reading on Nystagmus with regards to work, certainly a very prohibitive condition.

[Randomgirl]

I wrote a really long reply to this thread but it got lost due to a computer problem, I was so annoyed as it took me ages and was several paragraphs long! Typical!

My three main charities I support are: Oxfam, The Salvation Army UK and The Mental Health Foundation.

[omg hi]

my 'top' charities are the Samaritans, Amnesty International, Oxfam and Cancer Research UK. :yes:

J, maybe you could choose charities which are close to your own heart or who have helped people you know? charities are a pain in the bum in a way because you can't support them all, so i would go for ones which mean something to you.

[J]

my 'top' charities are the Samaritans, Amnesty International, Oxfam and Cancer Research UK. :yes:

J, maybe you could choose charities which are close to your own heart or who have helped people you know? charities are a pain in the bum in a way because you can't support them all, so i would go for ones which mean something to you.

The thing is I support 10 different charities at the moment through monthly payments, but I can't really divide the money between all of them as they'd get very little.
Also no charity has ever really helped me - I prefer instead to help them, which means I don't really hold any dear to me in the way I would if I'd been under their care. I also think they all do a vital job to make the world a better place which makes chosing hard.

I was thinking about a local charity called J's hospice http://www.thejshospice.org.uk/ simply because it's got a bloody great name (IMO) and because it helps a group of people I think are often forgotten because people don't adore them like kids, or respect them as the elderly.
They plan to build a hospice here in Chelmsford and I think that's a great thing as I can work closely with them in the future.

[briggi]

I was thinking about a local charity called J's hospice http://www.thejshospice.org.uk/ simply because it's got a bloody great name (IMO) and because it helps a group of people I think are often forgotten because people don't adore them like kids, or respect them as the elderly.
They plan to build a hospice here in Chelmsford and I think that's a great thing as I can work closely with them in the future.

That sounds like a good plan, especially if you feel they help a less popular area of charitable giving ("popular" sounds wrong, really). Even better if they're local, and you can see the effect of your help. Very encouraging, and once you're in a position to spread your help out a bit more then you can look at other charities too. It's a very admirable notion, regardless of which charity(ies) you choose :thumb:

The charities I hold most dearly are Tommy's, Friends of the Earth and PDSA. I've been involved with FotE locally since I was quite young, and Tommy's became very important to me when my daughter was stillborn and again when our babies were premature. They are wonderful people and I got so much support from them, it's only right to try and give back what I can. Only for them would I attempt a marathon in Berlin in September :razz:

PDSA just tugs my heartstrings, it always has. I've always wanted to do something for The Donkey Sanctuary, too. So many charities...

[J]

The real hard bit is going to be the ride itself. I need to start thinking about training. The pyrenees mountains are going to be a bitch, especially as I intend to take 2/3 of my food with me, a tent, clothing, sleeping bag and 3 days water plus the weight of the trailer. It will be an achievement if nothing else.
I'm going to camp for two ninghts then spend a night in a B&B and so on. Saves money because the ride will take 3 weeks to a month.
And my arse is going to kill!

I've been involved with FotE locally since I was quite young

Me too. I do Great Ormand Street, RNLI, Red Cross, Shelter, Cancer care Uk, WWF, Unicef, FOTE, Essex Wildlilfe Trust and Mind.
I'd like to give more but I'm a student so it's not easy.

[I'm With Stupid]

I agree with what people have said so far in that you should give to charities that support issues that mean something to you personally (**cough**Youthnet**cough**).

Another option would be to donate to the relief efforts of a particular incident. I'm thinking of the Chinese earthquake and Burmese Typhoon at the moment. Most of the major charities, such as Save the Children and Oxfam will usually have an option for a specific relief effort like this. Similarly ongoing problems such as Darfur will always need money, but obviously check that it'll get to the people who need it first.

On a personal level, I was reading this blog (http://www.ourman.typepad.com/), and it's by a geordie bloke who works for a small organisation called KOTO (http://www.streetvoices.com.au/index.asp), which trains Vietnamese street kids in English and catering skills and sets them up in a job for life. They run a restaurant in Hanoi staffed by the graduates. A really worthwhile charity I think, when you consider the alternatives for these kids. This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUnyvYuQkJA) is a video of what they do from the BBC.

Incidentally there's always this (http://vbulletin.thesite.org.uk/showthread.php?t=108384&highlight=donate) thread.

[SuzyCreamcheese]

my pet charities are the samaritans, and amnesty international

[J]

Ok, in the end I chose Chelmsford Churches Homeless Emergency Support Scheme (Chess) http://www.chelmsfordchess.org.uk/ and as I metioned earlier J's hospice http://www.thejshospice.org.uk/
I stayed at the night shelter when I was made homeless ona few occasions and it really helped me out and saved me having to live on the streets for too long. When I have more time I will go back and help them with preparing meals etc...

[Silverberg]

at the moment I couldn't run a mile without having a heart attack!

Heart disease charity?



Just a thought.

[J]

Heart disease charity?



Just a thought.

I guess so. I can't give money to every charity though. Just training for this will help my heart with no input from a heart charity...

[Olly_B]

Ok, in the end I chose Chelmsford Churches Homeless Emergency Support Scheme (Chess) http://www.chelmsfordchess.org.uk/ and as I metioned earlier J's hospice http://www.thejshospice.org.uk/
I stayed at the night shelter when I was made homeless ona few occasions and it really helped me out and saved me having to live on the streets for too long. When I have more time I will go back and help them with preparing meals etc...

They sound really great causes to support.

Good luck with your sponsored charity ride; and if you feel like blogging, writing or talking about it we'd love to hear from you.


Olly

[J]

They sound really great causes to support.

Good luck with your sponsored charity ride; and if you feel like blogging, writing or talking about it we'd love to hear from you.


Olly

Thanks for the support. I'm going to keep a video diary of the build up/training and the actual ride, and possibly a blog or diary.