Passing round the begging bowl, a new departure
What does one understand by the concept of a charity? Mine is that it involves raising money from donors for spending on mangy donkeys, mistreated children or whatever. If they cannot raise the money, or the cause ceases to be live, the charity folds, yes?
Not however, in the minds of Unite:
"The government’s £42 million bail-out for recession-hit charities is a step in the right direction, but won’t be enough in the long-term, Unite, the largest union in the country, said today...The finances of the UK’s voluntary sector are under mounting pressure from losses in the Icelandic banks’ debacle; a decline in donations from the general public as the recession bites; and cut backs from local authorities as they struggle to keep council tax increases under control. Also, many charities have few assets to draw on to plug the gaps in their budgets...‘We are calling for more of this ministerial energy to be diverted to the voluntary and community sector, whose caseloads are rising dramatically because of the present situation. Resources should also be committed to preventative services, such as community arts.’
On that basis, we would still have active charities dealing with children sent up chimneys, preserving the dodo and who knows what else.
Not however, in the minds of Unite:
"The government’s £42 million bail-out for recession-hit charities is a step in the right direction, but won’t be enough in the long-term, Unite, the largest union in the country, said today...The finances of the UK’s voluntary sector are under mounting pressure from losses in the Icelandic banks’ debacle; a decline in donations from the general public as the recession bites; and cut backs from local authorities as they struggle to keep council tax increases under control. Also, many charities have few assets to draw on to plug the gaps in their budgets...‘We are calling for more of this ministerial energy to be diverted to the voluntary and community sector, whose caseloads are rising dramatically because of the present situation. Resources should also be committed to preventative services, such as community arts.’
On that basis, we would still have active charities dealing with children sent up chimneys, preserving the dodo and who knows what else.
Labels: Common sense? What's that?, Unions, Where your money goes
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on Monday, February 09, 2009 at 3:53 pm.
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"Resources should also be committed to preventative services, such as community arts.’"
And they are preventing...what, exactly?
That bit made me sit bolt upright. I do wonder whether there is much of a correlation between the number of bad mimes and falls in gun crime. One might suspect otherwise
"we would still have active charities dealing with children sent up chimneys, preserving the dodo"
Well that's pretty much what unions do, isn't it?
If they'd been around then, we would still have Stage-Coach drivers on the payroll.
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