My Lamma Forums

[Lamma-Gung]

Email from Mrs Santa Claus (see below):

Calling Lamma-ites! Help Needed for Operation Santa Claus 2007!

This year The Island Bar is actively seeking a few new ideas to add sparkle to the run-up to Christmas so if you feel like helping out, or making suggestions as to how to raise more funds, please stick your head in the bar and let someone know your thoughts.

Many thanks,
Mrs Claus (aka Sharon)

Sharon & Dan
2982 2800
9030 2888

[Norseman]

There are many far better charities to support than Operation Santa Claus.

[Biffa]

[Norseman]

Easily, but it would be a long and boring list.
Let me put it this way- Operation Santa Claus has chosen 'x' amount of charities which they will support. This means that there are 'y' charities who will not get a look in because people just choose OSC because it is easy. OSC generates a huge amount of money for deserving charities but many, many more are ignored. It is also important to choose charities which are 100% admin free, or run purely by volunteers. many of the largest default charities which people think are the most deserving and do the best use up to 60% of all moneys in admin costs.

[soulkitchen]

Norseman I think you need to do your homework on the 60% admin fee. Having worked in the not for profit/charity sector for years it is not necessarily true that the "best" organisations are the ones run entirely by volunteers. Obviously 60% is an unacceptable figure, but up to 15% is not unreasonable particularly as all charities have to meet financial and governance regulations. I am not clear about the legal situation in Hong Kong now but certainly in the UK compliance is an increasing burden even on very small organisations. Actually I would be very sceptical about any charity which claimed it was 100% admin free, the monitoring and disbursment of funding needs to be done properly, accountably and professionaly, none of which are cost free.
I would also question what you mean by "worthy", what is your basis for assessment of this? Number of beneficiaries? Quality of intervention? Type of beneficiary? Value for money? On the latter point be careful, value for money does not necessarily mean "the cheapest". It is a big issue in the charity sector which usually does need to employ staff, nothing is really "free" and there is no reason that people working for charities should not have reasonable payment and decent terms and conditions.
It is easy to hurl accusations but suggest you back them up with facts or support organisations which have clear and transparent aims and objectives and publicly available accounts which are properly audited (auditing is also a significant cost as is insurance). Charities do have an important role to play, especially in a place like HK which has very little welfare backup, they are often the only source of help for some of the most disadvantaged people.