According to the 2018 Charity Foundation (CAF) report, most (26%) UK donors donate to medical research, 24% give priority to non-profit animal welfare organizations. Children’s funds are almost as popular along organizations that raise funds for hospitals, as well as those that help victims of natural disasters, which stand at 23%.
Charity Choice, the largest charity directory, has detailed information on more than 160,000 non-profit organizations registered in Britain. Based on their annual reports for 2018, they calculated an indicator: how much of each pound donated actually went directly to those in need.
The author of the Week magazine systematized these figures into an article. He took the ten most popular charity organizations on the island from the YouGov rating and found their figures in the directory. And here is what he found.
1. British Heart Foundation. For every pound spent: 26.2 pence goes to charity, 40.6 is spent on fundraising and 33.2 is spent on securing income.
2. St John Ambulance. 87.3 — charity, 10 — fundraising, and 2.7 — securing income.
3. Macmillan Cancer Support. 73 — charity, 24.4 — fundraising and 2.6 — securing income.
4. Cancer Research UK. 60.7 — charity, 24 — fundraising and 15.3 — securing income.
5. Great Ormond Street Hospital. Did not provide the necessary information in the annual report.
6. Marie Curie. 63 — charity, 27.9 — fundraising and 9.1 — securing income.
7. Keep Britain Tidy. Did not provide the necessary information in the annual report.
8. Alzheimer’s Research UK. 66.1 — charity, 33.9 — fundraising and 0 — securing income.
9. Guide Dogs. 56 — charity, 40.2 — fundraising and 2.8 — securing income.
10. RNLI Lifeboats. Did not provide the necessary information in the annual report.
The conclusion is that the most popular British charities spend 26.2–87.3% of their annual income directly on the needy. Is it a lot or a little? Given the numerous scandals and established facts of fraud in the charity industry (read here), it’s quite a lot. But here is what the expert says.
“Spending on fundraising and administrative expenses can only be afforded by a very small project, which is carried out exclusively by volunteers. Large charities on the contrary, requires large budgets for effective work. This should not be confusing. But if more than half of the annual income of a charity organization is spent on untargeted expenses, it will have to try to explain why that is so,” as Jane Hobson, head of the policy department of the Commission on Charity, said to the This is Money publication.
On the W12 blockchain platform, all fundraising and project expenses are transparent. Donors can track the flow of funds online and make sure everything is fair. On the other hand, the organizer of the charity will not have to blush for necessary, but inappropriate expenses. Read more about it here.
