Gransnet forums

Chat

Charity Fat Cats

(62 Posts)
thatbags Thu 27-Nov-14 09:03:27

A blog about Save the Children.

rosequartz Mon 15-Dec-14 10:55:41

The other thing I heard about these charity top bods is that they will not dream of travelling economy like the rest of us plebs ordinary people; it is first or business, top hotels and expensive cars.

Lapwing Mon 15-Dec-14 10:57:31

David and Friends available

Why do you not give up - every time someone on here sees your spam posts they will be reported and removed.

rosequartz Mon 15-Dec-14 10:58:51

Oh good, deleted, I was just going to report it. There does not seem to be any such charitable organisation!

papaoscar Mon 15-Dec-14 13:15:57

It does seem that more and more charities are now run like businesses, with salaried senior staff directing other paid professionals and an army of unpaid volunteers, often to undertake functions previously carried out by central government. In the old days charities provided the extras, now they seem to be required to look after the essentials of life. I still admire people who volunteer these days, but I have a feeling that the government rubs its hands with glee, for very different reasons.

durhamjen Mon 15-Dec-14 17:44:39

Many of the hospices around the country would not be able to stay open if it wasn't for the volunteers.
I donate to big charities and small local ones, like the hospice and Lifespan.
It means I can say with honesty when any of the others ring up that I cannot afford any more money for their charity.

durhamjen Mon 15-Dec-14 21:22:09

I have just had a call from Shelter. When I said I did not deal with charities over the phone, only over the internet she was flummoxed.
Eventually she asked why and I told her I did not know who she was. She said, "But I'm ...... from Shelter," so I repeated that I did not know her.
There were a lot more buts then.
I told her I sent them quite a few cheques, but did not give details over the phone to people who said they were from charities.
What do other people do?

whenim64 Mon 15-Dec-14 21:51:15

I turn away all cold callers, whether that be on the phone or at my door. A young man knocked on my door one evening last week, saying he was from Shelter, and I explained and turned him away.

Also, I've just cancelled several direct debits to charities that have been shown to pay outrageous salaries to their CEOs. When they query it, I'll tell them why. I'll still give the same amount, but to local charities that set a better example.

durhamjen Mon 15-Dec-14 22:09:49

Good idea, when. We should all do that. Then the charities might get the point and pay less.
After that we should do the same with the banks and the utility companies.
I'll just check my charities.

Eloethan Mon 15-Dec-14 22:41:16

What a CEO earns may be justified if his/her salary plus overall expenses amount to a relatively small proportion of the whole amount donated. That goes against what I generally think about high salaries but not many charities pay huge salaries, as compared to the banking sector where people gets huge amounts of money even when they have failed spectacularly.

Unless you check the accounts of a charity and it provides full details of what percentage of money donated to it was allocated to admin/salaries/expenses etc. and how much was used directly for charitable purposes, you won't be able to judge how effective it is and you might be writing off a charity that is doing a good job.

whenim64 Mon 15-Dec-14 23:27:26

On principle, I think the ethics of claiming a massive salary plus perks in any walk of life is that it should not be too many times that of the workers in that organisation. I was astonished when the recents news was published about charity CEOs getting such extortionate amounts compared with their staff, but also compared with the relatively tiny incomes that many donors get. It's unethical to be living a luxurious lifestyle paid for by the donations of the public. Something reasonable - yes - we all have to live, but not on a par with the MPs expenses debacle we all protested about, nor the greedy bankers bonuses. There must be selfless people who know how to manage organisations and bring in funding, without them having extortionate salaries?

durhamjen Mon 15-Dec-14 23:39:13

Agreed, when. What I have noticed is that one of the CEOs at a charity I give D/Ds to has twice the salary of the other CEO. The lower of the two salaries is slightly more than an MP. It's enough to live on.
How many charities have their headquarters in London, and why?