At this time of year many newspapers adopt charities and invite their readers to contribute. I never have but it has led me to reflect on how I allocate my charity budget. It comes down to this.
Near and Far summarises my approach. Charity begins at home and Near are charities that are nearby. So beneficiaries are charities like the Royal College of Music, LAMDA, Fulham Opera but also The Benevolent Society of St Patrick, that has been providing support since 1771 for needy Irish people living in London.
Far are charities that operate in desperately poor parts of the world. The problem is to pick a charity where the money raised is well-spent and not squandered on administrative expenses. So I avoid big aid agencies and have chosen two charities that, from looking at their accounts, I believe to be efficient and effective. A second reason for my choices is that I have visited both the countries they work in.
I went to Ethiopia in 1998 and was fortunate to be put up at the British Embassy. The grounds at ninety acres are the largest of any British embassy. Wilfred Thesiger was born there in 1910 when his father (another Wilfred) was Consul-General and Minister Plenipotentiary. My bedroom was where a young Haile Selassie stayed with his tutor under British protection while his father fought to become ruler of Abyssinia. Also guests were Alec Reed of the eponymous employment agency with his daughter and a graduate trainee. Alec had started Ethiopiaid in 1989, after visiting Ethiopia two years earlier and seeing that he could make an effective contribution to this poor country. He has made frequent visits to allocate money to charities and monitor their progress. I overheard him saying after dinner – “I’m not happy with the Little Sisters of Mercy”.
I was a trustee of a charity that taught young Afghans to make carpets and included some schooling as well. Their school was in Karte Se, a suburb of Kabul, and I went to visit in 2008. It was a magnificent effort but ultimately doomed to failure as a social enterprise. It had too high a ratio of trainers and teachers to pupils and sales of the carpets in the UK could not hope to recover these costs. Down the road in Kabul, Rory Stewart’s Turquoise Mountain project was flourishing thanks to his success in raising substantial funding with the backing of The Prince of Wales. Kiva, of which I have written before, does seem to be a social enterprise model that works.
Then I discovered Afghanaid, through Anthony Fitzherbert. Anthony had been a big help planning my 2008 visit and I had been on a few expeditions with his brother. When Anthony became a trustee I knew I had found an effective way of channeling some help back to Afghanistan. There are other options, notably Sarah Fane’s, Afghan Connection, but my budget is too small to support multiple charities in Afghanistan.
So my criteria are Near and Far and if you’d like to know more here is a video that explains the concept in more detail, delivered by the indefatigable Glover.