Hello,
Is someone aware of 'effective' charities in Australia ? Which charities have the most amount of monies going to the needy (children/nutrition/education/elderly) instead of their administration and employee salaries ? Any personal experiences ?
Cheers,
He/she never said that, or even implied it really.
There are many charities that spend the majority of their funds on administration, and there are others that spend less than 10%. This is important.
It's misleading syntax. The title and post suggest that only 'genuine' charities provide the 'most money' to the needy, which if you take to its logical conclusion, suggests those which do not, aren't.
Agree to both. Some people may misread it. Changed title.
I regularly donate to "Cash for Beer" by the Altomic Foundation. 100% of monies goes directly to the purchase of beer to the person who needs it most.
I did the same for AussieB foundation till I saw there are people who are in real need and that I could cut down on some of my beer for some kid to get nourishing food - or even some help with school expenses. I really wish and hope you and other self donating members can do a little bit for the lesser fortunate.
The 'effective altruism' movement is what you're looking for. The Australian site is https://effectivealtruism.org.au/
See also http://www.givewell.org/ and https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/ (created by Australian Peter Singer)
Good on you for researching rather than appealing to emotion.
Since this is OzBargain, it's worth mentioning that only some of the charities recommended by Peter Singer are tax deductible in Australia:
Fred Hollows
Oxfam
Against Malaria Foundation
And others via Effective Altruism
The Great Utilitarian (before moving to Japan I was doing a post grad ethics course at the Monash Centre for Bio-Ethics which was established by Peter Singer)
The Australian site is https://effectivealtruism.org.au/
I read that as, "The Australian" (owned by Rupert Murdoch and his stooges) website is effective altruism.
Granted the ops title sounds like an aca/today tonight bait headline. However aussieb makes a good point. Why do these charities take so much slice of the pie? Is there a better way to perhaps streamline operations so more percentage of the donations get to their intended recipients?
the school of st judes. it was on 60mins lastnight. maybe a worthwhile place to donate to.
You have to take a lot more into consideration than just administration costs.
A cancer charity that pays scientists to conduct research will have a significant wages bill
A cancer charity that uses volunteers to deliver meals may pay almost no overhead.
There is a need for both.
Sometimes 'streamlining' comes by paying for some things. Volunteers are sometimes unskilled, unreliable or even unscrupulous. If you pay someone $50,000/ year to do tasks that could be done by volunteers, is that a waste if they do it significantly faster and better? If the task is stuffing envelopes yeah that is a waste. If the task is processing invoices so the charity gets things done, or the task requires skills or a licence like nursing or counselling probably not. You can't get enough volunteers with some skill sets. You can't trust volunteers with some things.
There are some dodgy charities out there but it is too simple to think administration = bad
PwC used to run the 'transparency awards', that judged charities by how well they reported where their money came from and what it was spent on.
http://www.pwc.com.au/corporate-responsibility/transparency-…
I think it is a real pity they stopped. If you donate money you do deserve a very public accounting of how it was spent.
If a charity is public about what their employees earn and why they are employed, i would choose them any day over one that may say they spend 5% less on wages but is secretive about who earns that money or why.
This is true.
The Australia Cancer Council just donated over $10 million to a research institute last year. Research institutes struggle with money and the wages they pay their researchers are well below the international standard. Society regards celebrities and bankers as more valuable than researchers, so the wages of researchers aren't as high as you think.
… and then when they find the cure, it is sold to a pharma who makes mega bucks. Rightly so. As a country we need to change our perspectives and priorities - but that's just my thinking.
As an addendum, this Australian website tries to help build a list of non-dodgy charities to consider donating to
Smaller, community based charities do great work. Ask your local council.
Change the title. Just because a charity pays its employees doesn't mean it's not 'genuine.'