How do you choose who to give to?

I had a boy come to the door one dark night last week. He kept his head down and mumbled about wanting money for his youth football team. I usually give in but this time I thought he can't even look at me, so I said "no thank you". He was so shocked he finally looked up as I shut the door. The charity we like to support is the food bank. We often buy extra food to put in their collection boxes at the supermarket.

I always choose charities for the homeless at christmas - this year have chosen Refuge, which is for women and children fleeing domestic violence. £20 buys Christmas dinner for 4

Sorry to those of you who love donkeys and send your money their way (dons tin hat and hides behind sofa), but I wouldn't want my money spent on employing dentists for donkeys when people are living in such dire need.

I won't support big charities cos of the high salaries of the chief officers and I like to give to a christian charity cos I like to continue Jesus good work. Salvation Army is a favourite cos they help people others wouldn't and anyone going out in that sort of gear must be committed!!

I tend to agree that Charity begins at home, so decide to support the two charities I have done for years - Guide Dogs (national) and our local Hospice. Charities will Always try the "guilt trip" on people, especially at Christmas, but I'm now immune to all the begging going on just now. ?

I used to make regular donation to our local food bank but I was dropping off a load of tins and arrived early and had to wait for someone to come to open it. Also waiting were 5 people. 2 women stood in queue smoking and another was discussing her new tattoo and saying she was getting another. I couldn't help thinking if they were not wasting money on tattoos and cigarettes they could afford food. This put me off and I have not given since. There must be those in genuine need but they but until they sift out the chances I won't be donating to this food bank again.

I think many people now choose to support small local charities because of the salaries paid to those running the bigger charities.

In 2015 the Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK was paid £240,000, also in 2015 the Chief Executive of Water Aid UK had a salary of almost £130,000 and you can be sure they have increased since then.

I make 12 Christmas shoeboxes each year for Samaritan's Purse who distribute them to disadvantaged children overseas where often they can't attend school with no stationary. I also support the Salvation Army. My dh supports Water Aid. We give £1 or £2 to others who shake can.

I have noticed the requests from The Salvation Army in the post this year. I have always donated to them as my father was in it briefly when a young boy and told me what good they do. Since we lost him when I was 22 I have always given as much as I can afford at Christmas and the sound of their carol singing always brings tears to my eyes. They seem to have a new marketing policy this year and I had a letter in the post. I did donate the £9 they were asking for. Yesterday I had a duplicate letter in the post and also a letter thanking me for my donation. I just wonder how much all this marketing is costing and how many people they are employing but it won’t deter me from donating to them.

Apart from them I support our local hospice by always donating items to their charity shop, buying raffle tickets and sponsoring people in their annual walking fund raiser. We have left sums of money to the RSPCA and the NSPCC in our wills. I also buy charity Christmas cards and regularly donate a small amount to street collectors - I mean tins or buckets usually outside supermarkets but wouldn’t sign up to the ones who accost you in the street as they are paid not volunteers.

I will usually donate more to the less ‘enthusiastic’ collectors. Somebody once cheerily accosted me asking if I had a dog the day after we had to put our 15 year old dog to sleep.

Decide who you would like to support and stick to it. My elderly mum gets lots of appeals and used to send a donation with a letter saying she was a widow on limited means - cue yet more begging letters!

This year we have given to Myanmar, Crisis at Christmas and the salvation army. We reckon to give to charity the money we get for a winter fuel allowance which we really don't need. Also I give to local food Bank when I shop, and buy the big issue from local sellers. We never give to animal charities as they get a lot anyway and we feel people come first. I think we all have to make up our own minds day - obviously different people have different opinions. But I do get cross when we get a thank you letter with a gift from the charity - what a waste of donated money!

Forgot to add, if you turn out your linen cupboard at any time and discover you have far too much "stuff", charities like the Amber Trust in Trowbridge would be very interested. I did this last year and they were thrilled to receive it. Sheets, pillowslips, some throws and blankets and underblankets. All good stuff which will help youngsters resettle and have happier lives.

I don't change the charities I support because its Christmas. Lendwithcare, Knit a Square, Little Libraries and St. Luke's Hospice regularly and occasionally charities for homeless people like St. Mungos. That is enough for me and I would rather support something that I can follow and be a bit involved with.
You just can't give to everything that is deserving or moving. The situation in Yemen is heart breaking and you can't not feel for Syrian children but I am at the age where I need to make sure that I have some cash for care when I am older and I am probably not saving enough as it is.

I tend to support those charities to whom I have reason to be grateful and I sometimes succumb to a plight that moves me particularly. I do try hard to stay 'small' as I feel the nationals have more grossly unnecessary overheads than others.

Air Ambulance, Julia's House (Hospice for children with life limited illnesses), the Amber Trust (gets youngsters off the streets and into hostels, then supports them into bedsits and shared flats), Connection at St Martins which I have donated to for years. That's it - no major charities as they seem to soak up too much in "expenses" and nothing abroad either as I think our Foreign Aid Budget is way too big anyway.
East West Home is best!

I support small local charity alone also with volunteers and I do not give to giant ones as I feel the money would go on paying stars to advertise for them and very expensive adverts. That is not where I want my money to go. They keep saying they have to raise awareness, in doing so does that mean other charities lose out I wonder.

I support St Mungo a charity for the homelessness , they receive my Christmas donation and also I donate clothing and buy underwear for the women throughout the year. The rest is ad hoc donations throughout the year for local charities. Also do my own work abroad with sewing classes for young women to be able to set up micro industry and be able to contribute to the family finances instead of turning to the sex trade.

No animal charities.
Humanitarian charities such as Oxfam that provide a lot of support for emergencies as well as on going development plans in the poorest countries.
A big part of their work is involved with education and social development plans in these areas . They do have some very good results.

"Charity begins at home" Sounds to me as if it is encouraging being selfish. As in looking after your self before others.

I want to support my local community. What I give/raise would be a drop in the ocean to a large charity, but can make a difference locally. I raise funds all year and have a large fund-raiser in Dec. Last year, our first, we gave all our funds to Food Bank where I volunteer. This year, and possibly future years, we shall give it to our local First Responders, who are totally self-funding.

I only donate to charities where I can see where my money goes.

That's the local airport ambulance, which passes over my house quite often, and the RNLI where I can actually touch something my money supports.

A colleague and I co-founded a local homelessness charity in 2015. This year we took on another caseworker and we have no paid staff - all the money raised is used to help street homeless people and those who are vulnerably housed (sofa surfing, facing eviction etc.) We started with our own money and the first Christmas got a very welcome cash boost from a local church. That money took us through 2016. In January 2017 I preached at a Homeless Sunday service in another church and the money from that has seen us through this year. Then in the last three months or so we've had a (to us) huge donation from a third church, a hefty sum from the Lions, money from the Waitrose Community Matters scheme and just this week a further donation from a local concert society. We are one of three small charities (the other two are a food bank and a small non-profit community cafe) who work collaboratively in the town and together we're really well supported by the local community. Sadly the numbers of homeless people sleeping rough in the town this year has risen and I think this is the reason why people are responding so generously.

Squiffy you said "too much of our donation never reaches the people/animals that we intended it for."

Would you please qualify what you have just said with some actual evidence?
The sort of simple remark with no actual evidence does not actually tell us anything.

I do agree about large charities. I read today that the head of Save the Children gets £270k.
I support Crisis at this time of year. I can’t imagine what sleeping on the streets is like in this cold weather, especially at Christmas. They not only give People a hot meal but a shower, clean clothes and they help them plan for getting off the streets. They also take groups of younger homeless away and set them on the path to getting housing and a job. I was also drawn in by the scheme in John Lewis where you buy one of a pile of selected toys and Barnados distribute to deprived families.

During the year we support Aspire, a medium size charity, for People with spinal injuries. For our 50th wedding anniversary we will set up a Just Giving page for donations to our local hospice which is my husband’s pet charity. Other than that, I can’t ignore anyone collecting for breast cancer as too many of my friends have had it.

Salvation Army always, can't tin rattle for them this year at their street carol service , first I will miss in more years than I care to remember.

Was going to be local Mind but they were our choice for donations in memory of my beloved daughter and in this heavy snow the mountain rescue team have been working on the streets of the town, as they lost so much equipment in a recent fire and my husband use to be part of a team I will donate to them this year, they rescue so many from the mountains , I always felt safe when I climbed knowing they were ready should I need them

The Salvation Army and Barnardos for us, all the time.