I’m skeptical of “charities”. Seems like the heads of them always make huge salaries and very little goes to the ones it is being collected for.
Years ago I would always give to the United Way at work. Then I read a news story about the head of the U.S. United Way flying around first class on the Concorde SST airliner and setting up a penthouse for his girlfriend (he was married) all using United Way funds. This happened in the late ‘80s or early ‘90s. After that, I only charity give to my church.
There are a number of good charities, but certainly more bad ones. We give at church and also support a number of ministries and individual missionaries.
I used to do a charity bike tour for Multiple Sclerosis.
When I found out that almost 90% of the money raised went to their mission and to research and patients, I redouble my efforts.
I think over the years I raised about $20,000. But I alsways check when I’m supporting a charity
Yes, the top dogs get good bucks.
I now give to St. Jude's Hospital and thank God for the good health of my children.
Yep. 25 years ago I stopped giving to the United Way when I learned that the chairman of the Nashville chapter was making close to $360k per year with about another $100k in benefits.
If you want to give to a charity that doesn’t skim off a huge percentage in overhead, give to the Salvation Army.
That was Mr. Aramony (spelling may be off). The hospital I worked at (for 4.34 per hour) wanted everyone to chip in for United Way. I refused. Then that scandal broke.
I think the Salvation Army has an excellent pass through rate, but I am on board with you from what I have seen in other charities since the United Way problems broke.
I'm thinking mid 90s was when the United Way scandal blew. My company did an annual drive for them and they pressured us pretty hard to "volunteer" weekly pay deductions to them. To the point where low level guys would get calls from their VPs asking why they don't want to contribute. You felt like it was a "do it or else" situation. So we contributed. I didn't mind so much, I figured the United Way did a lot of good. Then that scandal hit.
I found out that you could, when you signed up to contribute, decide how the funds would be allocated. Default was 100% United Way. I redirected it all to several local hospices and some other local charities I was personally familiar with. Never gave another dime to the United Way.