•Unwanted animals
•Victims of disaster
Some ways charities help:
•Building facilities that meet the needs of the cause
•Empowering people to change their lives for the better
•Employing professionals, well trained staff
•Organising volunteers
•Providing products & services
•Providing services & care that no one else can provide
•Raising money
•Researching cures & treatments for serious illnesses
•Running campaigns
•Speaking out for people
So how do charities make a difference? In 2001 people in the United Kingdom gave £6.7billion to charity. That is more money than many poor nations have to run their whole country. However, this does not solve all the problems of the world. So some would say, why bother trying? On the other hand another way of thinking about it is - just how bad would the world be without that money helping out? The government donates money to the charities from us, the taxpayer and for many people they like to know where their money is going. Many charities are involved in improving the lives of people around the globe. There are, however always lots of cynical people who knock charities especially if the money is not spent in our country, believing that ‘charity begins at home’. Many charities in the United Kingdom do help the local people from homelessness to cancer relief, but recently international aid - helping others in different countries is one of the most hotly debated areas in the voluntary sector.
The aid agencies actions and their attachment or lack of it from governments are all under scrutiny. International aid agencies attract more donations than any other charitable cause bringing in £486 million in 2001-02. This beats donations for cancer, children and animal charities.
So how do charities use their money? Charities usually need money for three things. Firstly, the largest part of any donation goes to the cause or group for which it was
given (usually around 80%) this will pay for the people, food, medicines or equipment to help the cause. Specialised charity workers make sure that that money given turns into the best possible support for those in need. A second proportion of a donation (usually between 10 -15%) will help keep the charities fundraising department going. This is the side of the charity that we see so people get the impression that charities are always asking for money. Of course, they are, but not for themselves, but for those that they serve. This could be perceived by many to be where money should be donated to sort out the problems in our own country before spending the money on other problems in other countries. The third amount of money (between 1% and 5%) goes to keep the charity working efficiently as a business, paying for administrative staff like accountants and ICT support.
One of the challenges for some of Britain’s big named charities is dealing with the controversial conflicts such as the recent war in Iraq. Agencies have the difficulty of distancing themselves from the US and British forces in the eyes of the Iraqis. When the Red Cross in Baghdad was attacked it threw up questions of whether agencies could and should stay in countries other than our own. If they stayed some felt it increased the perception that they were connected with the coalition war effort. Another problem aid agencies have is how to raise public awareness and raise money to tackle situations in other countries before they become a severe crisis. The recent southern Africa crisis appeal saw British charities attempt to avoid a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe, rather than react to one. However this caused some criticism for some charities for overstating the problem and using the situation to attract as much money as possible. This again gives rise to the argument that if charities do well in raising money shouldn’t it be used to sort out more of our own countries problems?
These are five examples of international aid agencies:
•Band Aid
•Christian Aid
•Comic Relief
•Live Aid
•Oxfam
Oxfam - currently doing emergency work in 40 other countries. When an emergency response is required it has a pool of specialist staff and a store of life-saving equipment worth £1.7 million which can be sent anywhere in the world within days.
Band Aid - in 1984 a television journalist called Michael Buerk brought to the world’s attention the full-scale of a famine that was happening in Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries. The television screened pictures of people suffering through starvation, children dying on screen that profoundly shocked the nation. A rock musician called Bob Geldof, the lead singer in a band called ‘The Boomtown Rats’ was so deeply upset by what he saw that he decided something had to be done to raise awareness of world inequalities and to help relief hunger and poverty in Ethiopia. He put together a large group of pop stars who worked free to record a single. ‘Band Aid’ was born and from then on nobody could pretend they knew nothing about the famine in Africa. Originally Geldof hoped to raise £72 thousand for charities from sales of the single, this estimate was exceeded almost immediately as the record went on sale. It became the best selling record ever and raised over £8 million worldwide. The money went to fund projects in many other countries in Africa as well as Ethiopia.
Did Band Aid solve the problem and actually feed the world? Clearly not, as it is estimated that there are still around one billion people in the world including the United Kingdom who face poverty and chronic hunger. Many feel that it is the governments job to feed the mouths of their own country and that if they concentrated on preventing war which causes many of these conditions money could then be spent sorting out our own countries poverty and other problems.
One thing is for sure Band Aid and other charities such as comic relief have made us sit up and take note, which is the first step. Whatever your thoughts on charities, whether you believe that money raised in this country should be spent on problems in this country or world wide, they do remind you that there are people worse off than you. Charities are usually there because governments are not doing a good enough job.