If you are thinking of donating some of your hard-earned cash away, better think twice about who you want to give it to. In the wake of the NKF and more recently, Youth Challenge scandals, many people are starting to wonder who are the real beneficiaries of charities. Just how much of the money that generous Singaporeans donate goes to directly charitable causes?

Here are 2 types of charities that I’d advise people to stay away from:

   
Donation Ticket Salesmen
In recent years, there has been an increasing number of companies that claim to organise donation drives and pay commission to students who go around in public persuading people to donate. These typically come in the form of donation tickets that cost anything from $2 to $10. As I understand, commission usually goes up to 50%. Another bulk of the funds goes to the company for their ”administrative costs”. Out of $2, there can be as little as $0.20 left for the charity.

These companies usually place jobs ads in the newspapers offering opportunities for job-seekers to “be paid for supporting charity projects”.

It isn’t hard to identify those pesky salespeople. They are usually teenagers, and they often wait for their prey at crowded MRT stations. They are there on weekends and occasionally weekdays, especially during school holidays. They will usually approach passerbys and give a presentation on the charity organisation that they are supposedly supporting.

  
High Maintenance/Low Productivity Organisations
For those who are considering making a significant donation, please do your research beforehand. Nowadays, many charities put their financial statements on their websites. Take a look at the figures, particularly the amount of donations collected vs. the wages paid out.

I done a little bit of research and found a certain charitable organisation with total receipts of over $400,000 in 2006 vs total wages paid of $288,000. This shows that either the organisation’s staff were not productive enough in collecting donations… or, a more likely reason would be having overpaid staff.

Nowadays, anybody can start a “charitable organisation” and collect donations from the public. However, we really don’t know who are the real beneficiaries… The sad thing is, when the average person on the street parts with his $2, he trusts that the organisation will eventually do good with his donation. What he doesn’t know is that most of his money will go into the pockets of the organisation’s founders and top executives with more attractive pay packages than senior civil servants.

Having looked at some negative examples, I’d like to share some of the better causes to donate to:

• Children’s Cancer Foundation – an amazing $0.86 out of every $1 in donations goes to directly charitable causes. That’s a fantastic amount, in my opinion.
• Disabled buskers, Elderly tissue paper sellers – How about having 100% of your donation going straight into a good cause?
• Lady in wheelchair selling tissue at Outram Park MRT – Back in 2005 when I had to go to SGH frequently to visit my late father, I often saw a cheerful lady sitting in her wheelchair selling tissue paper. Occasionally I would buy from her, not because I needed the tissue but because I admire her for her optimism, whatever illness she may be suffering from. She would smile at everyone passing by, no matter whether they bought anything from her. As we all know, most people wouldn’t bother. I haven’t been to Outram MRT for a long time, so I don’t know whether she is still there. I hope she is doing well now.
• Funding a Bursary or Scholarship – This is what I intend to do if I am able to get a good job after graduation. I like to give something back to society, being a recipient of a scholarship myself. I feel that funding a bursary is very meaningful, because 100% of the money goes to a student who needs financial assistance. A bursary can cost anything from $1,000 to $3,000. I do think it is an affordable amount, especially for fresh graduates who do not have many financial obligations. In NUS, if you donate a bursary or scholarship the university will disburse the money to a deserving student on your behalf. You can even name the bursary after yourself (for egoistic people).
• Hospice Care Association - This is not very well-known compared to other organisations such as NKF. However, they have been doing good work taking care of terminally ill people. I personally know someone who volunteers there. Also, when my father was ill a team consisting of a doctor and 2 nurses would visit us at home every couple of weeks.
• Renci Hospital – Providing free services for the chronic sick and elderly. Has an impressive track record.
• Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society – Few people would have heard of this, but they actually run over 50 welfare services all over Singapore, including Ang Mo Kio Community Hospital, Welfare Homes, Family Service Centres, Senior Activity Centres, etc.

Of course, there are probably many other charities out there that deserve our help, I don’t know about all of them. I hope by highlighting these, more people will think twice about where their donations are going to before dropping money into donation boxes. Please channel your donations to more deserving organisations.

No related posts.