There is nothing better than giving something back to people less fortunate than ourselves. I'm one who loves to do that, but I feel that charities are not giving enough of the donated money to the cause. I remember a few weeks ago, I donated a few £'s to a charity which helps people in Africa. I felt good with myself, but after a while, I found that only a quarter of my money went to the African people, which was only around £5, and considering that I gave more than that, I was hoping it would all go to the cause and it would help them out more. Does anyone feel the same as me?
I think charity is weird and illogical sometimes. I don't understand why Hollywood celebrities will throw a party that costs a million dollars to raise $50,000 for charity. Why not just skip the lavish party and donate all the money to charity? Also ,considering that there are hundreds of hunger charities, you would think that there would be some progress towards making a dent in world hunger. Where is all that money going? How come there's never news coverage or documentaries showing food being served to hungry Africans? I'm not saying that charity isn't real, I'm just saying that it could probably be more efficient and straightforward.
One of the best pieces of advice that I've ever heard was for you to donate some of your time at a nonprofit organization before you start donating money. That way you "interview" them. You get to know who they are, and what they are about. There are also pretty good sites likeLog In andLog In that help you to find out more about nonprofit organization before you donate to them. I'm a "hands on" kind of guy myself and I enjoy buying food for people one and one and talking to them. But that's kind of scary for some people and it wouldn't hurt for you to spend time with some "veterans in the field" (people who have helped some of the rougher folks on the streets) before you try to do it yourself.
He's right. Giving 'money' isn't really "charity"---not in the Biblical sense (how the KJV translates the word other versions translate "brotherly love") 'Your time' is all that you can really give ... it's what you got paid the money for! You can even give 'the time it would take to spend the money' by doing some of the buying (of food, clothes etc. that you give away). If you still feel that 'you have to share globally rather than locally,'Log In is the biggest charity-research place! As I said, 'charity' is how the KJV (Holy Bible) translates agape (elsewhere translated 'brotherly love'). It's highly illogical because it's not using any 'worldly' standard-of-reason (no 'scales of justice,' no 'quid pro quo') And "money" is 'NOTHING' to Hollywood celebrities (well, it's obviously "something"; but it's not to them what it is to most ... of the amounts you hear they make per-appearance or -movie or -program, I'm guessing 50-to-90% of it goes into paying-off their 'handlers'---their agents, managers, PR-people, pavarotzi (sp?), etc. Basically, It costs them extra to do nothing after work). The 'charity ball' is not for the purpose of "efficiently solving the problems of the poor & destitute" as it is 'the wealthy exhibiting agape by putting millions into the hands of the working people of service-industries while incidentally giving the celebrities a chance to exhibit some agape to the world.'
Another problem worth mentioning is when charities run their telethons and pay an outside agency to make the calls and man the call center for them. In a recent study, about 10% of these donation drives actually lost money. Only about 4% of theses resulted in a 60% or greater surplus for the charity. Most averaged only 20-25%. Also, all those charities for the starvation in Africa that run TV commercials and infomercials. I'm sure that a lot of our donated money went to paying for those ads. How else would they be able to afford them? TV networks don't just "donate" ad time to charities.
I have plenty of friends that need help and so if I want to help someone out, I usually just help one of my unemployed/underemployed friends. I have seen some good causes that I would contribute to if I had more expendable income. As far as Africa goes, I think most of the charity money is stolen somewhere along the line and ends up in the hands of the regional warlords/dictators. There are some newer charities that give business loans directly to African entrepreneurs and it is helping to bring them out of poverty. And, they are able to pay off the loans, which is so fantastic and hopeful! I don't remember the name of that charity but it sounds like a better idea than traditional charities that have such waste and corruption.
I think that charity starts at home and that there are plenty of people around me that need help. I would rather give my money to them over a greedy charity. I often wonder how so much is money is raised each year and yet still there is no change. Where does it all go obviously to where its supposed to.
It depends on the type of charity. It is better for the whole amount to go the people that need it. You should be checking the credibility of the charity organisation before sending your money through them. There are those that pocket more funds than you think they send.
Maybe they do the party to get people in the spirit. Even if they're rich, they can't do all the donating. It's just not possible which leads me to your next paragraph. You would think that there'd be some progress but there are a lot of people in this world so it's difficult to see it when it's so easy for people to be less fortunate. It is a wonder though sometimes where that money goes because there are plenty of people who would be willing to deceive others. That's not my problem with charities though OP. My problem with charities is they often act like it's so pertinent that you should feel guilty for not donating. Yes the world would work better if we all pitched in but we also have to help ourselves too. Should a person be deprived of important things in the process? It's almost counterproductive. If you are well off that's fine but there's no need to donate when you need help yourself. It also goes back to there being so many people in this world. That's why I and many others would help people in their own "group" before they'd help a stranger if they had to go out of their way to do it.
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I understand that charities have expenses and stuff, but I think some of them are overly greedy. They should definitely donate the vast majority of the money that they receive to the actual charity. It's a bit of a scam, but some of the charities are certainly worse than others.
In theory, I would love to donate to charities that actually mean something to me and my family. Autism Speaks for example, would be the first place I would donate. But, realistically... My family cannot afford to donate to charities. And I really cannot stand when you go to the store and get bombarded at the cash register asking to donate. It makes you feel bad when you say no, but you shouldn't feel pressures to donate cause that kind of defeats the purpose in my opinion.
It's a lot better to donate directly to charities than go the "spend X amount of money, Y% will get donated" route. I'm more of a donate locally person, anyway though. My college has an entire room devoted to help different people set up, you can donate things like feminine products (which goes back to the college so that women there who need them can get them), toy drives, clothing drives, etc. Whenever I clean my closet out, I always take it there.
