General Chat

Had a leaflet through the door this morning. Decided to check them out on Companies House.

They were incorporated 21/01/2009 and their declared business is:
5250 - Retail second-hand goods in stores

Oh yeah like I am going to give to them.

Sue

I always check the collection bags on line now - I think it's really deceitful how they word the reason for their collection - then you find they're a profit-making organisation.

But wouldn't Barnardos and the like have a similar description of their business?

May well do TW but they would also have their charity registration number displayed!

Thats true.

I've heard of things like that. you think its a charity but it's not.
I only give to certain ones.

I have heard some of these so called charities are anything but . They will sort through the donations and then sell them on a boot sales etc,
We have a local charity that has had several write ups in the local paper . they take clothing .blankets etc to the Russian and other eastern bloc countries orphanages by road convoy and they still do it . I did take a load of blankets to them some time ago and they were very grateful , said the orphans had a dire shortage of suitable warm bedding
This charity gets my surport cos I can see they are genuine

Is it any worse than what Oxfam are doing now with books? They are putting independent booksellers out of business with their dedicated bookshops, and they, unlike many other charity shops are selling books at the going rate, making out of first editions etc. It is run exactly the same as any other second hand bookshop, except that they don't pay for their stock, so their profits are just that, profit.

Our local schools are raising funds with 'Phil' the Bag ... it is run by

www.lwsaitandsons.co.uk

They are a textile recycling company ... we put unwanted clothes & shoes in the bags we are given & the company collect from the school

Sue

Would you put the Companies House web site on here please as I need to check a company out as they have put a leafle through the letterbox yesterday and it has a baby on it and says "Collection for the Vunerable""

And it only has a company number,email ady and a phone number on it..

Would like to know if they are legitimate..

Thanks
Sue

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/bf639e34b746c24d2fffaaa80193e04a/wcframe?name=accessCompanyInfo

You can either put the name or company reg number in to check.

Sue

If I give something to a charity, I expect at least some of those funds to go to that charity.... if I just want rid of something, then I have no real problems where it goes.

We have so many bags around here, that I am careful about where my stuff goes, on the whole... I can be choosy, because I wish to contribute somehow to the charities of my choosing, even if I can't afford to put money in the tins/direct debit them an amount etc etc.....

So I get quite fed up when I discover that the very very carefully worded charity is not a charity at all... but a front for something else entirely.

One very carefully worded one was supposed to be donating to a local charity here a couple of years ago. It turned out that the charity (Bona fide) had never received a penny... and I had been putting bags out for a while. Then I noticed that the same organisation (not the bona fide charity) was also responsible for quite a few other good cause collections... Kidney research, cot death, disadvantaged children. And a bit more digging revealed that the company which was also called something like the shining light etc etc... was affiliated to a charity that provided homes, clothing, etc etc to Romanian MEN... not families... but men, in this country.... a little further digging.... and they weren't even Romanian.... they were the local Travelling community (well, one or two) who were basically scamming.

Now.... I would have been happy enough to give them the stuff on those occasions when I just wanted rid.... but I really do not like being taken for a fool.

So.... I never ever fill the bags and leave them on the doorstep... I either take them in, or phone them and they arrange for them to be collected when they can economically get someone to the area... it works for me, lol

I was in the Tenovus shop in Cardiff last Wednesday (It is a Welsh based Cancer charity that has worked wonders over the years, here) and in the book section is a sign.... inviting folk to buy (they are very reasonable) read, and return. A bit like a lending library.... I was quite impressed, and got a couple of books.... I shall return them when they have been read.

Love

Daff xxxxx

Charities are so difficult these days.

I used to raise money for MacMillan nurses and Maria Curie nurses ,
I say used to because I owned a pub and could do. The money I raised used to go to them direct in a cheque that they collected. (I have a lovely teddybear from them)

Previous to that I used to collect (on my own no pub as such) with a tin for Odstock Hospital, But I used to have a letter from Odstock and a sealed tin.
...Try collecting for something most people have never heard of , Odstock is in Salisbury I lived in London, but I collected for something that was close to my heart and raised a lot of money in the 2 years that could.

My mother until this year (I hope) has not raised money but collected clothes, glasses, soap, needles and anything a 3 world orphange might need, every January Saga shipped out to Africa boxes and boxes of stuff to 3 different places. Mother wasn't a registered charity but she could be checked out and was happy to be so. Also she only asked from those that knew her. It was easy to check on her call Saga.

A 'charity' asking for donations needs to be checked out if you don't know the charity. Sadly some charities now are so big that so much of what you give them are taken in overheads.

Take Puss, she is doing a sterling job collecting for charity, and will raise a lot of money (I hope) but she is doing it as a volunteer and on a shoe string. Unlike some of the bigggg names Puss isn't thinking you have to pay me for my time to be here, same as my mum (mum just did it on a larger scale but who knows with puss:-))) )

Here I tend to give to the dogs homes, whether for their 2nd hand shop or carboot, I know that any money raised will be used for the animals as the people running it give their time free.

Now I have got down off my box *phew it was dizzy up there*

I'd rather give to Puss than an unknown 'charity'

Sue Thanks for the addy..

I have checked the company out and it only stared in Feb of this year..

Says Nature of Business,,,,,,,,,,,NONE SUPPLIED..

So they can jump....

I would sooner give to Charity shop near me which uses every penny for an O rphanage in Thailand.

I seem to remember donating my sons rugby and cricket things for children abroad somewhere.I was very happy to do that as was my son .
I donate any clothes to either ,our Air Ambulance,or the Salvation Army ,or our local hospice.I know where it is all going.
I also will give money to Motor Neurone Disease,and Dementia.