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Charities, foundations, beggars

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Aimless:
Do you give money to charitable organisations, foundations, beggars or others who are in need?

Would you like to?

Regularly or sporadically?

Are there any that you particularly favour? Why?

Thrillho:
I have a few.

One is the Hoping Foundation, who I've not given to for a while but feed, clothe and educate Palestinian orphans if I remember rightly. I should have a re-read.

Any charity that is having a big gimmicked charity drive I tend to ignore because they will get shit from other people. The ice bucket challenge or the no-makeup selfie for example, I typically do nothing for because they get a huge influx in donations from the online campaigns.

I am most passionate about charities dedicated to the homeless problem because I feel we should give as much focus to problems within our own countries as outside of them.

However, beggars are a tricky subject because you never know where your money is going. As such I would typically give a beggar cigarettes when I was a smoker (bad for them, but they enjoy them and it helps keep their hunger at bay) or an actual item like a sandwich or a bottle of water.

The top of my list in the UK is the Big Life Company which produces a regional magazine called the Big Issue. I wrote for the Big Issue North briefly and still am in contact with their editor in case I wanted to sell articles to them. I will almost without fail buy a Big Issue if one is on offer and I have the change in my pocket. If I have too big a note for them to break I will usually buy them a food or drink item to get the change and give them that as well.

I am passionate about the Big Issue because the homeless people selling them have to buy the magazines they then sell and keep the revenue for themselves. As such I have no problem giving them money for the magazine - I get something out of it (an actually very good magazine although I am still biased in favour of the Northern one) and I know that at least SOME of their money is being used to help them out of their situation. Even if they are a drug addict or a drunk, I know that they are doing SOMETHING to help themselves. They also have ways of singling out the real sellers, namely the specific patches they sell at (easy to work out once you've lived somewhere for a little while) and the bibs they wear that show they are official. I try to patronise specific sellers that I know because there are rules they have to follow about locations and times and I like being able to help specific guys. I usually hope that if my seller of choice disappears he has probably got a job. This also helps teach them employment skills and customer service which should benefit them in finding jobs.

I will also usually give to an Alzheimers charity because my grandmother died from it and I know that unlike most diseases, it is that rare one which is actually past a certain point harder on the family than the victim of it; at a certain point my grandmother as a husk of herself, but that husk was the sweet woman she always was, just one that didn't recognise us, or even know that she'd forgotten anything.

I also, on a less charitable angle, set up Oxjam at my parents' church in about 2006 or so (largely out of boredom and so I had a way of gigging) that has run at least once a year ever since so I suppose you could argue that I'm personally responsible for a few grand that has gone to Oxfam. I'll still sometimes return to Nottingham to play the gigs.

Neko_Ali:
I am honestly been in the position to be the one in need of charity more often than to give it... But I still try when I can. I donate to food bank drives whenever possible, because quite often food banks were the only things that kept me fed and alive. I've given to homeless shelters and local charities that aid the homeless. March of Dimes, Toys for Tots and those places where you leave things for kids for Christmas in stores. I used to donate to Salvation Army till I found out what kinds of homophobic shits the leading cabal is. I prefer to give my support to smaller, local groups that I know are going to use most of what I give to help people. Instead of big charities where so much is eaten up by stuff like administration and advertisement costs.. if not outright lining people's pockets.

I have given to beggars occasionally, because I know what it's like to be on the street. But I've found more often than not that just backfires. Either they are 'professional beggers' who are scamming people with sob stories. A big problem in the area I live in now. A good number of those 'down on their luck can you give me a buck' guys pull down more money on an average day than I do, according to police reports. Other times you just get marked as an easy target and you can't walk down the street without being aggressively hit up for money. I'm talking not much short of being mugged. In one case I had two dollars. A begger was asking for money, and I was feeling good, so I gave him one of my dollars... He chased me for three blocks until I ducked into a restaurant and was wondering if I would need to call the police demanding I give him my other dollar.

The Seldom Killer:
I prefer to give things over money. I try to remember to buy extra animal food when shopping to give to rescue shelters. When I'm at the vets they have a drop box for the local cat shelter where we got our two beasts from so I buy the food the vet sells and donate there. It's the same vet that does all their work so we'll always use them knowing our continued business supports the work they do.
Food banks are also a biggie for me. They help stop people choosing between food and rent/heating/bills. A lot of people are borderline homeless across a lot of demographics and a foodbank as much as anything else will help keep people from the wrong side of the front door. Some local supermarkets also let them exchange over donations of some stuff for under donated essentials.
I won't give anything to a sob story beggar. I don't think I've ever heard a story I could believe. I challenged one once who spun me the sane money to travel to a nearby town tale three times in one week and suggested he could have walked there by now. Needless to say it didn't go down well. Being lied to and manipulated doesn't inspire me to give. Besides, money more often does harm than good. Hot food and drinks at least won't do much harm and humanise the interaction. I know of a couple of rough sleepers who read a lot so will offer old books to them from time to time.
I'll give money where its better for the charity though. I like to keep local though. Local homeless shelters, local conservation charities, local ex-service charities etc. Globalised charities have a bit of a tendancy to miss local needs.

Welu:
The only charity I give to currently and regularly, besides odd bits of change on the boxes at shops, is Guide Dogs UK. Reason is that I like dogs plus it's actually borderline what I can afford so giving to more would be tough on the bank account.

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