[sunniefaith]

I support a kid from Bangladesh through my church. You can check with churches as well

[reei]

i used to sponsor this child from mainland china.. after a while, the organisation just stop sending the kid's info. the money, according to them is used for running the organisation, just don't know what happen to the money.

[reei]

knowitall,

donations to cncf, is it tax deductible?
thanks.

[PDLM]

In HK any donations over HK$100 in aggregate for a year (and up to 25% of your assessable income) to registered charities are tax-deductible. You need to get receipts from the charities, but do not need to submit them with your return unless requested by IRD.

http://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/tax/ach.htm#s88

CNCF is a registered charity.

[reei]

Thanks Pdlm

[muse07]

I sponsor a child through World Vision http://www.worldvision.org/ - a very reputable organisation.

It's fantastic that you want to make such a contribution

[Beth Danae]

My 2 cents on it - between us hubby and I worked for World Vision for 15 years so know their business inside out and the industry in general.

I would say World Vision's overhead is not outside what should be expected for running their programs (it does and s/be expected to have business expenses), currently stats are 8% to mngmt, 5% fundraising and 87% to programs... there are gifts in kind whose value brings down the overhead, so figures would be diff if you look at cash alone, but all orgs report this way...

Also keep in mind the apples/oranges thing, you can't compare directly to all NGO's/NP's as some specializing in certain type of donations w/have higher/lower overhead but in no way meaning they are run more efficiently...

Their sponsorship program seems to be well run (from experience), and though it upsets some people who want only a one-on-one connection with a child it is done in a way you can communicate with that child and they are cared for, but their community isn't then neglected. The childs whole surroundings are looked and the $$ go care for them but the family doesn't get cash--which in my book makes sense!!

WV is also respected by it's peers and believe me, knowing alot of it's employees and some of it's annoyances having left I still do respect their work.

Two things I like about WV: they work to teach men to fish rather than hand them fish and they are continually motivated by this phrase: "Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God." Even if you don't believe in God, good message can be heard.

[beafan]

beth, thanks for that

i'm going to give cncf a try. going to check out their office soon. i think the no exploitation of kids in their commitment really hit some strings for me.

[bluepiggy]

My husband and I have been sponsoring UNICEF Philippines' Pledge for Dream program since December last year. According to their website, we should've received a Pledge Kit, updates and information about the cause we've beeen funding and a designated staff member to answer our queries among other things. However, to this date all we receive is a monthly receipt of our donation via e-mail. I sent many unanswered emails and my attempt to call them had been fruitless too. I have a trip to Manila planned on November and I intend to pay UNICEF a visit about this, but until then I'm contemplating terminating the autopay donation until I spoke with someone who can answer queries satisfactorily. Does anyone has any similar experience and if so, what did you do?

[mjk]

Originally Posted by PDLM

I must admit that I have some difficulties with Mother's Choice. Do people here really think, for example, that this (from their website) is a balanced and reasonable view of masturbation?
http://www.motherschoice.com/pages/i...d_masturbation

Is this meant to be ironic? When I click on the link, it says "Coming Soon...".