[hdinh]

I would love to donate to help disaster striken Burma and Sichuan. We all have heard the horror stories of big named charities who pocket most of the money themselves. Can anybody recommend some real charitable charities where the majority of donations go straight to the people who need them most?

Cheers.

[hullexile]

Charities need managing and the bigger they are the more management needed and those workers need paying. I think too much is made of the amount charities use for their own requirements. Having said that I just help individuals directly, keeping an orphan, supporting someone through college, paying kids school fees whose parents can't afford it, that sort of thing. No money goes to anyone but those in need that way. I don't get involved in the big campaigns, enough people already do that.

[sunniefaith]

Originally Posted by hullexile

Charities need managing and the bigger they are the more management needed and those workers need paying. I think too much is made of the amount charities use for their own requirements. Having said that I just help individuals directly, keeping an orphan, supporting someone through college, paying kids school fees whose parents can't afford it, that sort of thing. No money goes to anyone but those in need that way. I don't get involved in the big campaigns, enough people already do that.

Totally agree with you. I'd rather go directly to the source and I know that my money will go to real help and causes.

[KnowItAll]

Watch out for Burma though. Looks like they're not taking significant outside help, which means its unlikely at this point that the money will go there.

[ontheroad]

Excellent editorial in the Canberra Times on why we should give for Burma even though part of the money will be "misused or mismanaged" by the Junta:

Fear, paranoia rule supreme in Burma - Opinion - Editorial - General - The Canberra Times

Some charities with which you can't go wrong:
UNICEF
RED CROSS
OXFAM
MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES
ASPECA
HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL

[sunniefaith]

I'm not sure how true this is. With Burma, apparently, the govt wants to take control of the aid and redistribute on their own. But they have been distributing rotten rice to the poor and keep the good rice for themselves or reselling them for a profit. Read this off some news websites.

[hullexile]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

Excellent editorial in the Canberra Times on why we should give for Burma even though part of the money will be "misused or mismanaged" by the Junta:

Fear, paranoia rule supreme in Burma - Opinion - Editorial - General - The Canberra Times

Some charities with which you can't go wrong:
UNICEF
RED CROSS
OXFAM
MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES
ASPECA
HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL

Used to have a friend who worked for OXFAM, when they asked for a salary rise OXFAM said fine, but of course if we give you another 1000 pounds then another 1000 kids starve to death. Nice bargaining weapon.

[jgl]

It's probably true, but it can lead to some very tough and unsustainable working conditions in charities.

[ontheroad]

Originally Posted by sunniefaith

I'm not sure how true this is. With Burma, apparently, the govt wants to take control of the aid and redistribute on their own. But they have been distributing rotten rice to the poor and keep the good rice for themselves or reselling them for a profit. Read this off some news websites.

Yes but short of parachuting there yourself with your bag of rice, what else can you do? Giving money for Burma and crossing our fingers that it's going to end up in the hands of those who need it seems more acceptable to me than doing nothing.

[Football16]

Originally Posted by hullexile

Charities need managing and the bigger they are the more management needed and those workers need paying. I think too much is made of the amount charities use for their own requirements. Having said that I just help individuals directly, keeping an orphan, supporting someone through college, paying kids school fees whose parents can't afford it, that sort of thing. No money goes to anyone but those in need that way. I don't get involved in the big campaigns, enough people already do that.

Charities must be mindful of the G&A costs or they lose connection to the donors. This happened to the United Way of Greater Vancouver way back in 1983 when their elected President blew the whistle on admin expenses that he felt were out of whack. This led to immediate changes from that campaign forward. I was on the fundraising Cabinet for 1983 and 1984 and did presentations for them until 2000 and they could proudly after that point to low admin overheads as part of the marketing.

The list above looks pretty good for legit organizations to donate to.