To Give Or Not To Give

[jennyjoan]

[Edited By The Ed To Remove Charity Names]

My lovely nephew and his wife ran a ball a few months ago for a charity. They managed to raise £17,000 between running marathons and the ball. However, £3,000 is missing and he can account for every single penny.

He has tortured the workers of the charity to find out where the £3,000 has gone. They loathe to see him now as he is determined to find out. They are quibbling with "Oh some of the money went to complementary tickets" - this and that. The blatant answer is they pocketed the money.

Now he has said he will never ever do anything more for the above charity.

The whole thing has made me very sceptical as to the charities I fund. How do you find this? I am also sad too.

[anneasquith]

conn, I wonder if you wish this post to remain. as the actual charity has been named,

[jennyjoan]

Anne take it off if you wish.

[Barmaid]

Can I also just redress the balance about charities having highly paid staff? Charities operate in an extremely competitive market. There are a huge number of charities but a finite amount of funds. Most (not all, I accept) charities pay significant heed to their administrative costs. Take for instance the area of legacies. The charity trustees have a personal liability to ensure that the charity receives its full entitlement. THerefore any charity with anything more than a mediocre legacy income needs to employ professional knowledgeable staff to ensure this - a good legacy department can add between 5-7% of the charity's legacy income to the baseline in terms of identifying missed tax concessions, identifying fraud (wholly charitable estates are 10x more likely to be the victims of fraud) etc. The pay rates simply do not compare with the private sector so the charities do extremely well to employ the staff they do who show such professionalism.

[Barmaid]

I've reported the post to the Ed and asked that he edits it to remove the name of the charity. That is all that is needed.

[anneasquith]

conn, I don't mind about the post, I just don't want you to get into any trouble.

[jennyjoan]

Yes that is a good idea from Barmaid. That is okay Anne - sure I am never out of trouble.

[anneasquith]

'' sure I am never out of trouble '' LOL.

[Peter Pedant]

Well done Jenny Joan, bad editing as far as I am concerned if the charity has questions to answer then they should be called to account...

Your script reads as tho £17 000 was given to the charity and only £14 000 is 'there'. The overheads cannot possibly to £3k. Running cost overheads shouldnt be more than 10% turn over

One has to more careful handling someone else's money that one does with ones own.

When I was a chmn - I sued one of the fund raisers for doing this. I submitted a forensic account and he was not able to. He went bankrupt in between judgement and my sending in the bailiffs.

Your nephew could complain direct to the Charity Commission and allege breach of trust - at least that will make him feel better. The CC are pretty c+ap to be honest....

[Peter Pedant]

Bar maid she has a point:
If the fella has given £17 000 and the pay-in entry is £14 000,
then there really is some explaining to be done.

I agree as eva we dont know all the facts....( and this is a third party report )

[Barmaid]

I don't dispute she has a point, but I think the nephew ought to take it up with the charity trustees as an opening gambit. I also think naming the charity and accusing workers of stealing the money is bang out of order until it has been looked at. Conne may be perfectly correct in her assumptions. ON the other hand she could be very wide of the mark.

First step is charity trustees.

[Peter Pedant]

sorry BM completely mis read the tenor of your contribution....

[royfromaus]

complementary tickets for what?

[Mamyalynne]

Complimentary tickets to the Charity Ball I imagine.

[Canary42]

/// has made me very sceptical as to the charities I fund. How do you find this? ///

Yes, I'm very sceptical about charities, and on several occasions have struck one off my list for what I consider wrong actions. I also write and tell them so.

[royfromaus]

But that would not change the final £17,000 final amount, Mamyalynne.

[Mamyalynne]

Of course it shouldn't and that is why JJ's Nephew needs to find the answers.

[boxtops]

Your nephew needs the Irish Charity Commissioner, conne.

[Peter Pedant]

absolutely royfromAus

if he has given 17k, then this should be recorded and the overheads entered under a different entry ( and perhaps a different account )

You cant just say all right I will enter 14k as I am knocking off 3k for overheads ( what overheads connected to the 17k for chrissakes ? )


stinko stinko and I am not even a book keeper.