Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime

Charities

This probably belongs on the RANT thread but every day I am confronted by the affectionately labelled 'Chuggers' outside the Omni Centre in Edinburgh. They are usually students or kids looking to make a few quid signing up folk to charity DDM commitments.

I have no issue with this as such as they are only trying to make some money - what I do have issue is the amount of money the charities spend on 'senior staff.'

Oxfam - one of the regular charities with chuggers - chief exec £134k, 11 other staff earn over £100k and 96 other staff earn more than £60k.

Wateraid (give £2 per month for clean water) - Chief exec £128k, 18 other staff on over £100k and 26 others on more than £60k.

National Trust - Chief Exec - eye watering £179k, plus 21 others on over £100k and 40 staff on £60k plus.

RSPCA - Chief exec £140k, 18 others earn over £60k - the list goes ON and ON...

I have no doubt that these charities do a lot of good world wide but most of the good work seems to be undertaken by poorly paid overseas workers or volunteers. I don;t doubt that organising a charity is a full time job -  but at salaries equivalent or greater than the prime ministers? Can it really be harder to run a charity than a country - or is this a gravy train run by the elite.

If you look at the number of trustee/roles advertised in 2018 it was less than 8%, most were filled by internal promotions or offered to 'suitable candidates' often relatives or connections with senor staff already in situ. The other thing, is the number of senior charity figures who come from the wealthy classes is dis-proportionate when compared the general population and those related to MP's (sometimes distant relatives) is quite marked. 

It is my opinion that these organisations need investigated - there are probably thousands of more than capable people out there who would undertake these roles for a fraction of the salaries being paid, and do a better job. The  Oxfam Chugger sales pitch - '£10 per month could help a poor Kenyan girl get an education.'

If your chief exec took a 70% pay cut to bring it in line with what he/she should be being paid then 781 poor Kenyan girls could get an education. Sadly I don't contribute to any national charities anymore. We give to some local hospices etc where we can see where the money is going.

Even the Cat Protection leaders salary is over £120k - I love cats (and dogs) But it doesn't take that amount of money to sort out a load of moggies, I'm sorry. Rant over...

Comments

  • If your figures are accurate, Datco, then it is an outrage. We used to have a standing order with Oxfam years ago but when we moved to Fiji we stopped because it was much more satisfying to help people locally. As well as funding the education of one of our gardener's children, we also helped various locals along the way and we belonged to Rotary. 
    In Ireland one of our friends runs an independent charity shop and every year she and her volunteers decide where to allocate the profits - often locally. I always give her my charity shop donations.
  • Sadly I agree. The salaries being paid are much too high. 
  • Those are staggering amounts!
  • For the senior staff, if correct - however I know someone very clever who works in a senior post for Christian Aid who gets paid peanuts. Really peanuts. My daughter works for a charity and gets paid peanuts. i almost earned more than her in 1980. 
  • And some people work in charity shops and don't get paid even a penny. 
Sign In or Register to comment.