"It would be great if there were no con men and shady charities."

It would be great if there were no con men and shady used car dealers. It would be great if there were no con men and shady builders. It would be great if there were no con men and shady reverends selling tickets to heaven.

Does that in itself justification for not buying a used car, or putting an extension on the back of the house, or event seeking eternal salvation. No more than its a valid reason not to give to charities in general.

There are many worthwhile causes, probably more worthwhile causes than there are dollars to go round. People will say; "I don't give to charities, because they are all rip offs and the money doesn't go to the needy etc etc anyway." That justification brings them comfort, as they know helping others is a reasonable thing to do, but the rationale that all charities are rip offs removes any guilt feeling they may have had about not giving.

It would be great Paul, but do not overlook the truth it should be better.
Giving is good but not knowing if you can trust is not going away
Constant improvement, in every thing, should not be stopped just because some charities can be trusted

Hi Belly,
We're off to the RSL for our Friday night dinner, meat raffle, and a couple of schooners with a bit of entertainment. I will drop a couple of bob into the Salvos tin, and get in return a copy of 'War Cry'. Will my small offering be put to good use, I don't know, but as a matter of trust I believe it will be.

For some years we've been involved with a private aid program in Fiji, helping villages and children. To the best of my knowledge the money donated is mostly used in direct funding, admin is at a minimum. There are indirect overheads required to run the charity on the ground, car hire for example, even the cost of stamps is an expense which may not be seen as direct aid. Then on the plus side there are countless unpaid hours put in by those volunteers based in Australia, and in Fiji.

One of the best local workers is a Fijian/Indian chap who runs his own taxi, does a lot of running around, picking people and things etc. Naturally if an Australian sponsor wants to be picked up from their hotel or airport, and taken to their accommodation, or to see a school or a village etc, the local chap is the recommendation, having his details, and cards, which can be sent before the person leaves Australia. He's known to be reliable and charges a reasonable fare. Nothing wrong in that, and the sponsor gets looked after with waiting time, reliability, and that sort of thing.

Paul much the same here give to the salvos often of late after short talk about its past failures
Every day, fair dinkum, a new story about fraud or theft involving charities is seen
From big funds run by celebrities to tin rattlers who put some directly in their pockets
Never my intention to stall donations
We, you and me, are without shame activists
We want a better world, often to get that we need to lift rocks and uncover whatever is under them
This is such a case
see early polls say you are polling eleven percent, more that one motion and the big hats together!