NGOs that offer online payment for charity

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Neo-N

Neo-N

Herald
Guys,
Are you aware of any genuine/trustworthy/dedicated to the cause NGOs/Trusts that have the option to make donations online --> Using CC/Netbanking?

Tax deductions etc. are not a concern but would be an added advantage (though not at the expense of the NGO/Trust being a a fake). They should just be 100% genuine so we know that 100% of the donation is being used for the cause it is donated for.

Preferably NGOs/Trusts working for animals, female orphans, orphans, women, handicapped people, old people are preferred in that order.

Please do share your experience (if any) dealing with these. I and a few of my friends intend to make some donations and were not sure whom to donate to.

P.S.: Would prefer to avoid PETA, CRY etc as they are the high profile ones and they get enough funding already. Preference for smaller entities that do good work but do not have the reach of CRY etc.
 
Almost any organization that can afford to spend on a decent website with payment gateway integration is gonna be well-established and high profile in nature. Most of these might be spending around 15 to 20% on administrative costs (I'm just guessing). You are better off donating to some old-age home or orphanage in your locality. You could visit them once and request for their bank account details so that you can NEFT the donation.
 
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logistopath said:
Almost any organization that can afford to spend on a decent website with payment gateway integration is gonna be well-established and high profile in nature. Most of these might be spending around 15 to 20% on administrative costs (I'm just guessing). You are better off donating to some old-age home or orphanage in your locality. You could visit them once and request for their bank account details so that you can NEFT the donation.
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administrative costs are similar to normal companies, very high. They pay good salaries to staff for retention.
That does not mean they dont do good work. Largest examples are UN and its other wings.
Its about finding the right cause and trustworthy organization to donate to. I would not trust smaller ones unless I have personal experience with them that they are genuinely putting money to right use.
 
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puns said:
administrative costs are similar to normal companies, very high. They pay good salaries to staff for retention.
That does not mean they dont do good work.
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Didn't mean to imply that they don't do good work. I'm just saying that the higher the profile and reach of the organization, the greater the amount spent on administration. There are hundreds of local charitable organizations which find it difficult to make ends meet. It would be worthwhile to donate to these.
 
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eternoMind said:
Akshaya Patra Foundation

No first-hand experience with these folks (I donate locally) but people I know have good things to say about it.
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^ Thank you ! Shall check it out! :)

puns said:
http://www.redpawsrescue.com/

I donate every year and they send a receipt as well.
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^^ Thanks. Shall surely donate to this one! :)

logistopath said:
Almost any organization that can afford to spend on a decent website with payment gateway integration is gonna be well-established and high profile in nature. Most of these might be spending around 15 to 20% on administrative costs (I'm just guessing). You are better off donating to some old-age home or orphanage in your locality. You could visit them once and request for their bank account details so that you can NEFT the donation.
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^^ It's fine if they have better reach etc. I just dont want them to spend the money on paying naked models to pose with animals! I know that PETA says that the models do the shoots for free but I find it difficult to believe. Plus, they incur extensive marketing expenditure to post the pics everywhere which again eats into the funds being donated for the cause.

In short, we want the money to go for the cause... Even if some part is spent on actual admin expenditure, that's fine. But no naked models eating into the funds plz! For that we can donate in Bangkok! :P
 
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logistopath said:
Didn't mean to imply that they don't do good work. I'm just saying that the higher the profile and reach of the organization, the greater the amount spent on administration. There are hundreds of local charitable organizations which find it difficult to make ends meet. It would be worthwhile to donate to these.
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Oh absolutely. If you can find a local organization which does it honestly, thats the best option. But I have seen bad examples of local NGO's who on the surface appear honest and spending the money right, but behind the scenes its a different world.
Thats why personal experience or direct knowledge of the inside workings of an NGO is important.
 
puns said:
Oh absolutely. If you can find a local organization which does it honestly, thats the best option. But I have seen bad examples of local NGO's who on the surface appear honest and spending the money right, but behind the scenes its a different world.
Thats why personal experience or direct knowledge of the inside workings of an NGO is important.
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^^ Exactly the point of this thread. Wanted to know if people had any names that were trustworthy from 1st hand experience. :)
 
Neo-N said:
^^ Exactly the point of this thread. Wanted to know if people had any names that were trustworthy from 1st hand experience. :)
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wherever possible, we avoid donations in the form of money. instead, we donate food/groceries/clothes/stationary to local charities such as old-age homes, animal hospitals etc. this is only to curb corruption at the lowest level.
 
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You cant try MakeaDiff.in


logistopath said:
Didn't mean to imply that they don't do good work. I'm just saying that the higher the profile and reach of the organization, the greater the amount spent on administration. There are hundreds of local charitable organisations which find it difficult to make ends meet. It would be worthwhile to donate to these.
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Wait so if they spend on Admin costs what exactly is wrong? You want to take your good work to more people, you need to hire people. Taking administrative cost as a tool to guage who to donate to is like deciding colleges based on the campus building. Sometimes you need more admin staff to operate effeciently. I've worked with a few. Ones that spend on good admin staff have effective ness of close to 80-90% while the other are much lesser around 40-60% cause they arent managed professionally or mostly volunteer based with little cohesive thinking and learning from mistakes.

The only place thats important is if you want to feed people and you want money to go to the actual food etc.
 
Party Monger said:
Wait so if they spend on Admin costs what exactly is wrong?
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You are misinterpreting my post. I never said it was wrong or it was a scam. I just wanted to mention that administrative costs eat into a decent proportion of donations, especially with larger organizations. Add to that the payment gateway charges, if you make online payments. (On hindsight, I needn't have mentioned it, I guess.)
Smaller organizations run by a handful of staff, and that lack manpower and funds, are more in need than the larger ones.
 
logistopath said:
You are misinterpreting my post. I never said it was wrong or it was a scam. I just wanted to mention that administrative costs eat into a decent proportion of donations, especially with larger organizations. Add to that the payment gateway charges, if you make online payments. (On hindsight, I needn't have mentioned it, I guess.)
Smaller organizations run by a handful of staff, and that lack manpower and funds, are more in need than the larger ones.
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You missed my point, or perhaps I wasnt clear. When you invest Rs 100 Say you get 50% effectiveness in a small NGO. In a small NGO, lets assume only 80% ie 80 Rs is invested, so the amount is 80. But the effectiveness is like 80-90% due to a professional approach which offsets the admin costs. Plus when there is a professional approach, the effort can be sustained much longer, then economies of scale also come in, and their approach also evolves from the learning. So infact established organisations are a way better place to donate. Provided they are transparent, and you can inspect their work.

I get your point though, Im just providing some info since ive experienced it first hand, so that perhaps you can get an alternate perspective.
 
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