News

Call a goat a goat, says two-thirds of public

Fundraising | Gareth Jones | 1 Nov 2006

Two-thirds of the public would feel they had been misled by charities if they bought an ethical gift such as a goat only to find the money was used for running costs, according to new research.

Furthermore, 73 per cent said this would put them off buying such gifts, and 65 per cent said they would be deterred from giving to charity in future, according to the study commissioned by the Charities Advisory Trust, creator of the Good Gifts Catalogue.

Policies on how ethical gift funds are spent vary from charity to charity. Stances range from those such as the Good Gifts Catalogue which ensures the money is passed to the beneficiary in full and used solely for the purpose stated, to ensuring the money goes to the community the gift was intended to help, to merely contributing to the charity's general fund.

Trust director Hilary Blume believes the results highlight that charities are failing their supporters. "It started with 'buy a gift of a goat' - and you will know exactly where your money goes. Then it became 'buy a goat and we will spend the money on livestock'. Now it is 'buy a goat and we almost certainly will not buy a goat, but will use the money where it is most needed'. After all, finance officers and regional directors are really needed.

"I just do not think you can ask for a goat in large print and siphon off the money in the small print. Except you can because this is the charity sector, and because your work is so virtuous, it is all right to lie to get funding. No wonder the public confidence in charity fundraisers is so low.

"Shame on those charities who mislead the public," she said, "and shame on the Charity Commission for not intervening. The Fundraising Standards Board is supposed to be setting a standard for 'beneficiary gifts'. What is the bet that it will not alienate its membership by putting a stop to this misleading practice. After all, would a turkey vote for Christmas?"

But Oxfam Unwrapped manager Rachel Brown argues that the end does indeed justify the means. "Our priority is overcoming poverty according to the needs of the people we work with; as such we are completely upfront about how the money works, both in our catalogue and online. If you buy a goat or donkey, this money could be spent on another animal - as most appropriate to the recipient community. It will always be spent on a related item - if you buy a goat it will deliver a goat, or another animal. Similarly, if you buy a gift relating to schools, your money will always help schools. This gives us flexibility to spend money in the best way to meet needs on the ground.

"We are in no way misleading anyone about how the money is spent. We've consulted new and existing Oxfam Unwrapped shoppers, who have agreed that as long as we're transparent about how the money is spent, they have sufficient trust in Oxfam to know that it will be used appropriately."

A spokesperson for ActionAid defended its policy. "All the money we raise through Gifts in Action goes towards general funds, so it isn't buying anything specific, but we started the scheme in response to requests from our supporters and have responded by being absolutely clear about how their money is spent.

"Our press release explains that gift cards are symbolic of what activities will take place and it is written large on our website and in any marketing we've done, though we haven't advertised to anyone other than our supporters as the scheme was created for them. We believe it is vitally important to be honest with our supporters and make it completely clear where the money is going."

David Thompson, marketing manager for World Vision's Alternative Gift Catalogue, believes it is one of the more scrupulous charities. "World Vision UK has been running a gift catalogue since 2001 and it is the communities that we partner with worldwide who request the items in the gift catalogue, and so being accountable to those partner communities, and also our catalogue buyers, is of paramount importance to us. We therefore ensure that the money raised from the gift catalogue is spent on the specific items and projects to meet the needs of those communities.

"We state very clearly in our catalogue that 'in the event of a gift being oversubscribed, we will use the money to buy other items in the catalogue so you can be sure that your gift is making a lasting difference. If everything in the Catalogue sells out we will ask the communities that World Vision works with to identify other similar needs'."

The Charities Advisory Trust survey was conducted by ICM Research among 1,010 adults.

Tweet

Directory: ActionAid | Charity Commission | Oxfam | World Vision UK