My hometown is a mecca for scores of ‘charity-beggars’- despite being one of the poorest regions of the UK.
My
old university contacted me to ask if I would be willing to donate
money for the support of new students who struggle financially.
And it’s that time of year again- the BBC’s annual bore-a-thon that is Children In Need is soon to be upon once again.
I’ve been thinking about charity a lot recently. And I don’t really ‘do’ charity.
The
truth is I can’t remember knowingly giving any of my own money to
charity. I occasionally find loose change at work and that goes in the
charity pot. Sometimes the things I buy are supporting charitable causes
in some way or another. But I won’t buy anything I don’t want because
it’s for charity.
First
up, I’ll get something off my chest. If you give any money to a
‘research’ charity (and I’m thinking about the big C, though I’m sure
there are others) then you are funding an industry, not a charity. A
billion-pound industry. There’s money to be made in cures, lots of
money- and you aren’t investing, you won’t get a cut. Anyone who thinks
research would stop without charitable fund-raising needs their head
examining, maybe for cancer?
For
me, the last 20 years seems to have witnessed an explosion in the
charity sector. Maybe I’m imagining it. The amount given to Children In
Need rises every year, even through a recession, even from a population
where the majority have become increasingly poor, in relative terms.
People are generous to a fault. Yet the fault is not theirs. The rise in
charity and the apparent need for more charity is the result of a
continually failing State.
If the Government did its job right we wouldn’t need charity.
Help
for Heroes is a relatively new charity set-up to provide better
facilities for wounded ex-servicemen and women. No-one would argue this
isn’t a great cause- why isn’t our Government already doing this? Great
Ormond Street hospital is a world-renowned centre of excellence in
paediatric treatment and care- a shining light of UK medical science.
Yet it is still a hospital, run by the NHS, supposedly kept by the
Government. Maybe all hospitals need charitable funding- they certainly
don’t all get it. These are just the examples I could think of right
now.
The
point is this- charity used to provide support and aid for those who
fell through the cracks. Now it seems to be struggling to fill-in cracks
that shouldn’t be there.
And
is money the answer to charity’s need. In a society increasingly
starved of time, and dare-I-say goodwill, a little cash given away
every-so-often serves merely to ease the guilt of many. I have so much
more respect and admiration for those people who give up their time and
energy for a cause. Of course money is essential for any charitable
endeavour- but it is finite, it can be ‘frittered’ away so easily and
sadly it can be lost, by accident or design.
Am
I a bad man? Cruel, selfish, tight-fisted. I have frequently questioned
myself whilst writing and thinking about this piece. I would give
everything I own today if friend or family needed it. That is the least I
would expect of any decent man or woman. When it comes to charity?
Question why it is needed. Question what is being done. And question
whether you really care. Don’t just give away money because it’s for
charity.
And I would give some money to Children In Need- if the BBC would just put something worth watching on!
(This
article was written largely a while ago and conceived well before that.
After last week’s tragic events in the Philippines and the subsequent
appeal for donations to the relief efforts I questioned whether or not
to go ahead with it. The truth is my opinion remains the same despite
the on-going crises. I am not a politician riding the waves of public
sentiment and feeling. I wonder how much of our ‘ring-fenced’
foreign-aid fund is going towards relief efforts for the stricken people
of the Philippines- it should include all that is currently funding
India’s space program)
