| Non-motoring > Charities ? | Miscellaneous |
| Thread Author: Old Navy | Replies: 17 |
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 14:10
Charities ? - Old Navy
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| After Age UK is alleged to have had a deal with EON I read today that they have been accused of making £21 million from selling insurance. Should these businesses be allowed to call themselves charities and have charitable status.? |
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 14:22
Charities ? - Pat
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No, they shouldn't. So many people assume because they are dealing with a charity then the advice given will be impartial and the best they can get. It used to be just that but sadly, is no more. Pat |
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 14:26
Charities ? - Bromptonaut
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>> After Age UK is alleged to have had a deal with EON I read today >> that they have been accused of making £21 million from selling insurance. Should these businesses >> be allowed to call themselves charities and have charitable status.? On basic question, if the profit goes to further the organisations charitable objectives then yes. Why not? Charities do all sorts of stuff on a 'for profit' basis including provision of public services. More of a problem if they're selling stuff and not giving the best deals, ass alleged with Age UK/EON but that's reputation issue for charity. |
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 14:30
Charities ? - Fursty Ferret
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SQ 4 LB >> More of a problem if they're selling stuff and not giving the best deals, ass >> alleged with Age UK/EON but that's reputation issue for charity. >> They're paying their chief executive ~£200,000 (plus final salary pension etc), as do many other large "charities". I would certainly push for Age UK to lose their charitable status based on what's happened (particularly equity release etc which they should be campaigning AGAINST). Last edited by: VxFan on Fri 5 Feb 16 at 16:56
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 14:40
Charities ? - Roger.
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>> I would certainly push for Age UK to lose their charitable status based on what's >> happened (particularly equity release etc which they should be campaigning AGAINST). Agree wholeheartedly. Most, if not all, equity release schemes are a scandalous con akin, in their field, to payday lenders with their outrageous APRs. Last edited by: Roger. on Fri 5 Feb 16 at 14:41
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 14:30
Charities ? - Old Navy
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>>if the profit goes to further the organisations charitable objectives then yes. >> That is a very big If. I wonder how much goes in payroll and bonuses?. I despair when I see little old ladies handing over money to can rattlers on the street and in shopping centers. I also wonder how much the can rattlers cut is. Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 5 Feb 16 at 14:33
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 14:43
Charities ? - Roger.
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| BBC Children In Need is reported to have many millions in unspent cash sitting in bank accounts, rather than being spent for the intended beneficiaries. |
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 15:11
Charities ? - Mapmaker
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Along with charities innumerable. It is, in my view, an absolute scandal that charities are allowed to sit on cash that represents many years' spending. It's different when that value represents the endowment that funds the charity's spending, but often the cash is just sitting there waiting to be spent 'in the future'. Particularly when the charities are the playthings of rich men. More money than you know what to do with? Then gift aid all your earnings to charity. You pay no tax. The charity is one set up by you, which gives money to things you enjoy doing. Over a VERY LONG period of time. So it's years and years before the country gets back Large donations to the Royal Opera House, for instance. Then you get your knighthood. And you've paid no tax, and yet it's just as much fun (rather more, IMO) a way to spend your money as by buying a football club. |
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 15:18
Charities ? - bathtub tom
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I've been an unpaid volunteer for several charities (I'm one now) and once was a paid worker. The greed of those being paid has far exceeded the greed of volunteers IME. I've promptly left whenever I've come across it. |
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 15:20
Charities ? - Bobby
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There is a huge difference between a small local charity and a national and lots of differences in between. So on a local level you may have say a Youth club or something like that, no one is paid, they do fundraising activities to buy eqpt or a trip somewhere or whatever. At the other end of the scale you may have a multi million pound business that needs to comply with the majority of the same laws as everyone else - so health & safety, insurance, investment strategies, workers rights, holiday pay, sick pay etc etc etc. You may have hundreds of staff - so should the person at the top of the tree take all the same legal responsibilities as a PLC CEO but not be paid? And if the aim of that charity is to double their income, should the CEO be paid different to a PLC CEO tasked with doubling their income? Similarly for fundraising, you need to speculate to accumulate so if you pay someone commission only to sign up a donator, then the charity is gaining money that it wouldn't otherwise have got. You could say the same about any other method of securing those monies - so is the commission any different from the costs for the advert in the paper, the text a donation service, the justgiving cost etc. What about the broadband or the telephone line? The fees the credit card company take? (having said that I detest the guys you see in Glasgow with their clipboards and a different charity jacket on every day) What local charities do have that the nationals don't is a better pool of volunteers because more often than not there is an emotional tie to it. So, for example, you may well know where your local hospice is, you may know someone who has used the services and therefore offer your time to them as a "thank you" But would you be able to name somewhere local that benefited from Cancer Research or Age Concern money? So therefore local charities usually have a higher income/profit ratio than nationals. I agree that there are many charities who on the face of it have got so big they have forgotten their roots or what they were formed for and that is sad. Many are now political lobbying, spending money on fighting their own aims. And of course, you then go full circle and say that many of these charities get Government funding to provide services that should really be delivered by the NHS or local councils in the first place! |
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 15:24
Charities ? - Zero
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>> At the other end of the scale you may have a multi million pound business >> that needs to comply with the majority of the same laws as everyone else - >> so health & safety, insurance, investment strategies, workers rights, holiday pay, sick pay etc etc >> etc. You may have hundreds of staff - so should the person at the top >> of the tree take all the same legal responsibilities as a PLC CEO but not >> be paid? And if the aim of that charity is to double their income, should >> the CEO be paid different to a PLC CEO tasked with doubling their income? If its a business, it should pay tax, |
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 15:35
Charities ? - Bobby
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>>If its a business, it should pay tax But the current set up is you can pay tax free donations to charities ie gift aid. That's in effect what the charities are doing, donating all their profit to charity so in effect have no taxable income. Of course, they are still paying plenty of NI, income tax etc. Would be interesting to see what would happen if a govt was to act on this, it would probably end up costing the govt more! So where you get the argument from some that if you increase income tax rates, the income may be less because higher earners will go offshore etc, if they started taxing charities then many of these charities would then need to charge local and national government more for the services that they provide for them in the first place! |
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 17:04
Charities ? - Zero
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>> >>If its a business, it should pay tax >> >> But the current set up is you can pay tax free donations to charities ie >> gift aid. That's in effect what the charities are doing, donating all their profit to >> charity so in effect have no taxable income. >> >> Of course, they are still paying plenty of NI, income tax etc. >> >> Would be interesting to see what would happen if a govt was to act on >> this, it would probably end up costing the govt more! Ok so what about my local charity shop, that sells donations, and also buys stuff in and sells at a profit without paying taxes? The same charity shop that is also staffed by volunteers, so not paying wages or ni. |
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 18:47
Charities ? - Bobby
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>>and sells at a profit without paying taxes? Pretty sure they will pay VAT on the goods they buy. Possibly also on their rent. Be paying whatever the tax is on their utilities. |
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 17:11
Charities ? - Mapmaker
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Bobby:>>And of course, you then go full circle and say that many of these charities get Government >>funding to provide services that should really be delivered by the NHS or local councils in the >>first place! But it is being delivered by the state. It is just outsourcing the work to a charity, and paying the charity. That sort of thing is delivered by charities that have to tender every couple of years to do the work. When one charity loses the work and another gets it, then the staff TUPE over, and the first charity is closed down and the back office staff lose their jobs, and the new charity has to recruit new back office staff. Great. But leave it to state employees and then the waste is far more extraordinary. I've no idea what the solution is. But then you watch films of the work done by the Works Departments of local councils before the war and think "why isn't it still done like that?" Last edited by: Mapmaker on Fri 5 Feb 16 at 17:11
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 15:18
Charities ? - Bromptonaut
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>> That is a very big If. I wonder how much goes in payroll and bonuses?. I despair when people seem to think those qualified to run a complex UK wide business with multiple aspects will do it on the cheap 'cos the business is a charity. |
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New Fri 5 Feb 16 15:26
Charities ? - Old Navy
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>> I despair when people seem to think those qualified to run a complex UK wide >> business with multiple aspects will do it on the cheap 'cos the business is a >> charity. >> You are confusing business and charity. Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 5 Feb 16 at 15:27
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New Sat 6 Feb 16 13:23
Charities ? - Bromptonaut
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>> You are confusing business and charity. The confusion is entirely on the part of Zero and yourself. Although there is an overarching national body Citizens Advice is a federation of local charities. The small CA I work for has over 20 paid staff and at least as many volunteers across two sites. Funding needs constant attention to both grant providers - Local Authorities, Lottery, other charities such as Macmillan etc and contracts for specific services. The latter include outreach advice, Pensionwise*, Energy advice and doing social tariff assessments for a major utility company. People with skills to manage that lot don't come in at min wage and a bit!! *www.pensionwise.gov.uk/ |
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