Top ten worst charities to donate to9/28/2023 ![]() ![]() Only after you have reviewed their website and you don’t have the answer then ask questions. If a charity has its information on its website and is trying to be transparent about what it does, WITHOUT YOU HAVING TO ASK QUESTIONS, then that is a good sign. If every donor asks lots of questions of a charity the charity would spend 90% of their time answering questions and not directly doing their mission. They are usually quite easy to find using Google. People say if you have any questions just ask those questions of the charity – I disagree – in this day and age in most cases the best way to find out about a charity is to look at its website. Spend some time at a charity and you will not only contribute to a good cause but you will get the true inside scoop.Ĩ. Volunteer with a charity – people want simple answers – they are busy, burdened with obligations etc – they want to know if this charity is “good” – but there is no substitute for volunteering. Often these gifts-in-kind are given inflated values which may make the charity look a lot better than it really is.ħ. Do you want charities spending 50% of their budget on accounting fees – an idea that most accountants don’t even want to suggest!Ħ. Gifts-in-kind Be cautious with charities whose revenue or receipted revenue is largely based on gifts-in-kind such as pharmaceuticals, courseware, etc. For a charity to spend $2,000-5,000 or more for audited financial statement when for example they have $10,000 in revenue is hardly a great way to spend charitable funds. There was a comment that people should not donate to charities unless they have audited financial statements – that is a ridiculous statement – most Canadian charities have income under $100,000 per year. Also they rarely take into account volunteers – the competitive advantage of the charitable sector. unfortunately a financial statement of a charity does not tell you whether the charity is successful in its mission. While financial statements in business give you a better idea of whether a business is “profitable” etc. When you rely exclusively on financial numbers and ratios you get interesting results like some of the “best” charities are in fact charity scams. Look at financial information on the T3010 – it tells you a lot about a charity and it is an important document – but frankly it only gives you a small part of the picture – and it is often a very misleading picture. Charities should endeavour to use volunteers as best they can but not everything can or should always be done by volunteers.ĥ. Some volunteers do fantastic work but expecting that all charitable services will be delivered by volunteers is not helpful. Would you like to be treated in a hospital that only has volunteers? Did you get your university education from a “volunteer” professor? Would you want your troubled child to be counseled and treated exclusively by volunteers? Volunteers can be great and can provide charities that use them with a competitive advantage in delivering services. The belief that all volunteer charities are best – often fails to take into account the complexity of some of the issues that charities today have to deal with. Some are all volunteer and some have lots of staff – neither is better per se. Other charities are living day to day and don’t even have a reserve at all which may be an indication of problems with financial management or long-term sustainability.Ĥ. Some charities have huge endowments or reserves and frankly don’t need your money that badly and may not spend it for years, while others desperately need your funds and will spend them quickly. ![]() If you pick a bad charity – little likelihood that your funds will be well spent effectively.ģ. Some are effective, efficient, focused, reliable and successful. ![]() What do you care about? How do you think that your money can have the greatest positive impact? Not everyone is going to have the same ideas, concerns or interests.Ģ. If you live in Vancouver you may be concerned with Vancouver, not Toronto. If you care about children starving that may be what interests you. If you care about the opera you may want to support an opera. What charities are deserving of support is a value ladened decision – anyone who says you can crunch numbers and determine which charities are “A+” or “C-” are selling you a bill of goods. On this page we suggest about many different considerations, some of which may be useful, and others not, in deciding on which charities are deserving of your support.ġ. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |