Charity caution

[Greynomad]

Don’t want to be a killjoy, but have some concerns about a charity which seems to be blitzing TV at the moment.
I guess we’ve all seen the ads for Save The Children, featuring starving third world children and babies.
I wasn’t sure who/which organisation(s) backed them, so I looked them up on Wikipedia.
It’s not a registered charity, but a private company.
What alarmed me even more was the financial arrangements.
The President/CEO received a salary last year of $499,238; Exec VP/COO - $383,771; VP/HR - $299,278. Total salaries for the top three execs is $1,182,287!!!
And you can bet your boots the execs don’t fly economy class... or pay airfares from their own pockets. (I know for certain that World Vision execs don’t. Friend worked for them some years ago. She flew economy & was billeted... not the big-wigs, though!)
So guess where a large part of your $10 a month (their suggestion) goes?
Don’t know how this compares with salaries in real charities.

[Greynomad]

Out of curiosity, I’ve searched a few other charities.
World Vision CEO (USA) salary: $456,503
World Jewish Congress (USA Div) CEO: $94,802
MacGrath Foundation (no info on salaries published): latest figures available are for 2015.
2015 revenue: $16,502,193
2015 expenses: $14,141,998
Difference: $2,360,195
Fed Govt subsidy: $18,500,000
MacGrath Foundation spent $14m to raise $2m!!

Interesting reading.

[Shirley]

Interesting figures Ray, we don't give to any of those type of charities nor do I ever buy tickets in shopping centres or at the front door when they come knocking, we prefer to know that donations given go directly to the cause.
I have even wondered the cost of the Fred Hollow advertising on TV ?? Seems many dollars raised would pay that expense & would the advertising bring in enough to cover cost?

[RobertNotBob]

McGrath foundation expenses could include money given to research but what worries me is they raise $16 million and the tax payers give $18 million.

Have stopped giving as it is hard enough to meet our own ends as well as these parasites.

Why is the government subsidising charities if they do noy pay tax ?

[native pepper]

I read a couple of years ago that most charities use less than 3% of their income for the purposes they advertise and that money mostly goes to multinationals who provide their waste, contaminated and out of date food stuffs for premium prices to these charities. The charities give them to camp controllers who give away the contaminated foods, then sell the rest to refugees and poverty stricken. It said the worst were the religious organisations who only give 1% of donated goods and foods away, reselling the rest. That's why religious charities have such well stocked op shops and those that work there, are mostly all unpaid volunteers and are the richest organisations on the planet. Yet the majority of their followers are poverty stricken.

Stopped giving to charities decades ago, only give to local worthy charitable requests now.

[bagmaker]

with your signature, Ray, I would suggest you dont look too hard into the finances of churches

[Dot]

I did volunteer work at the Save the children, I have a friend that has a "charity/foundation" and she told me to ask the "manager" exactly how much went to "the children"? Needless to say she told me that "was of no concern to me" but when I was asked to pay for my own Xmas meal that was the last straw. Even the "good will" are privately owned.

[Greynomad]

with your signature, Ray, I would suggest you dont look too hard into the finances of churches

BM,
Our Presbyterian church runs an Op Shop. SWMBO volunteers one day a week.
Notice on door announces that funds go to support the church & its work in local community.
C’tee of Mgmnt allocates some to operational costs, some direct to local hospital, the rest to Pastor’s Emergency Welfare Fund, for when people approach our Pastor/Elders for direct help.
No middle man, no travel costs.
I’m happy to support this method of welfare aid.
Stopped giving to Big Charity many moons ago... even the Salvos & St Vincents, who now outsource their Op Shops.

Ps. Majority of funding goes to local hospital for equipment upgrades.

[Greynomad]

Had a squiz at the Annual Report of the Fred Hollows Foundation.
It is also a private company, which received NO Govt help last year.
They spent $2m to raise $40m, and spent it ALL establishing clinics and training doctors to perform eye surgery & other eye care in 3rd world countries.
Apparently no director fees or wages were paid to Australian staff
Now there’s a charity I could support with a clear conscience.

[Shirley]

Thanks Ray, re the Fred Hollows Foundation, I always thought what a wonderful man Fred was, giving sight to so many individuals, sounds like a great charity to support.