How do you choose?

A question about : How do you choose?

Which charities to support?

I want to make a regular donation to a charity, and have shortlisted it to two, both do good work, both seems to spend their money well, over 90% on charitable work. One is large and receives a lot of funding from the government etc, the other is smaller and relies almost entirely on private donations. The larger one obviously has a bigger impact.

I know that it is ultimately a personal choice, but I was wondering how other people think about these things?

Best answers:

• It's a matter of deciding what is important to you.
  For me I prefer to give to humans than animals, and I prefer to support local charities, medical charities, lifesaving charities, and young people charities.
  Also remember there are ways other than giving money to support charities.
  My charities I support are:
  GirlGuiding by giving my time
  Local hospices by supporting their charity shops in both donations and purchases
  and financially:
  Yorkshire air ambulance
  Help for Heroes
  Cancer research
  British Legion
  RNLB
  There is no reason why you have to narrow your choice down to one charity. Why not split between the 2
• I lost my mother to cancer years ago and because of this I have been volunteering and donating to Cancer Research for years.
  For many, it comes down to this I think A personal story.
  Apart from that I know about problems small charities face and how they lose out generally and I tend to lean towards supporting them/local charities.
  I also try to buy merchandise from their shops (most will have their own range).
  It can be difficult to decide but I suppose you can divide your support perhaps as suggested above
• I have a couple of "categories" that I want to donate in, but these two were from the same category. You're both right, though, I think I will give to both.
• Personally I support the MND Association, like the chaps above say, it has a personal connection for me (my grandfather had MND).
  If it was me in your shoes then I'd donate to the smaller charity. The bigger one might have greater reach, but you say that they already get government funding, and in my experience bigger charities often have bigger costs for things like admin, marketing etc.
  If you want to feel that your money is having a greater impact, go with the small one.
• I donate to 2 dog charities, the dogs trust and the last chance rescue centre. I think the dogs trust do a great job and promise never to put a healthy dog to sleep (something that the RSPCA sometimes do, so I stopped donating to them). I also donate to the Last Chance Rescue Centre who target and take dogs from councils that kill dogs after 7 days (that is all a council pound is legally obliged to do, even worse some don't feed the dog on the 7th day because they think that it is a waste of money).
  EDIT: I also used to also do volunteer work for various dog rescue centres, but when I got busy at work I had to stop.
• I tend to only donate to what a thinking person might call an innocent victim.
  In my world this is currently limited to children & animals.
  The major charities operating in these sectors are arguably the most profitable. Who wouldn't give their hard earned ЈЈЈ's when faced with a story of child neglect or animal sufferring?
  Sadly. The major charities operating in these areas are fully aware that this is where we want our Јmoney to go. Sadly the major charities operating in these areas are the ones that we really should NOT be wasting our Јmoney on.
  I don't know anyone who still donates to Children In Need & anyone who still believes that the RSPCA is all about the animals is no friend of mine.
  Be carefull where you chuck your money. Be very, very carefull.
  Be especially carefull about promoting where your Јmoney is chucked because none of these . . . so called charitable organisations . . . take kindly to be examined closely.
• I donate to charities that I have a personal connection with or feel have some local impact.
  Local hospice - financially and they are my chosen charity shop for donations
  Local cat charity - pet food donations - they helped us adopt our current mog who was a stray
  Local Food Bank - food donations
• I do the poppy lottery every month which goes to the RBL and that's a personal connection for me
  I have a guide dog puppy I sponsor called Harley. He has just graduated so I'll be getting puppy no 3 shortly OH had an issue with his eyesight a few years ago and we were told he might lose it that really woke me up to what the Guide Dogs do.
  Lastly I give to Battersea Dogs Home. One of of our dogs came from there a few years back and they medical bill along was huge! A lot of our animals are rescues and I feel like I'm helping other animals to gain the kind of life my lot have
• Unfortunately I've been put off many of the larger charities due to some of their marketing methods so personally I now mostly stick to local charities I can see doing good and those larger ones I have some personal connection with.
• The main charity the family are involved with is Parkinsons UK as my husband was diagnosed with young onset PD sixteen years ago.We support our local group with regular donations and our eldest son and daughter in law regularly compete in sponsored Triathlons and Marathons to raise both funds and awareness.
  Also support Macmillan,Scope and our local hospice as they have also touched our lives at some point.
• something that could (or has) helped my family - local area - cultural change
  eg-
  Diabetes UK
  cycling routes
  Clean water programmes
• I donate to charities which have helped family/friends. For example, Age UK does a great job in our local area and supported an elderly uncle to remain at home. Similar reason for Macmillan and Breast Cancer Care - my mum was thoroughly supported by both charities to get through her treatment.
  I stopped giving to one charity when one of its workers said "We've got so much money, we can't spend it fast enough!" If they've got so much money then I'm not going to give to them.
  So, it's all very personal.
• I tend to give to charities where there is a personal connection with something which has touched my own life.
  I tend not to give to animal charities as they are so popular, I normally look for the less 'photogenic' causes, on the basis that they need the support more
• Have a look here: OldToolie's post is of particular interest:
  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=3612519
• Thanks, Pluto. That was helpful. I ended up going with the small charity only. I was going to split my donation between the two, but then it turned out that the larger one had a minimum donation requirement, which I think is a bit of a cheek. It's not that much, only Ј5 a month, but I don't want to support someone who apparently thinks that they shouldn't be bothered with small donations. I understand that it costs money to process donations, but I prefer to give smaller donations to several different charities.
• From Babbawah:
  "I don't know anyone who still donates to Children In Need & anyone who still believes that the RSPCA is all about the animals is no friend of mine. Be carefull where you chuck your money. Be very, very carefull.
  Be especially carefull about promoting where your Јmoney is chucked because none of these . . . so called charitable organisations . . . take kindly to be examined closely."
  Quote:
• I give money to certain animal charities- some help the animals pure and simple and some help working animals in the third world like The Brooke. (where possible with Gift Aid so that they get more.) I also support the work of Christian Aid.
  I also make doggy duvets and sell them for assistance dog charities- these have included Canine Partners & Medical Detection Dogs because they harness the abilities of dogs to help people who are either disabled or have life threatening diseases.
  Currently I am fund raising for Dogs for the disabled because they train dogs to assist children.
  I donate items to the local hospice shop and give them Gift Aid. I also shop in charity shops.
  At Christmas I packed 6 shoe boxes for Link to Hope- which went to eastern europe for folk who have nothing
  I used to be an education volunteer for Blue Cross and took my dog into schools and youth groups talking about animal welfare.
  there are lots of ways of supporting a charity, I am pleased to do my bit.
  If you can't give money perhaps you can give something else?
• I'd like to quietly suggest that just because a charity receives government grants doesn't mean it's not worth supporting.
  Government and local authority funding nearly always has strings attached. Individuals CAN attach strings to their giving, but the unrestricted funding which comes in is really helpful: it means the charity can respond to situations which perhaps were unforeseen, or changing circumstances, or just do something because it's the right thing, rather than because the government of the day sees it as the right thing.