Which charity do you support?

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PaulBags

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#879712 16-Aug-2013 18:23

Dratsab:
gehenna: I'll also be donating to Hospice from now on given the care they recently gave to my dad.

This seemed to be the primary motivator for people giving to the Hospice when I collected for them. BTW - for those who are not sure, as far as I am aware, all street collectors for all hospices are volunteers. I'm sure this is also the same for the majority of charities.

IHC pay commission, they actually advertise the positions as a job. Although you really can't live on it, as one of my old flatmates found out.

I would never give a cent to the SPCA, evil lying cat killing people who actually do nothing about animal abuse. I guess no-one here has actually tried to get their help, or even reads newspapers...

Would never give to the red cross either. They soaked up a bunch donations for Christchurch after the earthquakes and gave it out on terms that were almost arbitrary. And their figures were way off, they reported taking in X amount of money, then a month or two later said they spent an amount that was just ten percent of that and declared they had no money left. I'm surprised no journos ever looked into it. Dodgy as, and their first aid courses in schools are useless too, passed everyone in my class back in the day despite the fact half of us actually learnt nothing.

If I had any money to spare I would give to: The salvation army, they do alot for the community and were the ONLY organisation that bothered to check in on the east side of ChCh after the quakes (well, except for the time the army offered us a chemical toilet). And St John, they run the ambulances here in ChCh, and a month or two back I was reading that they're looking to cut lack on services due to a lack of funding; pretty scary really.
Oh and Save the Children sounds like it has noble goals, although I haven't really looked into them.

afe66

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#879729 16-Aug-2013 18:47

Fred Hollows Foundation receives monthly donation from me as well as the tax credit it generates.

Going blind is the disability that I fear most personaly so that's what I support. $25 to cure a persons cataract is a bargain.

A.

Geektastic

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#879846 16-Aug-2013 22:40

None on the whole.

On rare occasions I will buy products (usually books) from which the profits go to various charitable activities but I feel little need to donate otherwise.

It will soon be time for my annual conversation with the white ribbon chuggers about why they consider violence against women more worthy of their efforts than violence against men - a question I always ask them and to which they never have a satisfactory answer. Their usual response to accuse me of supporting violence against women, to which I reply that I do no such thing, I merely feel that the end of violence should be their aim and that the gender of the recipient of said violence is irrelevant.

sdav

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#879869 16-Aug-2013 23:04

PaulBags: I would never give a cent to the SPCA, evil lying cat killing people who actually do nothing about animal abuse. I guess no-one here has actually tried to get their help, or even reads newspapers...

I'll bite. They do nothing about animal abuse? Pretty big call.

PaulBags

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#879895 16-Aug-2013 23:52

sdav:
PaulBags: I would never give a cent to the SPCA, evil lying cat killing people who actually do nothing about animal abuse. I guess no-one here has actually tried to get their help, or even reads newspapers...

I'll bite. They do nothing about animal abuse? Pretty big call.

It's been my personal experience. Also the police (according to them) can't get involved unless something is happening right this second (ie it takes 2 minutes to find a working phone, by which time the neighbour has stopped beating their dog, therefore they can't do anything). The SPCA don't do anything, and after hours/on weekends can't do anything because all they operate is an ambulance service. They might refer you back to the police, but the police will tell you it's the SPCA's job.

Do you have experience in which they actually have helped stop animal abuse? What say you about their practise of taking cats pretending that they'll look after them instead of telling the people turning them in that, no, the money they give to feed the cat will instead go into the general fund, and the cat will be put down within the hour?

sdav

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#879902 17-Aug-2013 00:35

PaulBags:
sdav:
PaulBags: I would never give a cent to the SPCA, evil lying cat killing people who actually do nothing about animal abuse. I guess no-one here has actually tried to get their help, or even reads newspapers...

I'll bite. They do nothing about animal abuse? Pretty big call.

It's been my personal experience. Also the police (according to them) can't get involved unless something is happening right this second (ie it takes 2 minutes to find a working phone, by which time the neighbour has stopped beating their dog, therefore they can't do anything). The SPCA don't do anything, and after hours/on weekends can't do anything because all they operate is an ambulance service. They might refer you back to the police, but the police will tell you it's the SPCA's job.

Do you have experience in which they actually have helped stop animal abuse? What say you about their practise of taking cats pretending that they'll look after them instead of telling the people turning them in that, no, the money they give to feed the cat will instead go into the general fund, and the cat will be put down within the hour?

A work colleague previously worked for the council as an animal control officer. They take matters to court under the Animal Welfare Act. The SPCA will do the same and I think are assumed by other agencies the go to for that sort of thing so probably do a but of palming off. But the council, police and SPCA all have abilty to enforce the Act. Police and SPCA definitely.

With the police though I doubt they want to make it their core responsibilty i.e. have to take witness statements etc (they aren't just going to believe what you say remember) when there are other channels to use. They are stretched enough as it is but I'm sure they would attend if they could. I know if I was a cop I would rather follow something like that up then be writing traffic tickets or dealing with drunks!

To paint an organisation (that does a pretty good job overall) as doing nothing is a bit harsh just from one frustrating experience! Are you sure the SPCA didn't do anything at all? That would surprise me that they would not follow up on something like that.

I don't know anything about the cat thing other than what you just wrote so I don't have an opinion on that.

Hammerer

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#879999 17-Aug-2013 11:43

afe66: Fred Hollows Foundation receives monthly donation from me as well as the tax credit it generates.
... $25 to cure a persons cataract is a bargain.

Agree. For value for money it is hard to beat removing cataracts. However, medicating leprosy is an even better bargain - even before Novartis decided to provide the multi-drug treatment for free. But in both cases there are more substantial support costs in locating, supporting and rehabilitating people.

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PaulBags

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#880044 17-Aug-2013 12:26

sdav: To paint an organisation (that does a pretty good job overall) as doing nothing is a bit harsh just from one frustrating experience! Are you sure the SPCA didn't do anything at all? That would surprise me that they would not follow up on something like that.

I don't know anything about the cat thing other than what you just wrote so I don't have an opinion on that.

Not just frustrating but actively distressing. We had to listen to the whumps and that dog screaming several times over several months. We only managed to get dog control (the SPCA apparently just sends dog control, when they're not busy telling you they don't deal with animal abuse) to come out once (about the beatings, they did come out for some other things), they couldn't find any obvious injuries but never got the dog checked by a vet. They said the owner had admitted to hitting the dog with a dog lead. The dog control officer couldn't even tell me what colour the lead was, after telling me he saw it. It was actually a thick green rope, too thick for a dog lead, with a large metal thing on the end - I damn well saw it happen. It was NOT the dogs normal lead, which was thin red leather/chain. The officer that the description of the object used from the complaint, but I guess he didn't bother asking to see it. Dog control did help them tidy up their fence so the dog couldn't jump over it, they also (after multiple complaints that included the lack of any shelter for the dog) managed to get them to buy a dog kennel; but only after the dog had been left in the pouring rain for 12-16 hours without any shelter. (or even food, as far as we could tell).

Not once during any of this did anyone in authority enforce the legislation and require these people to actually get their dog registered (dog control told us themselves that it wasn't registered). Eventually it was hit by a car, because they left their gates open one too many times. It ran off at the time but we assume it's dead since they now they have another dog. I don't know if they're looking after it better or if they just got it debarked but we never hear and rarely see this one.

Any responsible breeder would check up on the welfare of their animals, instruct owners on proper care, ensure animals are registered, etc. To me this makes a strong case for all breeders to be registered as such and all non-breederes to be required to have their animals desexed, but then what would that help when the authorities but bother to require mandatory registration?

I can't find the article on the cat thing, but there were a couple of of people with the same experience as well as multiple comments from others with similar stories. I did find this article, but given the cats behaviour I'm somewhat sympathetic to the SPCAs side of that case.

Batman

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#891759 8-Sep-2013 20:16

http://www.orphansaidinternational.org/

am told their mission is to rescue as many cot babies from romania

(orphans who are put in cots 23hrs+ a day in that part of the world ... so sad!)

DarthKermit

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#891869 9-Sep-2013 08:20

The SPCA sometimes, plus the local hospice shop.

I don't support any charities that want me to sign up for regular direct debits, as seems to be a common tactic now.

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JimmyH

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#892304 9-Sep-2013 18:41

I'm getting more selective. Generally ones where I am happy the cause is a good one, and that the charity is reputable and will spend the money well. Usually via street appeals, and I don't sign up for the direct debit programmes.

The appeals I always support are any of the hospices, the Cancer Society, poppy day (we owe those guys big time), the Free Ambulance and the City Mission etc.

I don't donate to beggars, fundraisers for sports trips, or people who cold call me asking for money (mainly because, apart from it being annoying, I believe much of the money is creamed off by the marketing companies doing it).

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