Thursday, December 10, 2009

Giving to charities at Christmas

Christmas treeI've been giving a bit of money to charities at Christmas for many years now. Each month throughout the year, I put some money into my account at the Charities Aid Foundation. If a friend asks me for sponsorship during the year then I take the money out of that account, but this usually means that there's spare money in the account at the end of the year. Last year the excess in the account was £1.3k, but this year the excess is £1.6k, which is the same as it was in 2007. So it's time to give it all to good causes :-).

In connection with all of this, for the last couple of years (2007, 2008) I've donated some money to charities that readers of this blog have suggested. This year I've already had one email about this, from a reader who wants me to donate to a charity called Help for Heroes. But if any other readers have any requests I'd be happy to take them into account too, as long as the suggestions are registered UK charities :-).

13 comments:

TSP said...

Hello GB,

Would you consider a donation to the Mayhew Animal Home ?

No problem if this does not match with your views but thought I would ask since you offered ! I am not affiliated with them but do donate.

All the best :)

DaveHill said...

How about the Mayor's Fund for young people in London?

Anonymous said...

The marginal benefit of donations in the developing world is far larger than in the developed world.

The World Food Programme will have it particularly hard this year: world food prices are skyrocketing, which means more needy people and less bang for their buck. Governments, which give the WFP much of its funding, are also cutting back.

Corruption scandals and all, the WFP reaches the very poorest and is probably the most worthwhile.

Antony said...

Wow, that's a lot of money.

I don't have the same financial money, but please consider The Elton John AIDS Foundation too.

They've released a book Dear Me, Letter's to my 16 year old self. Letter's written by celebraties.

I bought it for about £8 on Amazon and at least a £1 goes to the foundation but also it's quite inspirational and emotionally moving. Makes a good Christmas gift.

It inspired my blog post: http://antonysimpson.com/index.php/2009/dear-me-a-letter-to-my-16-year-old-self/

My love,

A x

Anonymous said...

Hi, how about Médecins Sans Frontières (UK), although the origins of it are French, it was set-up as a registered charity (Charity Number 1026588) in the UK a few years ago, they go anywhere in the world where medics are needed and others won't go.
Phil.

Anonymous said...

Antony that might be a lot of money to u, but not to GB. GB u seem to like wikipedia a lot so why not donate a portion to them? Is the bank u work for now taxpayer owned? Look at this but please dont h8 me LOL :) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/8410453.stm

The Buddha Smiled said...

Here are a couple of suggestions -

1) The Naz Project London - they work with BME communities, promoting HIV / AIDS awareness, especially for same sex couples...

2) The Brooke - an overseas equine welfare charity

I'm not associated with either one, but I think that the work they do seems pretty impressive in that their chosen segments are probably underserved in the charities / development space...

Season's Greetings, btw! :)

GB said...

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone :-). So I've given £200 to each of Crisis, The Terrance Higgins Trust, Help for Heroes, The Mayor's fund for London, The UN World Food Programme, The Elton John Aids Foundation, Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) and Naz Project London , with a further £50 each going to
The Mayhew animal home and The Brooke Hospital for Animals.

I looked into giving a bit of money to the UK chapter of The Wikimedia Foundation, but they don't seem to be a registered charity in the UK so unfortunately they don't qualify.

Phil, presumably it was you who suggested Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) last year? Are you connected with them??

Anyway, Happy Christmas to everyone :-),

GB xxx

Anonymous said...

That's so nice. Especially the animal charities [foundations I like to support myself] My Whippet will be happy when I tell him!

Have a nice Xmas GB!

Andy [You know which one!]

Was Once said...

Merry Christmas, with the true spirit of giving.
How about http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/?

Phil said...

Hi GB, no connection with MSF except that I give quite a lot of money to them. Having looked at quite a lot of charities, they deliver something critical to saving life in the most awful places and circumstances. Many other things do good work but for me just fall in to the 'nice to have' group rather than essential. Take care, Phil.

GaySocrates said...

Hi GB
Please consider donating to the Gay Youth Project
Allsorts
They have just won a Stonewall award for being Best Community Group.
They are brilliant at helping support youngsters who are mixed up about their sexuality and do much useful outreach work into schools.
Although Brighton based the more funding they get the more they will be able to pass on their excellent model of care to other cities
Seasons Greetings!
Happy Giving
Love GS

TSP said...

GB,

Thank you so much. A very Happy New Year to you !