Charities *Not horsey, sorry*

Amy567

Amy567

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Just wandered what the average Charity gives to their projects, because KONY 2012 (invisible children) is only giving 37.14% to all of their Africa projects .... Proof being http://www.invisiblechildren.com/critiques.html (scroll down about 1/4 of the way and there's a pie chart)

Just wondered if anyone new of any other charities giving so little to their causes?
 
Sorry, but still, it's so little! haha, I would have thought it would be more, even for a non profit organisation :)
 
You would hope it would be more but it would appear they are currently focusing on trying to raise awareness of Kony and the affected regions so are spending over 2/3 on awareness programs and tat.
 
Surely, the point of IC is not to raise money for charity but to bring about change through awareness/pressure on decision-makers?

I would think their campaign is hugely expensive, and the money they raise will largely be spent on that campaign.

OP have you an axe to grind with IC? it seems a funny topic to bring up here. :confused:
 
Amy567 said:
Sorry, but still, it's so little! haha, I would have thought it would be more, even for a non profit organisation :)
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not for profit companies can spend their money on almost anything they like, they just can't distribute the profits to 'owners'
 
I guess it depends how you define "going directly to their cause."

A lot of charities will spend huge amounts of their money on staff for example, and on fundraising.

But without the staff the work for their cause would not be possible, and without fundraising to bring in more money, then this would dry up too.

Its not really nice to think about, but unfortunately the world is not full of people wanting to give their time and money for no incentive.
 
I suppose it is more for awareness, but, as you said xspiralx, they say "going directly to their cause." Which I would think, most of it would go to the cause, rather than workers, surely they have volunteers?

I don't have an axe to grind with IC, just an honest question I didn't know the answer to, because I heard and then saw that only 38% goes to their cause. If I brought it up on fb with a load of 19 year olds, there would have been a huge argument, thought this would be a better place, because discussions are more adult :)
 
Amy567 said:
I suppose it is more for awareness, but, as you said xspiralx, they say "going directly to their cause." Which I would think, most of it would go to the cause, rather than workers, surely they have volunteers?

I don't have an axe to grind with IC, just an honest question I didn't know the answer to, because I heard and then saw that only 38% goes to their cause. If I brought it up on fb with a load of 19 year olds, there would have been a huge argument, thought this would be a better place, because discussions are more adult :)
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this is taken directly from their website amy

Invisible Children's mission is to stop LRA violence and support the war-affected communities in East and Central Africa. These are the three ways we achieve this mission; each is essential:
1) Make the world aware of the LRA. This includes making documentary films and touring them around the world so that they are seen for free by millions of people.
2) Channel energy from viewers of IC films into large-scale advocacy campaigns to stop the LRA and protect civilians.
3) Operate programs on the ground in LRA-affected areas that provide protection, rehabilitation and development assistance
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Amy567 said:
I suppose it is more for awareness, but, as you said xspiralx, they say "going directly to their cause." Which I would think, most of it would go to the cause, rather than workers, surely they have volunteers?
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Yes charities have volunteers. But charities need skilled, top-notch, full time workers to run them. People need incomes in order to live, few people can afford to work full time for free, nor should they be expected to.

For a charity to be successful, it needs the best qualified staff on board, which costs money. They can recruit volunteers too, but that needs to be organised by someone paid to do so.
 
I understand they need qualified people for their filming and accounts etc, but I just thought a lot more of them could be volunteers, even as part time volunteers, I understand the fact people need money, it's why charities are trying to raise it for the 3rd world countries.

Seems, I've brought up a sore topic, sorry :)
 
Amy567 said:
I understand they need qualified people for their filming and accounts etc, but I just thought a lot more of them could be volunteers, even as part time volunteers, I understand the fact people need money, it's why charities are trying to raise it for the 3rd world countries.

Seems, I've brought up a sore topic, sorry :)
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Not as easy as you think.

I work for a charity at the moment. Quite a small charity, relatively speaking.

There's about 60 fulltime staff. One of the largest departments is the fundraising department - Supporter Services (deal with all incoming calls and mail), Direct Marketing (manage e-comms, warm and cold direct mail, press advertising, telemarketing etc), Project Funding (major donors, trusts and funds), Digital (that do all the website and email stuff) and Legacies (wills).

Then there's the Public Affairs team that deal with the political campaiging, Media that deal with the press and raising public awareness, Research, Database Services, HR, Investigations, Accounts and IT.

Most of those posts are quite specialist and you would be very unlikely to be able to fill these with volunteers, let alone full time ones. It would be a logistical nightmare.
 
I volunteered for Marie Curie in my local charity shop (until i became ill) and they really struggled to get volunteers. Most of the volunteers were women of a certain age who had been helping in the shop for years and always worked the same hours every week so you ended up with blocks with in all honesty too many people on and gaps where you might have the manager and 1 person. The other volunteers were D of E people who would do 1 hour a week and only did it for a few months so never really became competent enough to be of much use.

Volunteers are difficult to come by never mind ones suited to the role and willing.
 
Charities need to spend a little to make a lot if you think about it, they need to have the right people pushing forward and need to gain awareness somehow in order to gain income so all money can't be spent directly on the cause. It is slightly shocking when it is just numbers but when put in monetary terms a fair amount of money would be going where it is needed, whilst a not for profit organisation doesn't have to adhere to the same rules and regulations, a charity would probably not be able to continue as a charity if most of it's money wasn't been directed towards their cause otherwise it would merely be a business venture which the laws on charities and registration as a charity would never allow.
 
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Amy567 said:
.

Seems, I've brought up a sore topic, sorry :)
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It's not a sore topic, Amy. It's just that you seem to have a very naive idea that if something's for a good cause, people will (or should :rolleyes:) do it for free.

As explained by xspiralx, charities require people who have a huge range of qualifications and skills for which they quite rightly expect a decent salary. People who work for worthy causes have careers too!
 
I don't think anyone 'should' do anything for free unless they want to, which I know those people are few and far between due to the price of living. Just wondered why they gave so little out of the money people give.

I used to volunteer for the PC and they had to beg people to help out sometimes, we also did pony rides in the village for about 9 years before the horses got too big and spooky and all the money raised help revamp the village park, but that was literally all volunteers so no one got paid.

I completely understand people have bills and mortgages etc etc and want a decent wage to be able to afford those bills and mortgages and working for that charity is their career for a lot of them. So I completely understand why not everyone that works at a charity is a volunteer, nor do I believe they should be a volunteer, just that the charity/non profit organisation, in this case, should give more of a percentage to their cause.
 
I don't really understand your point in the case of IC. Their aim is to increase awareness in order to bring about change. If every penny they're given went into funding that with nothing left over for donations to other other projects they would have fulfilled their aim in a perfectly ethical manner, surely?
 
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