I want to donate monthly to a donkey charity, but need reassurance that most of my donation will go to the donkeys and not to admin' etc!

[Drago]

One's a vegan Hindu, the other's a vegetarian pagan...

...and the third is a Meatatarian Dandy!

 

[PaulSB]

Yeah like they don't have computers, everything is entered in a big ledger using Quill pens dipped in the inkwell.

I was trying to find the word to describe the above. After a few minutes thought I hit on unnecesary.

Admin is admin, income and costs need checking and monitoring whether in a handwritten ledger or through accounting software. Some points for you:

• Dealing with a bequest is probably a reasonably complex task but it is a one off per donation. There will be a process the charity will be familiar with
• Monthly donations bring monthly costs whether driven by software or not
• Perhaps the donor misses a payment, changes bank etc. Why is the payment missing? Is this monitored
• Do we have a lapsed donor? Chasing letters etc.
• Gift Aid. The majority of monthly donors are almost certain to be able to offer Gift Aid. Even a small charity such as the one I'm treasurer to benefits significantly from this
• Any donation above £20 in the tax year on which Gift Aid is claimed has to be individually claimed from HMRC. Yes, there is software, yes there are spreadsheets but it all has to be done. Mistakes occur and those have to be found. Possibly, I don't know, a single error, amongst thousands of entries, in the spreadsheet upload to HMRC could result in rejection. Certainly when I used to upload invoicing spreadsheets to a major multiple retailer a single comma out of place would result in the entire batch of invoices being rejected.

It's just as well we have computers but don't for one minute imagine these eliminate admin costs. They simple allow those these to be performed in greater numbers and improved accuracy.

 

[Sharky]

If you want to donate on a regular basis, consider opening a Charity Account (CAF, Charities Aid Foundation). With this, you can "save" a regular amount monthly and when you see a charity you want to donate to, you can do by cheque or online and gift aid is automatic.

If your employer offers GAYE (give as you earn), then your regular donations are taken from your gross salary and if you are really lucky and your firm offers matched giving, your donation goes a long way.

 

[albion]

Support your local charity. Chances are the local ones need the money more and cannot afford to advertise on Youtube etc.

 

[Psamathe]

As above. I've messaged the Facebook pages asking those who donate if donations go to the donkeys and not spent on administration, wages etc.

I'm in a not dissimilar situation writing my will.

Challenge is if you manage to ensure your donation goes only to the animals then that might mean a larger %age of everybody else's donations go to admin/wages.

End of the day it all becomes part of their big pot available and identity of each £ gets lost.

Hence my own challenge. I thought about forcing it to be for assets only eg land, animal housing, etc. but that just means other moneyfrom other sources that would have been spent on such items can now go to admin.

My parents really wanted to leave a good amount to their local RNLI lifeboat but checked with the station itself and they said if they got a large bequest then they'd lose the same amount from their central budget ie RNLI would benefit but not specific local lifeboat station.

I've not found an answer and this not yet written a will.

Ian

 

[Jameshow]

But he would have to mistreat the donkey first to give them a reaason to rescue it and I do not think Accy has that in him

I could see a donkey abusing Accy! What you doing parking in my field shelter Accy!🤣

 

[Drago]

I could see a donkey abusing Accy! What you doing parking in my field shelter Accy!🤣

Accy doesnt have time to abuse a donkey.

Hes too busy choking chickens and spanking monkeys.

 

[briantrumpet]

The Donkey Sanctuary is doing quite well, suffice to say. Lucky donkeys, even if it cost £14.24m to raise those funds.

 

[briantrumpet]

Probably an interesting exercise to search the Charity Commission website and compare income with expenditure for various sectors. I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of benchmarking going on for what is reasonable for major charities with paid staff. For instance, there's Chirldren With Cancer UK

 

[bikingdad90]

So using those charts above;
Donkeys - 33% on raising funds
Children’s cancer - 18% on raising funds.

 

[briantrumpet]

So using those charts above;
Donkeys - 33% on raising funds
Children’s cancer - 18% on raising funds.

Looks about right on the maths.

You might extrapolate why I chose a children's cancer charity for comparison. Save The Children is £36.31m costs for £296m raised, FWIW.

 

[Psamathe]

So using those charts above;
Donkeys - 33% on raising funds
Children’s cancer - 18% on raising funds.

But does that reflect the challenges facing the area the charity works in? Guessing but maybe getting people to hand over money for sick children is easier than getting them to help donkeys.

I could see reasons where/why the difference in overheads does not relate to efficiency or waste, etc..

Ian

 

[Beebo]

Having seen donkeys working in rural
Africa, they are often simply regarded as agricultural equipment.
There is very little room for sentimentality when you are living hand to mouth in absolute poverty.
Animal welfare is very much a first world issue.

 

[Accy cyclist]

But does that reflect the challenges facing the area the charity works in? Guessing but maybe getting people to hand over money for sick children is easier than getting them to help donkeys.

I could see reasons where/why the difference in overheads does not relate to efficiency or waste, etc..

Ian

You can chuck as much money at sick children causes, but it wouldn't help their plight much. Such causes are well funded by the taxpayer, unlike animal and bird welfare. If a child has a terminal illness, more money will not help. Folk raise thousands of pounds and beyond to send children to places like the USA, Germany etc for treatments not recognised or funded by the taxpayer funded NHS. I suppose if such treatments help, it's worth it, but most don't, giving false hope.🤔

 

[briantrumpet]

You can chuck as much money at sick children causes, but it wouldn't help their plight much. Such causes are well funded by the taxpayer, unlike animal and bird welfare. If a child has a terminal illness, more money will not help. Folk raise thousands of pounds and beyond to send children to places like the USA, Germany etc for treatments not recognised or funded by the taxpayer funded NHS. I suppose if such treatments help, it's worth it, but most don't, giving false hope.🤔

I think that overlooks the input from charities into funding research which the NHS benefits from. And pretty much the entire hospice sector is funded by charity, and they are in a dire position because of funding cuts from government (the major local one was £2m in the red last financial year).

Blood Cancer UK​

• Founded in 1960, it has invested £500 million in blood cancer research.
• Their analysis shows that 700 children and young people survived blood cancer between 2012 and 2016 who wouldn’t have in the late 1990s.

Children with Cancer UK​

• Since 1988, they’ve raised over £300 million for research and support.
• Co-funded the development of Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) testing, now standard in NHS care, which helps predict relapse risk.
• Invested in Precision Medicine, enabling personalized treatment with fewer side effects.