Charity Fat Cats

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?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

I support a very small charity that actively helps Syrian refugees and is run by volunteers with the help of some paid drivers who risk their lives taking in supplies.
I have also added extras to my food shop to take to a local food bank.

We do send all our donated stuff to the Red Cross shops; the top staff may take big salaries but they are usually in there first to help when there is a disaster.

DH works hard for a big national charity on a voluntary basis, but I have noticed how their marketing has changed over the years.

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

It is sad how even good things can get so tainted.

i volunteered in an Oxfam shop for over 20 years ans saw how it changed. paid managers are necessary as it has to be run on a business basis but i feel that it is now a case of too many chiefa and not enough indians. i still support them by D/D but the asking to increase my donation really annoys me .

Smaller charities appeal to me. The church at St Martins in the Fields does good work for the homeless. I recently started donating to Air Ambulance which relies entirely on donations.

The last column of the chart is surely the most important one as it shows the amount per thousand pounds donated that is paid to the Chief Executive.

For instance, as I understand it, the Arthritis Care charity pays its CE £65,000 which, relative to some of the other charities, is on the low side - but this figure represents £5.56 out of £1,000 donated. Oxfam, on the other hand, pays its CE £75,000 but this figure represents £0.40 out of £1,000 donated.

I'm not sure how useful the chart is in reality because the only expenditure it details is the Chief Executive's salary. It doesn't show the total expenditure (other staff salaries, advertising, cost of premises, etc.) and how much remains to be spent on the core needs of the charity.

Also these are details of only a tiny proportion of the charities in existence. There are thousands of them - and more seem to be springing up every day. I very much doubt that they can all be monitored to see exactly how they are being run and how donations are being used.

I had strong words with Christian Aid a few years ago because they phoned my 90 year old father and badgered him to make a monthly contribution. He was told "Everyone can afford £15 a month". He couldn't and was hurt and humiliated by the call.
My pet hate is those well crafted adverts that ask you to text a small amount e.g.£3 for a blanket for children in Syria. Inevitably these are a metaphorical foot in the door to get your phone details so you can be telephoned to ask for bigger donations. As others have said , it makes me less likely to respond to any appeal other than local ones.

And so have I, as have other people we know, and that does not bode well for the future of charities, I think. But on the other hand most people still seem to willingly support the big media-driven public charity efforts, so who knows. I find it strange that a person can take a huge salary from a charity while passing round the begging bowl to an increasingly pressured general public. Why don't they get their rich charity colleagues and banking friends to chip-in some more and help alleviate the damage they've caused by their greed?

I've lumped some too.

I've lumped a few already because I don't like it.

We may not like it, but charities are now big businesses with directors, chief executives and all the usual company trappings, including big pay-scales, pensions, perks, spin, smoke and mirrors. All that doesn't encourage many well-intentioned volunteers to continue doing charity work. The days of the free, gifted amateur are gone now, money talks and dictates what happens, like it or lump it.

I'm sure an updated table can be found on the internet, durhamjen.

oh dear. I did think that salaries were lower than I thought they would be!

That table was 2003. Any update, trisher?