What Kitchen Table Charities Trust Does

There are a vast number of small charities all over the world who do a wonderful job. You’ve probably never even heard of them. They don’t have swanky offices or air-conditioned Land Rovers or money to spend on expensive advertising. Every penny goes to people in need. But they struggle to survive because they simply can’t afford their own fund-raising operations. I have spent many years working in third world countries – mostly in Africa – and have been hugely impressed by what they do. I have also noticed over the years that many people would like to help these…

Breaking The Cycle: Daily Mail, Dec 2006

You might expect the charity world to be full of charitable people: meek, gentle souls who would never hurt a fly, always anxious to seek consensus rather than stir up controversy. You would be wrong. Kind and caring they might very well be. Given a choice between my daughter marrying a drugs dealer and a charity worker – or even, God forbid, a journalist – I’d most definitely plump for the charity worker. But meek they are not. They love an argument and in this competitive world there is always something to argue about. Usually it’s money. This is the…

Three Scenes From Charity Life: Daily Telegraph, Dec 2006

Here are three scenes from charity life. Scene One (an office building in Liverpool): An elderly man, dressed neatly but rather shabbily, walks into the building and tells the girl at the desk he wants to make a donation to a little charity he read about in the paper. He hands over a brown envelope, refuses to give a name or fill in a Gift Aid form and walks out again. When they open the envelope it contains £1,000 in used notes. Scene Two (the board room of one of Britain’s best-known charities): The chief executive and his young marketing…