Which charities are REALLY worth supporting?

i donate and volunteer with the Dogs Trust, the work they do is fantastic and they unlike a certain other charity do not put a healthy down,

I, too, donate to Dogs Trust monthly and am uneasy about the 'letters', Christmas cards etc I receive, purporting to be from 'my' dog. On several occasions I have been accosted when entering a local supermarket by fundraisers for the charity and when I tried to raise the subject of unwanted junk mail with them, and the possibility of opting out of receiving such on the grounds of money saving (for them, not me) I have been met with blank looks. I continue to receive raffle tickets, gift stickers etc.

Well said anya

I support several, including homeless charities, Water Aid and one of two for the blind and deaf/blind.

My daughter has worked for a major U.K. charity for many years, including long periods in post-tsunami and other disaster areas. I do get irritated when people say the staff 'all earn fat salaries' - she is fairly senior now and certainly does not earn a fat salary. And from all I've ever heard from the horse's mouth, great efforts are made to ensure that people's generous and usually hard earned donations are NOT diverted into corrupt pockets. Their strict stance can in fact cause them problems when e.g. corrupt officials are demanding bribes for releasing vital supplies from Customs.

I sometimes think that people who don't in fact know very much about it at all, like to tell themselves that nearly all the money goes on fat salaries and corruption, since it comfortably absolves them from giving any.

Until recently my DH and I let out a s/c apartment within our property to holidaymakers in season. One year,out of season, it was booked on behalf of the RSPCA for a week. The very pleasant young men who arrived were, we found later,all recent jobseekers on benefits being employed by the charity on a commission only basis to try to persuade/ pressurise (mainly older, retired) local residents on their doorsteps to sign up for monthly donations. We live in a mostly low income area so this kind of charitable activity is not especially welcomed. Even less admirable was that the boys arrived late in the evening - transport paid for - but with insufficient expenses after a long journey to allow them to go to our local pub for fish and chips. I rustled up some bread, butter, eggs, bacon and beans for them all,which helped them through - and which they insisted on buying back for me at the end of the week when they received some pay - in spite of my protestations.They were kind, decent, hardworking lads, totally exploited by a charity that spends millions on tear jerking TV ads. I will never give money to the RSPCA again.

Oh, and a cat was stranded in terrible winter weather on a narrow window ledge of a deserted building for two days and nights in our nearest town. The RSPCA response was that if it wasn't dead in another three days,they might send someone across. (But they'll come if it's a photo opportunity for the newspapers or TV - like a horse having slipped down a cliff face).

We organised our own rescue with the help of the police and Cats Protection (a much more responsible organisation).

Anyone else had a bad experience?

I support several charities, local,national and international. One of my favourites is Centrepoint, which helps homeless, often abused, and certainly at risk young people get back on their feet, and whose projects in London and elsewhere have acted as patterns for similar ones around the UK.I also like ActionAid. As a supporter of a young person, you get regular updates on how the money is spent and how it benefits the whole community.When the community is felt to be able to be self sufficient, the charity moves on to another area where there is need.

I used to fund raise for Macmillan but not any more..daughter diagnosed with cancer last year and the first thing the Macmillan nurse said to her was "we won't be visiting you at home,you live too far away".
And since then I've been told some really upsetting stories along the same line.
So stuff from home goes to local charity shops now and cash donations to research into kidney failure and cancer research.

I usually only support select local charities which are run by volunteers and mostly I give to animal charities. People should be able to sort themselves out and I would NEVER give a penny to foreign Aid; the government wastes enough there. If you go to a National Park you will see signs saying, 'Don't feed the animals because they can become dependent on hand-outs'. The same attitude should be applied to people both here and abroad.

some time ago I worked briefly in the office of a small charity. They paid low wages, so only got incompetent staff. They bought the cheapest stationery, computer etc which wasted a lot of staff time, eg having to seal poor quality envelopes with sellotape because the glue didn't stick, and endless computer problems. I'm not defending the exorbitant CEO salaries of some large charities, but any organisation has to invest in its staff and office to function properly. I'm now at a slightly larger charity which pays average salaries, and it runs really efficiently.

I like lendwithcare.org. You make a loan to an entrepreneur and the money gets credited back when they repay it and you can either take it back or lend it again. It is helping people to help themselves and people generally prefer this if it is possible for them. I gave £15 to an itinerant trader in Pakistan (basically a man with a bike) and he has made his repayments on time. He buys things to sell to shops. Also to a group of women in Zambia who have also made their repayments on time. There is a £1.50 admin fee but it is optional and not an unreasonable amount. I got most of it back as it is partly used as a hedge against currency fluctuations. People can choose who they lend to and which country. They now help people in the occupied territories in Palestine.
They aren't too pushy about asking for more money and their emails are often interesting.

We support the local Air Ambulance, Macmillan Nurses, United Response (the organisation which cares for our son), on a regular basis. I never pass a Salvation Army collection tin without giving. and love it when the local scouts/guides help with the shopping at the supermarkets, always give generously to that. Never to animal charities or those abroad.

Lifeboats, at the sharp end of which a volunteer drops everything to put their own life on the line to save others.

The rest of charities I find scams in one way or another.

MacMillan are so wasteful......hospices are going the same way, all the kid's charities are doing work duplicated by others etc.

So for me the Lifeboats is one I can trust.........a bit at least.

We support The British Heart Foundation, Hospice UK and World Animal Protection.

The Salvation Army do a wonderful job and whenever I have a clearout everything goes to the local SA shop. Every year on the lead up to Christmas there was always SA member with a collecting tin at the entrance to our local Tesco but not this year. Now that I think about it the poppy sellers were absent last year. I wonder if Tesco have refused to allow charities to collect on their premises.

Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance. They get no Government funding because they don't want it - WI tried to get it for them some years ago & they can to speak at AGM asking us to drop it as with Government funding they would have to agree to spend it where they were told to rather than where it was most needed.

My son was involved in a horrendous road accident some years ago & they got him to local hospital very quickly & he survived & is now absolutely fine- albeit having a leg full of metal pins etc.

I can never thank them enough.

re the RSPCA - I would never ever give them a penny. Dogs Trust - brilliant, ditto Cats Protection. When my stepfather was old and confused he kept getting begging letters from the RSPCA and one day said to me - I got three letters from them this week, they must really need the money - he wrote three cheques to them - which I'm afraid I destroyed. I rang the RSPCA and asked for him to be removed from their mailing list - they refused. All the other charities were really understanding and stopped mailing - he sent cheques to all of them with money he really did not have spare after his care costs. He had no inkling of computerised databases etc. He was very confused and felt he was the only person supporting the charities and they relied utterly on him.

My concern remains the people who don't give their funds to the charity as they promised. I know of a charity which organises walks to the Himalayas and Atlas mountains. A friend involved says there is always at least one walker who doesn't pay up. I've already posted about 'walk for life' 40%, apparently do not pay up.
I give to Children in need and charity shops + occasionally Gift Aid although their cut is high too.

I also donate to the Conversation theconversation.com/uk
because I enjoy reading the wide-ranging articles which I feel I can trust rather more than the rest of the media.

My DH & I decided not to send out Christmas cards this year but instead give to charity.
We decided on Centrepoint as we had both worked with young people for a number of years and felt that this was one way we could help all those young people get off the streetshelf & be given a chance.
We gave £15 and had a loverly letter thanking us for our contribution.

I have a standing order going out to a local cat rescue charity who are very small and need all the help they can get, and I take part in the local Blue Cross raffle and the local charity hospice raffle. They do wonderful work. We take all our charity shop donations to the local Animal Sanctuary shop as we got our cat from them and they need money all the time - I think their shop does very well and keeps them going. I prefer small local charities as you can go and see what they are doing with your money. I'm afraid I don't trust the big charities as they have such vast running costs and I wouldn't be sure my money was going to the right place. My biggest regular donation is to my church, which needs money all the time! I also help with a local homeless charity by collecting food and donating food every month. Obviously I do give money to other charities from time to time, but not on a regular basis.

Oh, and I would never support any charity which feels that they can buy my support by sending me gifts which I do not want anyway. The Red Cross did this a couple of years ago, so I sent them a small donation telling them never to contact me again as I felt they should be saving their money for those who need it and not sending gifts to those who don't want or need them. They must have lots of money going spare if they can afford to do that!

I support Marys Meals who give children in poor countries a meal at school every day. £12.20 covers the cost for one child for a year and it is run from the founders shed in his garden so overheads are only a few pence out of each pound given and it encourages parents to send daughters especially to school. Education is the key to a better future

I donate to the Salvation Army, and to our armed forces.

I have supported RNLI for many years, Monthly Subscription which I have not felt pressured to increase. Also I support Devon Air Ambulance (I have supported Air Ambulance wherever I've lived).

I do give to small Local Charities but not regular donations, also give to people collecting outside shops.

I don't give to any Charities who work abroad as I believe there are enough in this country who need my support

Thank you neversaydie I wonder if some people know how complex these roles are and the responsibilities they carry?

Grannypiper you think those are huge wages for a CEO? I think they are probably commensurate with the amount of responsibility they have. In fact I think some are very reasonable indeed.

I wouldn't get out of bed for the £10,000 allegedly paid to the Salvation Army. It's true that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

Worlass I welcome my letters (2-3 a year) from the Dogs Trust and GD2 always wants to read them. I doubt there's any great cost involved apart from postage, with modern printers you can turn decent, coloured letters out for pennies and with corporate postal rates you save on posting. It make the donor feel involved.

The reason I stopped supporting our local guide dogs as that we were promised regular Pupdates - which rarely transpired. It left us feeling marginalised.

I support Amnesty International and Compassion in World Farming.

Those salaries were interesting grannypiper!
I knew I always liked the Salvation Army!
I also prefer local charities which I know something about and of course The Sally Army ?
Mary's Meals I had never heard of until now and will look at.