Monday, 29 January 2018

Charities No Longer Seen As A Saving Grace

In times of adversity and disaster, people can’t always rely on themselves to provide for their needs. When a tragedy is so disastrous, the government often has to intervene and take charge and even third-parties like charitable groups and institutions pitch in to provide support. Many of these charities have evolved to become household names since they are usually the first to respond to disasters like the Red Cross but most are actually low-key and support civic groups and medical causes. For years, the citizens have looked up to them because they have saved many individuals and even communities from countless tragedies and helped them start anew and rebuild their lives.

However, there are many stories coming out now about the luxuries life led by the people who run these charitable organizations. When you are running a non-profit organization and most, if not all, of the money coming in, is coming from the generosity of others, then why do these people spend it as if it is theirs and not directly give this money to those who are in dire need of help. You don’t even have to look far to see poverty and suffering because they are present in every community even in a progressive nation like the United States. More and more people, especially the donors, are realizing how affluent the lifestyle is of these people running popular charities that they should be double-checked to see if the money given to them is spent as it should: for the poor and the needy.

The general public are distrustful of charities and feel salaries in the sector are too high, new research indicates.

A survey of 1,000 people completed as part of the Charities 2037 report found that trust in charities among the sample was less than a third, while over 80 per cent of respondents felt charities need to be more transparent in their financial affairs.

The findings, which were compiled by Ámarach Research on behalf of the Charities Institute Ireland (CII), point to there being “no evidence of a trust recovery” in charities following a succession of pay-related scandals over recent years.

Exactly 60 per cent of those surveyed either strongly agreed or slightly agreed with the statement “wages in the charity sector are too high”.

(Via: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/people-don-t-trust-charities-and-feel-salaries-are-too-high-1.3269176)

If you are a donor and you found out the charities you gave money to are benefitting more from the money given to them than the intended recipients, how would you feel? You sacrifice some of your wants in order to be able to share some of your blessings and somehow make a positive difference in this world. Citizens in Ireland have put the pieces together and they are now speaking up, hopeful that transparency is something that most charities will start practicing to clear up any doubts the public may have on them.

It also found that 83% of people think charities will have to be more transparent about their spending, while 60% said wages in the charity sector are too high.

About two-thirds of respondents, 64%, say there are too many charities with similar functions and roughly the same proportion (68%) say such charities should merge.

Broadly, the same share of those interviewed (68%) think charities should hire the best professionals available.

However, only 41% feel that charities should pay competitive salaries for these professionals, while 64% of people believe most of the work carried out by charities should be done by volunteers.

(Via: https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2017/1026/915327-charities/)

The reason charities exist is to give and uplift other people's lives, which is why it does not feel right to see the very people running these organizations living the life of the rich and the famous because the money can be put to good use where many in need can possibly benefit from and not just a few. Some even believe that volunteers should be running charities and not paid employees because it loses the very essence of charitable acts that started out to be a voluntary gesture in response to seeing the suffering of others. How can they still save other people from their suffering if they are too busy enjoying the perks that money brings and forgetting why their organization exists in the first place. You can’t blame the masses if they are having second thoughts now in giving when they can see their donations being squandered away by those who do not deserve help.

Charities No Longer Seen As A Saving Grace was first published on BrandInfiltration.com



source https://www.brandinfiltration.com/charities-no-longer-seen-as-a-saving-grace/

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