October 11, 2009 at 3:48 pm
A ‘catch all’ application for funds comes from the RSPCA. An appealing item of card, which is well laid out, asks for a cheque/PO, credit card payment – or up to £3 in pound coins. There are slots in the card where the coins can be stuck. My guess is that quite a numbr of [...]
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October 4, 2009 at 3:12 pm
It appears that charities don’t always realise that, when asking for funds, the letter needs to inspire confidence in the organisation – apart from everything else.
Not much confidence has been engendered by UK Sports Association. Its letter was addressed to Mr …. and the salutation was Dear Ms …..
As a recipient, with no previous knowledge [...]
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September 19, 2009 at 5:22 pm
I have come across an example of what I consider ‘good practice’, and am going to quote it in full – so that anybody can disagree with me; or, perhaps, persuade other charities to take a similar line.
A ’standard’ request has come from The Children’s Society. But the following message is on the back of the [...]
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September 18, 2009 at 4:13 pm
The Mare and Foal Sanctuary asks for £1, £2, or £3. I doubt whether that is a cost-effective approach. But, instead of the usual cheque/credit card transaction, it asks for the £1, £2 or £3 in cash – sending one a cardboard pouch into which to place up to three £1 coins. And it encloses [...]
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August 24, 2009 at 5:05 pm
If one simply sits at home, it is surprising what different objects come through the post in an attempt to part one from one’s cash. For me, the latest is a posterior chamber equiconvex single-piece lens. If you are wondering what it does, the answer is that, normally, it would be used in a cataract [...]
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August 11, 2009 at 2:55 pm
It is easy to become confused by the proliferation of cancer charities. Wellbing of Women is concerned with gynaecological cancer (from which 150 women die each week).
I don’t think, however, that any charity should fall into the trap of promising too much to donors. Money does not always produce the hoped-for results.
In this case, I [...]
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July 29, 2009 at 2:47 pm
We know that, for some charities, the funds they receive each year through wills, after death, far exceed the amounts collected from the living. Without people dying, they would be out of business. For smaller (and more recently established) charities, legacy income can be an occasional windfall – not reasonably predictable income.
Some of those who leave [...]
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July 24, 2009 at 5:56 pm
The post brings an invitation (addressed to Dear Colleague) to an all-day Debate and Lecture on ‘Older People and the Media’. I get the feeling that the Chief Executive of Counsel + Care is scraping the bottom of the barrel in sending it to me. I last gave them a donation in 1992; the letter [...]
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June 22, 2009 at 5:40 pm
If I was somewhat brighter, I would write this in rhyme: because that is how a letter (which purports to have been written by an 11-year old) has come to me from S Pinter Youth project – which offers opportunities to children in the Stamford Hill area. It claims to be the largest holiday playscheme [...]
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June 13, 2009 at 5:37 pm
A letter comes from Margaret Mountford – probably well known to those who have watched The Apprentice. As a trustee of CORDA, she is asking for money to fund research ‘to make a significant impact on the detection and treatment of heart disease’.
She outlines three projects, two of which make use of a brand new [...]
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