Paphos People

"We were not comparing charities with business & commerce......."

Sorry but it's unavoidable. Those recruiting for charities are on a level playing field with business and commerce, they are searching exactly the same markets. How can they compete unless they can match the salaries offered by business and commerce?

Yes, charity means giving, but charities need to make a profit, just as business and commerce does. This is the element which supports the charities aim. Unfortunately the charity needs to pay its bills - rent, electricity, water, heating.........and pay the non voluntary staff!!!

Would love to hear ideas on exactly how charities are supposed to exist and make money without the staff and supplies to carry out the work of the charity. They simply cannot exist on fresh air, donations and volunteers. There comes a point when they need paid workers, from the bottom to the top.

Quote:- "Yes, charity means giving, but charities need to make a profit"

Definition of Charity :- 'An organization set up to provide help and raise money for those in need'.

That does not entail making a profit ...... Only covering expenses and upkeep...... Not profiteering !

I believe someone posted about fees being charged on donations. A memorial in a high profile position would be very appropriate.

I'm not sure what the point of a memorial would be...?

The focus of grief for the loved ones would surely be the graveyard.

Perhaps those that placed flowers, candles or teddy bears would feel better... and those that had bees tattooed...

...but it wouldn't delay the next atrocity - which would result in a memorial, flowers, candles, teddy bears and perhaps tattoos...

Perhaps the money would be better spent campaigning against the problem and not the results...?

It depends, I suppose on "where" they died..... if they died at the scene, then it's possible that is where family members may want to go and reflect, particularly if it's a place they pass by on a regular basis. In which case, a memorial could be somewhere they may like to go. A bit like why people go to visit a cenotaph.

Personally, I'm not a person who feels the need to visit cemeteries or graveyards to spend time with deceased relatives although I'm perfectly happy to go out for a mooch around them with my camera.

However, I will always have memories of places that I walk by or drive through where I may have spent parts of my life with those people. For me, I find those memories much more poignant.

_________________
Busy exploring England's green & pleasant lands since May 2016 after 12yrs in Cyprus.
There appears to be a misapprehension I run a photography business... it's my passion as a hobby.
I sell and buy postage stamps!

SFD, not sure what charities you talk about re making a profit. My comment was regarding the basics of restaurant staff, veterinary staff, animal husbandry etc etc. The charity for which I volunteer needs to cover all of these costs, plus staffing costs in shops when volunteers are not forthcoming, rents, utility bills, municipal costs...........etc etc, the list is endless. Until they have covered all of these costs, plus myriad others which I can't even think of, they cannot begin to think of feeding and caring for the animals in their care. This is what I mean by profit. In the bookshop for instance we have never failed to make a 'profit' every single month we have been opened. This is over and above all expenses and costs for the shop and means we are returning a 'profit' to the organisation to support the costs of keeping, feeding and caring for the animals, which is the core of the charity.

I in no way meant a profit to be distributed or used for any other nefarious means. All the elements of the charity exist to provide for every need of the animals in their care. I'm pretty sure that all genuine charities exist on this basis. I don't count those who allow a % of collections to be kept. Many of these organisations are very well known and avoided by those wishing to genuinely contribute to charity.

May I refer you to my comment of 'Wed May 31, 2017 7:27 pm'. I have known that charity for at least 16 years. Not all are as genuine as it is.

I understand your feelings but Val & I often go when we visit Cyprus to the British Military Cemetery at Dhekalia where my nephew and some members of my regiment are buried so far from home, as a military musician I took part in those funerals.

SFD, I appreciate your comments re the charity I mentioned, but there are many many more genuine charities out there operating exactly the same way. Charities need to make profit from their core activities in order to support their aim. Be it shops, walks, sales, bake days, badges, clothes, bike rides, .......the list is endless, and this 'profit' is what eventually fulfils the charities aims.

So charities do need to make a 'profit', albeit that 'profit' should then support the basic aims of the charity - feeding/caring for animals, providing food for those in need, helping the homeless to fund accommodation, to provide the wherewithal for injured servicemen etc to get the help/mobility aids they need............ There has to be a core activity to fund the charity aims.

It's when these core activities supercede the aims of the charity that the problems arise. The surplus/'profit' from the core activities must always be returned to fulfil the aims of the charity. It's when this doesn't happen that the charity has problems. And these charities are numerous!!!

Exactly SFD comparing somebody collecting money for a water pump and dispatching it to a systems designer in IT is delving into fantasy land.

"Exactly SFD comparing somebody collecting money for a water pump and dispatching it to a systems designer in IT is delving into fantasy land."

Bassman you continue to spout rubbish. No company on earth would simply collect money for a water pump and despatch it to 'fantasy land"

Proof please, just for a change.

Even if you can prove it, this in no way represents the hundreds of genuine charitable organisations who help and support charities all over the world.

Although we accept that there are genuine charities, including the one you support here ....... What about those which are not genuine ?
How would you stop them .... if you could ?
You must realise that some charity funds 'go astray' ..... don't you ?

Totally agree, too many supposed charities are not genuine and defraud the public. They need to be named and shamed.

However, posting spurious and unfounded/unproven accusations of misappropriation helps no one, evidence, names and proof are needed to close them down ASAP.

If this evidence is not available or not prepared to be published, then absolutely nothing should be placed on a public forum.

A public forum should not be a first port of call ..... the police station should be !
However, have you not seen (ON TV ) the clear evidence of Red Cross, and other charitably donated, supplies being SOLD to those (who the items were meant freely for) in some African Countries ?
Apart from seeing the lifestyle of the 'elite' of those nations.

A TV documentary crew visited an African village where 'Water Aid' claimed that a pump had been provided. Asked where the pump was the villagers replied "We can't afford the local official is demanding that we pay him for it".

SFD no I haven't seen this, but this does not either substantiate the claims nor refute them. All this discussion is doing is promoting ever more spurious, unsubstantiated posts by bassman which prove absolutely nothing.

I've never said that all charities are honourable, but to post unsubstantiated comments on an open forum, as bassman repeatedly does, neither helps genuine charities nor brings false charities to justice. Proof, not unsubstantiated allegations of what bassman saw on the telly 10 years ago is what's needed to rout the false from the genuine.

And even then, a discussion forum based in Cyprus is hardly the place to bring rogues to justice. That's what the police are for, it's their job, not ours.

So perhaps any comments on faux charities should be directed to the appropriate police department, rather than posting them futilely here

George,
Please don't involve me in any dispute / disagreement between yourself and others who comment.
I just state facts, as I know them, and have no wish to argue with anyone else's opinions.
Thank you.

There you go again. Have you tried counselling, for you I mean.