What REALLY is Charity and How do You Pick Who You Support

[Vingiu]

https://www.charitynavigator.org is the one I’ve made use of when deciding where to park my donations. Executive salaries, funding sources and end use data can often be found here from the more forthcoming associations

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-age...a-charity.html

Find an association which (claims to) align with your ideals

Track down where they spend the money, and how effective they are at doing so. I may be mistaken but I believe registered charities are bound by law to make many of their financial records available for the public

None of them are perfect but there is a wide gap between the “boots on the ground” charities and the “we pay subcontractors to do our dirty work” associations

[57charlie]

STARS & the Legion have gotten my continued support for more years than I can recall.

[pikergolf]

Mustard Seed, Salvation Army, and then at Christmas a big one for a veterans group.

[The Cook]

Originally Posted by creeky

Ronald Macdonald House, Stars, Boys and Girls Club, Salvation Army, Habitat For Humanity, Mustard Seed, Children’s Hospital, Alberta Cancer Foundation. Many Fish and Game Associations, habitat foundations etc.

Still find it really inappropriate being ambushed into answering in a lineup at a grocery store.

Creeky....


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When asked to donate at the checkout, I just look them in the eye and say no thank you.

[The Cook]

Originally Posted by 57charlie

STARS & the Legion have gotten my continued support for more years than I can recall.

Same here.

[Phil McCracken]

Originally Posted by 57charlie

STARS & the Legion have gotten my continued support for more years than I can recall.

X2...

[dodger]

Special needs daughter gets what I have extra for her quality of life. Her support workers get extra as they are angels for what they do.

Vetrans food bank gets supplies when my local grocery has case lot sales.

Dodger.

[calgarychef]

Originally Posted by huntsfurfish

Childrens Hospital and Ronald McDonald House are two of the best.

I can’t disagree with that.

[roper1]

Stars
Legion
Calgary Firefighters
Diabetes Assoc

Used to have a big cancer walk in town here, costs thousands & thousands to stage it. Never did contribute.

Hard to define "HELP" Are we giving a boost to someone in a bad time in life, or perennial losers who won't help themselves?

[thumper]

Originally Posted by creeky

Still find it really inappropriate being ambushed into answering in a lineup at a grocery store.

Creeky....


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Same here. There's lots of us hard-of-hearing seniors that get ambushed by "Do you want to donate $2 to ...." at the grocery till. And we just smile and nod at this out-of-context question that we didn't understand.

[thumper]

Aren't most things mentioned here the responsibility of our communities and governments? Health care equipment, finding cures for diseases, transportation to hospitals (STARS)? Aren't these basic needs for all society?
Does it worry you that by we individuals filling in public funding needs through donations, we're excusing our governments from their responsibilities? Excused from funding those basic needs of their constituents, they're now free to spend our taxes on painting rainbows on crosswalks, bribing UN delegates for seats on the security council, flying to far-off conferences to dream up more rules for others to live by?
I'm not suggesting that we ignore all fund-raising, but with bigger societal problems, it's a concern I have. That's why we prefer direct giving to those in need - as said earlier 'BE the Santa' !

[calgarychef]

Originally Posted by thumper

Aren't most things mentioned here the responsibility of our communities and governments? Health care equipment, finding cures for diseases, transportation to hospitals (STARS)? Aren't these basic needs for all society?
Does it worry you that by we individuals filling in public funding needs through donations, we're excusing our governments from their responsibilities? Excused from funding those basic needs of their constituents, they're now free to spend our taxes on painting rainbows on crosswalks, bribing UN delegates for seats on the security council, flying to far-off conferences to dream up more rules for others to live by?
I'm not suggesting that we ignore all fund-raising, but with bigger societal problems, it's a concern I have. That's why we prefer direct giving to those in need - as said earlier 'BE the Santa' !

All true but charities are more efficient than the government. Once you introduce government unions it all falls apart.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by oilngas

Food Banks, Poppy Day i.e. veteran's issues, and the Sally Ann.

The last is in response to my late Dad's experience in Halifax, upon return from North Atlantic Convoy duty WWII, in a destroyer, the only folks that greeted the ship was the Sally Ann, with mugs of tea and Coffee and kind words. Tough watching Allied Merchant Marines freeze to death in -4 degree water and burning bunker C, then turn around and do convoy duty again.

I'll never forget that conversation, from when I asked him why the Sally Ann was his Charity of choice.

My Dad was in WW2 also, he had a great fondness for the Salvation Army for many similar reasons. According to him. they were the ones you saw on the front lines comforting soldiers and providing needed items. They got virtually no recognition in films, or the history books for all they did for soldiers in all the theatres of war.

He had an abiding and virulent hate of the Red Cross for their behaviour in WW2. They used Allied shipping to get donated care packages to Europe, then sold the contents to allied soldiers, both healthy and wounded ones. They also were accused of selling those supplies to the Nazis on the pretext of them going to prisoners of war. My Dad would go absolutely ballistic with Red Cross fund raisers.

I saw similar behaviour 40 years later in the floods in Slave Lake. We were lucky enough to not get flooded but I spent a great deal of time helping people who had lost everything try to get back on their feet. The Salvation Army showed up and helped anyone that walked through their doors, as did the Mennonites. No fan fare, no publicity. Red Cross showed up, put up huge tents, did a ton of interviews, but the paper work required to get any kind of help was mind boggling. They raised millions in donations fund raising for the flood victims, very little of it ever saw its way to Slave Lake and that is far from the first or last time that issue has surfaced with the Red Cross. They do have an exceptional PR and Lobbying arm and that is what keeps them going strong.

As far as getting hit up in restaurants and stores for donations, I give the clerk the stink eye and just don't answer. If they repeat the question my response in far from pleasant. It is avoidance training and it works. Places I go regularly no longer ask me that question.

[58thecat]

Every month I recycle the cans etc and they go into a metal bin of choice and I alternate to spread my donations.

[SamSteele]

I sit on the board of a non profit that builds homes in El Salvador, so this topic is very near and dear to my heart.

I go through a ton of reading and videos in order to help lead teams. Some of the resources that I like are the videos “Poverty, Inc”, “When Helping Hurts”, and the book “Giving Wisely” whose author I have had the privilege of meeting and having speak to my team.

It is imperative that you know where the money you donate truely goes, how much is soaked up in admin costs, and that the contributions you make are having a lasting impact towards the mission and vision of the organization. I have stopped donating to some after doing my due diligence and started donating to others.

When working with the non-profit I am involved with it is always my aim to be transparent in where the funds go, have admin costs minuscule (3-5% is where we are currently at, mainly to maintain CRA accreditation and keep things legal), and continually work towards making the communities we serve self sufficient.

If you’re going to give money away with the intention of making things better you owe it to yourself and those who are truly in need to make sure it goes where it can have the greatest impact.

SS