Sometimes other people just say it better!!

“Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it.”
John D. Rockefeller

“Charity should begin at home, but should not stay there.”
Phillips Brooks

“If you haven’t got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.”
Bob Hope

I was browsing some tips over at Charity Navigator and I found this one that I thought was very important:

Find a Charity That Directly Accepts Car Donations
If at all possible, avoid the for-profit intermediary organizations that advertise so pervasively to handle your car donations. When you work with one of these organizations, they keep the vast majority of the dollars created from your donation. Even the most reputable of the agencies that handle these transactions keep nearly 50% of the car’s value for their troubles (other, less scrupulous entities keep 90%, or even more). If you can find a charity that handles the transaction themselves, they can keep 100% of their profits. It’s possible that the charities you already support have a car-donation program that you don’t know about. Check with them first.

If your charity wants someone to start a charity car program you should definitely use a company that give you 100% of the proceeds like ours does.

In the UK the reccesion has hit quite hard and it seems charities are feeling some of that pressure.  Donations made to the UK’s 170,000 charities have dropped by 11 percent to £9.9bn (£1.3bn in real-terms) according to UK Giving 2009, published today by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO).

In what is the most comprehensive research into UK charitable giving habits, the survey of 3,316 UK adults, carried out in June and October 2008 and February 2009 shows that the median amount donated per month was £10 per person in 2008/09, a decrease of £1 on the previous year.

Whilst the economic downturn has affected the total amount given there has only been a two per cent fall in the number of adults in the UK who donate to a charity each month, to 54 percent. This equates to 774,000 fewer people giving.

Medical research (20 percent), hospitals and hospices (15 percent) and children and young people (14 percent) are the most popular causes. Cash remains the most common method of giving with nearly half of donors (48%) giving cash and around a third of donors (31 percent) giving via direct debit.

Every year it is estimated that around £750m of Gift Aid goes unclaimed (2) on donations. UK Giving found that only four in ten donors Gift Aided their donations. Stuart Etherington, CEO, NCVO said: “Inevitably the recession is having an effect on charities, and on the levels of giving. But it would be wrong to predict the collapse of the sector because of the current climate.

“It is reassuring to know that the public are continuing to support the vital work that voluntary and community organisations do in local communities across the country. We would like to thank people for their on-going generosity.”

Commenting on the research, CAF Chief Executive John Low, added: “Even though there are welcome signs the recession is technically ending, the economic downturn is still severely impacting charities, many of whom have had to cut jobs while facing increased demand for their services.

Regardless of the challenges, UK residents are still donating a healthy amount to charities, keep up the good work!

With the upcoming release of that Woody Harrelson zombie movie it looks like everyone is taking advantage!