Forum Topic

Give your £50 Council Tax Rebate to Charity!

Story in the Gazette today about a charity in Ealing raising money by asking Ealing Council Tax payers to donate their pre election bribe - the £50 rebate due next month.  What a brilliant idea!I will donate mine to my son Patrick's New York Marathon fundraiser for Breast Cancer Care - http://www.justgiving.com/patrickmuir/. Patrick finished in 4h 39mins and has raised over £2500 to date for his late Mum's favourite charity I suspect most of you pay your council tax by Direct Debit so the rebate will not be too important in your budgeting. If you can afford it why not donate your bonus £50 to charity? and if so which one?Over to you though if you choose Breast Cancer Care - http://www.justgiving.com/patrickmuir/ that will be great.But choose your own charity anyway and post and let the forum know if this is a successMany thanksIain

Iain Muir ● 6163d9 Comments

Which charity to give to can be a difficult decision because other than the ‘High Street’ names we do not know much about local charities. That is often because they are poorly funded and sometimes not well managed. But conversely some large charities have mediocre management in fancy offices and have layers of paid staff just managing rather than doing direct service delivery as well. That is partly brought about by funders demanding innovative features in funding bids rather than just saying they will fund a need which to any ordinary charity worker has been there since time immemorial. It is also partly brought about because some funders want to focus on ever larger numbers of people seen - at the expense of the public receiving holistic and sometimes far reaching help – something which some funders find quite hard to assess. A small charity could however actually be providing a brilliant service despite its shortcomings and a High Street one could be providing a shallow service.I would nearly always advocate against giving to the large charities such as the Princes Trust, The Red Cross or Age Concern, because quite often the large PLCs, the Grant giving charities and other organisations give them enough to keep them viable. Following their herding instincts, some of these large giving organisations feel good because they think they are seen as doing the right thing.  If you do not know any local charities, then there is list of quite a few in this poorly served borough. See this link (from page 84 onwards).  http://www.ac-communities.org.uk/documents//Directory06.pdfMy view which is bound to rouse some dissent, is that charity should firstly go to disabled and also to older people at the end of working life, because the chances of them of improving their lot is less than the opportunities for younger people.

George Knox ● 6161d

Good thoughtful piece George.I'm giving my £50 Ealing Council Cash Back Bribe to The Log Cabin in Northfields. It's an adventure playground for children who have special needs, disabilities or are in need.www.logcabin.org.uk

Eric Alan Leach ● 6160d

Eric,Good idea.  The Log Cabin want to redevelop their site so a few £50s would be very welcome.

Phil Taylor ● 6160d

Phil,A graceless response even by your standards.Over the years I've supported the Log Cabin with £100s of support.The charity can spend the money as the Trustees think fit.

Eric Alan Leach ● 6160d

This looks like a good choice. The charity is local and if you read what is on the Charity Commissioners website, you will see that it gets funds from a wide range of organisations. So if one funder drops out then hopefully that will not be too critical. Secondly it shows that the management have worked hard and successfully to protect their charity. Thirdly if you look at their website, it is informative and friendly. So although I do not know about this local charity I get a good first impression. If I did not feel that focusing (with one s please note)on the elders was more important then I would be inclined to follow Eric's advice because he is known to have the communitys' interests at heart and I believe has worked with children during his career.Councillor Taylor will know only too well why his remark was ill conceived.However I digress. Following my own advice (see my earlier comment)I also looked at a national charity on the charity Commissioners website (in fact an international charity)i.e. Age Concern in Ealing.The first thing I see is that the last two annual returns were received in both cases more than 6 months late. Now I do not know how important that is, but I am immediately not impressed. Secondly the Report and Financial Statements and the website on first impression seem clinical rather than welcoming or friendly. Neither is there very much useful information. Nor is there a link to its parent where there is a great deal of useful information.For my money I would support Ealing Centre for Independent Living - which is another local Ealing charity. They have an excellent website which gives a very good impression indeed, and the founder boss recently received an OBE. For their wide range of activities, which includes elders as well as people with impairments, they could do with some more support financially.

George Knox ● 6159d

As Chair of the Log Cabin charity referred to in this thread I very much welcome the idea of encouraging recipients to donate  their £50 cashback windfalls to local charities. The Log Cabin Adventure Playground based in Northfields provides respite care, including after-school clubs and holiday and Saturday playschemes, for children with a broad range of special needs, from severe life-limiting conditions to extreme behavioural problems as well as those who are simply in need. Children enjoy accessible adventure play and a wide range of activities.  They come to the Log Cabin so that they can socialise and have fun in a safe and caring environment. Siblings and friends are also welcomed to encourage inclusive play. We provide transport and hot evening meals and, of necessity, have a high staff-to-child ratio.Providing this service  is very expensive and we are continually seeking funds from all kinds of sources. However, as mentioned by Cllr Taylor in his email, we now have a specific need for funds in that we need a new building to meet the increasing demand and to  provide more specialist services for the children. Our existing building is reaching the end of its useful life and we are currently in the preliminary stages of discussions with the Council about the design of a new building. The cost is clearly going to be very high to provide a building of the quality the children need and deserve. We will be setting up a page on our website soon about our proposals, the fundraising campaign and our target figure. In the meantime please have a look at our website www.logcabin.org.uk to find out more about what we do, and feel free to contact me via the email address on the site.Just think: £50 does not buy a lot in this day and age but, if enough people decide to donate their unexpected bonus, this could  give a huge boost to start off our fundraising campaign.  And you will have the satisfaction in years to come of seeing the results of your generosity!

Helen Johnson ● 6159d

Just to add to my last email, I missed off the important information. The easiest way to donate to the Log Cabin is viawww.justgiving.co.ukThis site sorts out the Gift Aid which adds to the value of your donation if you are a tax payer. However, we are of course very happy to receive donations by cheque or bank transfer - whatever is easier. Have a look at the website or contact us for details.

Helen Johnson ● 6159d

> Councillor Taylor will know only too well why his remark was ill conceived.Well perhaps somebody would like to explain it to the rest of us, because it seems to me that several apparently quite innocuous (to me) contributions by Mr. Taylor in various discussion threads on this board have been pounced on by a number of people of late who have issued some kind of cryptic remark clearly intended to sully his reputation.IOW - if you've got something to say come out and say it.  Don't sneer from the sidelines in a cryptic fashion.(I don't know who Mr. Taylor is - never met the man in fact, but I do see him contributing positively to the discussions on this board in a way that many other local councillors would do well to try and emulate.)

Tony Colliver ● 6129d

Tony,Yes there is a cryptic part to Councillor Taylor's comment. He's made it very clear many times that he thinks I'm anti-development and a Luddite. He's deduced this as I was and am a prominent objector to the Council's approval of the failed Glenkerrin Arcadia development and the stutteriong St George Dickens Yard development.The fact that I initiated and helped manage a £500,000 new clubhouse development at Ealing Lawn Tennis Club is probably outside the scope of his knowledge.And yes we should thank Phil for being one of the few (out of 69) Councillors with his own web site and who contributes to forums like this one. He appears to be the unofficial mouthpiece of the Ealing Conservative Whips Office and as such provides us all with a useful information service.

Eric Alan Leach ● 6129d