Am I living in a different world ?

A charity here in NZ for Epilepsy Reserch, collects rags, usually about 5% of the returns from sales goes to the foundation, but I believe they made a lose one year, so the foundation got billed for the difference. Ian S C

1. I cannot stand Chris Evans
2. Only listen to radio 4 extra and jaz fm in the workshop wife who had a major stroke last year watches the news while I make her breakfast.
3. Agree they will never see that money as said just like the people who look at very posh houses only want to be on telly with no intentions of buying,
4. Went for a job with a large cancer charity as computer manager mentioned that they could benefit from a small upgrade, they said money no object. I turned the job down.
5. I only now give to the small local charities like rescue and only if I know the people do not give cash but usually food. (bank that)
Sorry but that is how I feel

Bob

4. Went for a job with a large cancer charity as computer manager mentioned that they could benefit from a small upgrade, they said money no object. I turned the job down.

Unfortunately, except for very small groups run by volunteers, a charity needs to be run professionally an in a business like way. Being profligate for the sake of it is as bad for a charity as any business, but to do a good job, you need good people and good leadership. In many charities staff work for a fraction of what they could expect in the private sector or the public sector (although public sector pay, conditions and security aren't what they were). Many charity staff put in far more than their allotted hours, with no overtime, just time off in lieu that is rarely taken in full. Sometimes they have to make people take their holidays to comply with the working time directive - then staff do weekends and don't put them on their timesheets.

That said, it makes me really cross when people's committment is exploited because they are willing to work for low wages or on really poor conditions.

Charity trading subsidiaries are an interesting issue - sometimes they gift relatively little to the parent charity, but considerably further its aims and capacity through their work, additionaly they often through occupancy and management charges, make the parent charity's accomodation or administrative capacity financially viable. Charity accounting rules mean such payments cannot counted as gifts to the charity.

Similarly, it's easy to make the mistake of making do, rather than giving people the tools they need for the job. That includes providing decent, clean office accomodation, civilised loos and things like IT that works properly. Another example - a charity office over one winter where they couldn't reach the legal minimum temperature (supposed to be attained within an hour) by the end of the working day - with the heating on full. No-one went home early, even though it was their right to go. People complain about staff sitting on their hands - they were sitting on theirs to warm them up enough to use the computer keyboard. I have no issue with their move to better offices.

Charity regulation goes way beyond that applied to most businesses (many have three regulators, charity commission, companies house and often at least one other), bearing in mind that all the working and safety issues apply, often with extra child safety, volunteer issues and other regulations. Charity accounting is vastly more complex than business accounting, as individual grant funded activities are usually run as separate cost centres because of restricted fund issues. This requires skills and experience so that even the typical chartered accountant needs additional training before they can manage charity finances.

Ultimately, though, a charity should be judged by its success in addressing the issues it was set up to address.

Donors should ask what their gift will achieve, not worry exactly how it will be spent.

Neil