Do you give money to Charity?
Which charity do you give to? Why that charity?

Just curious to hear your thoughts on the subject!

i give to the sheffield childrens hospital and the jessops special care baby unit. i was born at 27 weeks and i spent many weeks in both units so i guess it is my way of thanking them.

English Heritage - cos I like old buildings

NSPCC, RSPCA (guilt cos I send so many enquiries to them from work), and of course Sheffield Wildlife Trust (through Gift Aid)

Everyone should give gift aid - it's not like you'd ever see that money anyway.

Anymore for anymore?

Originally posted by cosywolf
Everyone should give gift aid - it's not like you'd ever see that money anyway. [/B]

What exactly is 'gift aid'?
How do you go about setting it up?
Got a handy URL that explains it all?

TIA
Nimme

Originally posted by DaBouncer
Anymore for anymore? Mostly health care related in particular where essential NHS provision is absent e.g. St Luke's hospice (no votes in people that are going to die in a few weeks or months, they aren't patients they are just selfish "bed blockers" why waste NHS resources caring for them). (Just in case there are any literalists reading, that sentence is intended as irony).

Nothing with any political agenda,they end up compromised to one political party. I knew someone who ran a disability charity, she refused to be openly identified as supporting the Labour party (sorry can't go into personal details of the circumstances) and guess what, the central government funding promptly dried up.
Nothing anti-libertarian.
Nothing to the ones that spend a fortune on TV ads, bloody annoying phone calls and postal campaigns (I've got more free pens from them than I know what to do with).
I want the cash to help the target group, not maintain plush office suites in London full of remarkably well paid bureaucrats (check out many of the "household name" charities).

Originally posted by nommedenet
What exactly is 'gift aid'?
How do you go about setting it up?
Got a handy URL that explains it all?
When you hand over some dosh you give the charity your name and address and sign to say you pay income tax. The charity can then reclaim the tax (adds about 27% to your gift). If you keep records and pay any 40% tax you can also put it on your tax-return and you'll get 18% back. The tax man's guide here:
www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/pdfs/ir65.pdf

It's a pain for donations of a few quid so there's a scheme where you put money into a kind of bank account and issue special cheques to charities http://www.cafonline.org/ Not sure if that works with gift aid but it does with Payroll giving - you can give direct from your pre-tax income and the government adds 10% (some employers also add a bit I think).

Payroll giving takes a regular amount off your pay and gives it to your chosen charity, however if it is sent to CAF instead of a specific charity then you aren't limited to the one chosen charity, you just write the cheques to whichever one you favour this month.

I give the usuall £2 per month to the NSPCC.

I know only about 10-20% goes to the cause, but it ALL helps one way or the other!

I do give NSPCC regular donations, but I'm startin to be a bit concerned about them as an organisation:?

Why's that O' Cosy one!

The way they handled the Victoria Climbie case.

The fact that i'm aware of someone who (allegedly) works for them and (allegedly) allows her abusive restraining-ordered partner into their house on a regular basis. Just makes me wonder....

You got a link to that case?

Anyone here know anything about Barnardo's? Would they deserve my £2 more than NSPCC?

Originally posted by DaBouncer You got a link to that case? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1781399.stm

Don't believe in it...this is an affluent enough country not to need charity...the fact there's an innumerable amount, highlights the gross missmanagement of the countries finances

Animal charities such as RSPCA, Sheffield Cat Shelter, Wood Green Animal Trust, LAWS, League Against Cruel Sports and any others that ask. I do some through my payroll, some monthly and some annually so they get the tax too. I decided to only do animal charities otherwise I would have dithered and not done any because the choice is too great.

I still give to human ones but on an ad-hoc basis.

They get stuff in my will, to.

I give money to loads of different ones, although not through a structured scheme, more on an adhoc basis, collections etc.

I am also in a group that helps raise money for charities and contributes time for community service (Round Table). We do things like collect food at xmas for homeless people to have a good meal etc, collect easter eggs for underprivliged kids, help out doing DIY, painting etc at charity run premises. This work is just as important as giving hard cash as are all the volunteers who work for these charities. Anybody want to get involved PM me or knows of any good causes.

I would rather help out local smaller charities than the big nationals like NSPCC/Barnardo's, whilst these groups are doing a good job they also probably have enough money coming in.

Keep it local, where it will make a difference to where we live.
Just my opinion.

Who do you feel is the better (more worth while charity) Barnardo's or NSPCC?

If you had to choose a Charity for one of the following groups... which would it be and why?

Childrens Charity
Animal Charity
Elderly Cahirty
Homeless Charity
Research of disease charity

Originally posted by DaBouncer
Do you give money to Charity?
Which charity do you give to? Why that charity?

Just curious to hear your thoughts on the subject!

I give money to Amnesty International....there were so many worthy charities out there that I could not make my mind up. In the end I thought Amnesty would be the best because I will be helping people from all countries.

I don't really give money to charities. I do give blood though...

Saving someone's life directly by giving them something that is free is better than giving them a few pence, init?

Edit: I'm interested who else gives blood now... so take part in the poll and post your opinions here (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?threadid=1780).

Fair point Tony!

Originally posted by costessey
Don't believe in it...this is an affluent enough country not to need charity...the fact there's an innumerable amount, highlights the gross missmanagement of the countries finances

I have to agree Costessey. These charities stumble along because of public donations. If people didn't give, the state would be shamed into proper funding. Isn't it sick (no pun intended) that the begging bowl has to go out for things such as the Bluebell Wood Childrens' Hospice Appeal. We live in a very rich country it just needs redistributing. :)

I feel too that the governement should do more, but they aint gonna budge I dont think!

So public support is THE only way to go!

Originally posted by Mo
I have to agree Costessey. These charities stumble along because of public donations. If people didn't give, the state would be shamed into proper funding. Isn't it sick (no pun intended) that the begging bowl has to go out for things such as the Bluebell Wood Childrens' Hospice Appeal. We live in a very rich country it just needs redistributing. :)
I hate to agree, but it's true.

As the old rainbow party slogan went:

"wouldn't it be nice if all the hospitals, schools and playgroups got all the money they needed and the armed forces had to raise their money from fetes and fundraisers?"

trouble is armed forces would raise money by providing 'protection'.

Originally posted by mikey
I give money to loads of different ones, although not through a structured scheme, more on an adhoc basis, collections etc.

I am also in a group that helps raise money for charities and contributes time for community service (Round Table). We do things like collect food at xmas for homeless people to have a good meal etc, collect easter eggs for underprivliged kids, help out doing DIY, painting etc at charity run premises. This work is just as important as giving hard cash as are all the volunteers who work for these charities. Anybody want to get involved PM me or knows of any good causes.

I would rather help out local smaller charities than the big nationals like NSPCC/Barnardo's, whilst these groups are doing a good job they also probably have enough money coming in.

Keep it local, where it will make a difference to where we live.
Just my opinion. Hey Shaggys back, my lad,ll love that.
Thanx Mikey

Originally posted by costessey
Don't believe in it...this is an affluent enough country not to need charity...the fact there's an innumerable amount, highlights the gross missmanagement of the countries finances

Sorry, you lot. But if you didn't/ don't fund it, the government won't come to their fabled senses. All of us charities would fall to the ground, and all the hard (very hard) work we do for our various causes would, quite simply, be lost.

Please continue to give money to charity. We work b****y hard to keep our heads above water. And all for the safety of your children, green spaces for you and your children to play in, research into many terminal diseases, etc etc etc.

No-one else will do it if we don't. It's cloud-cuckoo land to think otherwise. The government gives most of us a pittance, and they're happy that way. They'd be even happier if they didn't have to bother with all these good causes.