Choosing a Beneficiary

[Johnny B]

Hiya folks,

I've just got my place in the Great North Run. I managed to get in through the general ballot which is good as it allows me to keep my choices open as to whom to raise money for.

Now, my question is, how the hell do you choose who to raise money for!!?

I know I want to raise money for a charity/organisation related to conservation but there are so flipping many! Lots of different types and lots of different organisations doing the same/similar things! How do you gauge what is more worthy a cause!? And how do you gauge a charity's reputation, or how much of an impact they're making!?

I thought the forum would be a great place to ask, esp since there are folk like Libby who probably know a lot about this kinda thing. Look forward to hearing from you all.

...J...

[kitesurfer]

If it was me running it would either be SAS or the RNLI, 2 casues that are very close to home!

Good luck choosing. Opps didn't spot ur comment re conservation.

KS

[libby]

I think i'm an excellent cause, you could pay the tuition fees for my masters if you like

[Johnny B]

D'oh! That's not much help!

A couple I've been thinking about are

-Marine Conservation Society UK; they look like they do good work and upon contacting them have been really proactive which always bodes well!

-Bug Life; this is a group who work specifically to protect the invertebrate residents of the UK - some may scoff, but invertebrates are far more crucial to an ecosystem than mammals. I also happen to really like insects and also if folk like me who like 'em don't help, who will!?

SAS is cool, they're conservationists, but I'm already a 'member' and it's quite a popular charity so they get a fair bit of support already.

Can anyone help on how to choose, those 2 were just examples out of many many.

...J...

[libby]

If you want to donate to an environmental charity i would suggest:

1) Flora and Fauna International
2) Marine Conservation Society
3) SAS
4) RSPB
5) Greenpeace

I think your donation will have the most benefit to one of the smaller organisations such as MCS or SAS, while the other organisations are also worthwile causes they have huge budgets and your donation won't be of such relative importance.

[Katza8uk]

Sharks Trust is a good one to, only have 4 people work for them full time but they are the leading people in the UK

Def would say give it to a smaller charity!

[drowningbitbybit]

SAS are financially struggling at the moment - they really dont get all that many donations - so they'd be a good choice!

[drowningbitbybit]

I think your donation will have the most benefit to one of the smaller organisations such as MCS or SAS, while the other organisations are also worthwile causes they have huge budgets and your donation won't be of such relative importance.

Very true. The big charities just want you to run with their logo on for the sake of exposure (so companies and rich people can make big donations). Smaller charities can only exist by smaller donations - so think small.