Public donations to the Philipines.

[DavidinSouthampton]

More to the point is why do the highest paid directors of the national charities get paid so much

While I know what you mean, some of these re very large organisations which need talented and competent people to run them.

For me, it helps put it in perspective that I read something in the paper this morning - an interview with the chairman of the Royal bank of Scotland, Sir Philip Hampton, who was expressing his disbelief that an employee of the bank expressed his outrage at being offered a £4,000,000 per year remuneration package, because he knew that someone doing a comparable job in a different bank was getting £6,000,000 per year.

 

[cunning fergus]

Thousands of people have been killed, maybe hundreds of thousands have lost their homes......And your point ?

Well, I guess I would put it this way.............many charities these days are fundamentally capitalist concerns.................natural disasters are good for business.

I understand these organisations require competent people in charge, however salaries of 100k plus are game changers and heading a charity is now an aspirational vocation, and that's not to mention that a seat on the board of a charity is now seemingly a useful step before entering into politics.

So there you have it many charities are being run by capitalists with political ambitions, not all..........but enough, and not least some of those on the DEC.

Got to go the appeal has just come on.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

A donation to http://www.dec.org.uk/appeals/philippines-typhoon-appeal hits the spot. Nothing donated to the current appeal will end up in the bank account of a Chief Executive.

Yes, charities employ skilled, qualified people to prepare for and respond to disasters and emergencies (and the young Miss Bracknell is one such), but their work is structured and targeted. Not being prepared for an horrific typhoon would mean huge delays in getting an effective response to where it's needed.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

I would look for a charity that was working in this area BEFORE the typhoon hit, so that they already know how to work in the Philippines and already have people on the ground. Smaller charities will get more of your money direct to where it is needed.

This is from first-hand experience of the mess that was the big charities efforts to get aid to the tsunami survivors in Sumatra - the massive ones like the red cross and so on raised millions but didn't have much of a set-up in Indonesia beforehand. They kept running into red tape, didn't know the normal prices or way of doing things and wasted huge amounts of money as a result. Local people took massive advantage by shooting up the price of car rental and daily labour. There are still land-rovers that were donated for the relief effort sitting in Jakarta customs because they had the wrong import documents. A local charity that knows the area is your best bet.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I would look for a charity that was working in this area BEFORE the typhoon hit, so that they already know how to work in the Philippines and already have people on the ground. Smaller charities will get more of your money direct to where it is needed.

This is from first-hand experience of the mess that was the big charities efforts to get aid to the tsunami survivors in Sumatra - the massive ones like the red cross and so on raised millions but didn't have much of a set-up in Indonesia beforehand. They kept running into red tape, didn't know the normal prices or way of doing things and wasted huge amounts of money as a result. Local people took massive advantage by shooting up the price of car rental and daily labour. There are still land-rovers that were donated for the relief effort sitting in Jakarta customs because they had the wrong import documents. A local charity that knows the area is your best bet.

Are you talking about failures of the Indonesian Red Cross Society? Or the International Committee of the Red Cross? Or the British Red Cross? Or the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee? There is certainly much work that needs to be done, in some vulnerable nations, to improve co-ordination between agencies and ensure readiness for future emergencies. Preparedness varies between nations. In the case that you mention, sorting out customs formalities might be a responsibility of the Indonesian government, as much as the charity that has supplied the Land Rovers.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

One of the most tragic disasters of our time. Just shows the ones who contribute the least to climate change suffer the most...

Nothing to do with climate change. Disgusting that people link such a tragedy to push their own agendas.

 

[banjo]

A donation to http://www.dec.org.uk/appeals/philippines-typhoon-appeal hits the spot.

Thanks Lord B just donated.

 

[acrossthepond]

More to the point is why do the highest paid directors of the national charities get paid so much

Because they're running multi-million pound operations, and need to be competent to do so...