Real charities

Tom Paine at The Last Ditch has been upset by my posting about the NSPCC and its wealth of government funding and its attack on home educators. So upset in fact that he's going to cancel his standing order to the "charity".

Good for him.

There are so many "charities" with their noses in the trough of government spending that it's actually quite hard to find any prominent ones that are in the clear. This is a pity because I'm going to have to cancel my own direct debit - to Plan International - on the same grounds, and I do want to keep doing my bit. But I will only give money to someone who doesn't milk me for cash through the tax system too.

If anyone can suggest suitable homes for my regular giving, suggestions would be welcome in the comments. I also want to start flagging up real charities as well as the fakes. We really need a couple of logos along the lines of the Porkbusters one. We need both a "Fake Charity" and a "Real Charity" one. The Real Charity one would be particularly useful because we could award it and allow those who eschew public cash to display it on their publicity material and so attract extra private donations. Any graphic designers out there? Alternatively would anyone be interested in bunging some cash my way so I can get one made? Contact me (link in the sidebar) if you think this is worth following up on. There are online logo designers who will do these things for a couple of hundred quid.

Comments

[KMcC]

Off the top of my head:

RNLI takes nothing but donations and bequests; as does the Art Fund (ithelps purchase art for the nation).

[mikiwud]

Have not been able to connect to fakecharities.org for a couple of days.

[jpt]

To be honest I've become suspicious of MOST charities lately.

[Bishop Hill]

DK has been having some trouble with his server I believe. LPUK are down as well as a result. No doubt it will all be mended soon.

[Pogo]

I second the suggestion of the RNLI.

[David G]

Cancelled NSPCC a year ago - it now all goes to the RNLI and the British Legion

[Frank O'Dwyer]

Since all charities are exempt from tax, they are all effectively in receipt of government money and taxpayers have to make up the shortfall.

Not to mention churches with charity status

http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/funding/giftaid.html

and yet still have the temerity to come out with the likes of this:

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/5178

[Bishop Hill]

Presumably since they don't make surpluses, the shortfall is not much.

The simple answer to this is to do away with corporate taxation in full. It's such a shambles anyway, and as Tim W points out ad nauseam, corporates can't pay tax anyway - the burden falls on individuals elsewhere.

[William]

try reading this and then see if ChildLine is worth your support AND Government support.http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/featuresopinon/display.var.2488115.0.a_childs_life_means_more_than_a_bankers_bonus.php

[William]

Try reading this and then see if ChildLine is worth your support AND the Government's support.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/featuresopinon/display.var.2488115.0.a_childs_life_means_more_than_a_bankers_bonus.php

[Bishop Hill]

Doing good deeds on the one hand does not excuse them of doing evil on another. That's the evil of trying to undermine basic civil liberties and the evil of trying to coerce money from people at the same time as begging for it.