Every Poppy Counts

[mallosa]

I've just donated & downloaded my poppy to put in my window

https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/

[rockyfowler]

Pity they don`t spend all the donations on worthy cases (a lot is banked) like we all think https://www.theweek.co.uk/103991/milita ... ding-money

[SRD]

Charities, especially large ones with lots of responsibilities and employees, need to keep quite large reserves to see them through lean times. There used to be a very good M.S. charity, who relied mainly on voluntary workers but had a core of professionals to cover legal requirements, who funded research into the more esoteric ideas that became mainstream after their work was published. They always advertised that 90% of donations went to research and in their case this was true. Unfortunately, due to a retrospective decision by the Tax Office on legally required pension benefits, they found themselves owing several thousand pounds in back taxes and pension contributions, money they didn't have nor could raise in the short period given them (3 months)so they had to go bust and all their good work was lost. The Charity authorities blamed the Trustees for failing to maintain a sufficient reserve.
Military charities, and others like Oxfam, must be able to respond quickly in times of crisis, be it casualties from war or other emergencies like drought, floods or pandemic so need to keep large reserves so as to be able to get help to those areas affected as soon as possible. It's no good waiting 'til next November for your funds if the emergency is in January.

[rockyfowler]

It should say what happens to every penny we would all be clear then Hugh Milroy, chief executive of the charity Veterans Aid, said he was “shocked and saddened” to learn how much money is in charity reserves. “I’m at a loss to understand why those with vast reserves seem to attract more money,” he added.

[SRD]

Charity accounts are freely available from several sources so if you want to see exactly how money is spent/saved you can look them up. But these reports and accounts are weighty documents so are rarely covered in full by a media that is more interested in headlines and sales.
Another bone of contention is how much charities spend on advertising and fund raising, some say that money should be spent on the charities' aims but they say without that spend they don't raise so much money.
Another problem in the charity industry is that many charities, especially the smaller ones, duplicate what others are doing, the smaller charities respond with "Being smaller we can react more quickly to an individual's requirements". It can take large charities some while to get their structures into gear but when they do they help an awful lot more people.
Also there are the vanity charities, often set up by people who want to seem as if they're doing good whilst actually supporting something that will benefit themselves the most.
The bottom line is that if an individual wants to donate to a cause they should investigate it thoroughly and then choose where they think their money will do most good. if all they want to do is salve their conscience because someone's rattling a tin in front of them then it's best not to look at what's behind the tin.