Streamline charity

This will not be a popular topic with many people but it has been of concern to me for a long time. I would like to contribute more but I cannot afford to, or cope with the constant stream of charity literature that pours through my letterbox or confronts me in the street or supermarket every time I go out.

I looked on the internet to find out how many charities there are in the UK and found various figures from 170,000 to 250,000. This surely cannot be correct; it is like something out of a Monty Python film with rival organisations such as the People’s Front of Judea or the Judea People’s Front or The Popular Judea People’s Front.

I know from my experience in working with housing associations that these charities have an army of volunteers but they also have several well paid admin and senior staff on high salaries and expenses.

It would take a lot of courage but I would like to see the government limit the number of charities in the UK to a single organ of the body or single medical condition and that would include cancer. We are bombarded every day with variations on cancers, heart conditions and everything else while surely through economies of scale these charities could do far more with a large pool of money and fewer paid administrators.

It is comparable to overseas aid. Is it better to have a hundred different charities sending some water collection buckets to a village in Africa or a single large charity building a water purification site.

Bearing in mind the topical news that millionaires may be off-loading tax avoidance schemes into unknown charities or interests that may or may not be connected to their donations, surely it is time radically to reform charitable giving in our country to ensure that the maximum is being achieved in support for those most in need and that charity operating costs are kept to a minimum so that every penny ends up in the places where they are needed most.

I am sure people would be happier to give their hard-earned income to a single well known and respected charity rather than numerous variations on a medical condition that confront them every day.

Norman Crawford

Fox Spring Rise

Edinburgh