Thursday 23 November 2023

If You Didn't Already Suspect This...

...well, you know what they say about a fool and their money, don't you?
Foodbank charity The Trussell Trust has been accused of misleading donors after it emerged more than 90 per cent of the money it distributes goes on non-food items – including diversity courses, debt counsellors and advisers who help people claim state benefits.
And it's even worse than that, because the donations are probably better spent there than on tins of baked beans anyway!
...it was facing a backlash last night after it emerged the charity spent £18.6 million of donations on ‘financial inclusion’, employing professional benefits advisers and debt counsellors.
What's that old adage again about giving a man a fish vs teaching him how to? 

And if you insist on providing food instead, then, Reader, every supermarket these days has a donation bin for your gifting convenience. Use them instead.

7 comments:

Stonyground said...

No advice on job seeking then?

Andy said...

There is no charity that I would donate to or make a bequest to. There are no more small local volunteer staffed charities left, I'm looking for one. All have become employment schemes for hodes of otherwise unemployable graduates.

Macheath said...

Time, perhaps, to savour once more this news item from 2012:

Chelmsford Foodbank is holding its official unveiling on Friday evening. Guests, including the city Mayor, will be served "Champagne and finger food" on arrival.

Adrian Curtis, food bank network director for the Trussell Trust, said the champagne had been paid for by a local church and the finger buffet was being offered out of courtesy to guests. "People will be coming to the launch from quite a few organisations. The event is straight after work and many people will not have eaten.”


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-19991989

Scrobs. said...

Supermarkets make a big noise about their foodbank stuff, which is in effect, items they can't sell, ridiculously short use-by dates, getting their names in the papers, and plonking all this kit in front of people who often are quite capable of paying for their food.

The normal customer, of course, coughs up for all this by paying a premium in the first place.

John Tee said...

"There is no charity that I would donate to or make a bequest to. There are no more small local volunteer staffed charities left, I'm looking for one. All have become employment schemes for hodes of otherwise unemployable graduates."

Some of the local animal rescue charities seem OK.

Stonyground said...

Even the small local charities seem to be so well funded that they don't even want your money. I'm a type 2 diabetic and have found that, for me at least, the condition responds very well to high levels of exercise. So, in 2022 I set myself a challenge to swim 500 miles in a year. I emailed quite a few charities that I felt were quite worthy offering to do the thing as a fundraiser and the local guide dogs group was the only one that replied. I completed my 32,000 lengths by October and raised about £800.

JuliaM said...

"No advice on job seeking then?"

They know their limitations! 😂

"There is no charity that I would donate to or make a bequest to. There are no more small local volunteer staffed charities left, I'm looking for one."

Oh, there's a couple of very small, volunteer run animal charities I support when I can. Not any of the large ones though.

"Time, perhaps, to savour once more this news item from 2012..."

Oh, splendid find!😂

"The normal customer, of course, coughs up for all this by paying a premium in the first place."

True!

"Some of the local animal rescue charities seem OK."

Yes, I have a couple round my way.

"Even the small local charities seem to be so well funded that they don't even want your money."

The best of the small volunteer run charities have Amazon wishlists, so I always use those to buy small items they actually need, rather than give money.