Reply to: Offering Free Technical help to Charity

[GWilliy]

Pond - your quite right

Pond - your quite right

I was focussing on the Negative & lost sight of the fantastic indications of help.

It's just that when someone posts a blatant lie which I went on to disprove, said person instead of admitting they're wrong then comes back with another accusation which I don't have the resources to disprove.

I work at Oxfam & would like to continue to work at Oxfam - I stress this idea is completely unofficial.

I'll message the moderator and ask him "Not to delete this Thread"

GW

[Pondlife]

But my conclusion is - Someones always gonna Cusade against it !

Shame really cos the (possibly 7 figure) sum that could have been saved was not just donation money - it was nett donation money after expenses !

Think of the difference it could have made

I finally cast my vote on the poll - Guess which one ?

I've asked the moderator to pull the thread because I don't want it being used to launch attacks on the aforementioned Charity !

Eh? There's 6 people who have offered their help plus the potential of another 12. Sure you have 9 "can't be arsed votes" but what else would you expect from an internet poll. There is only one person who has expressed a reason for not offering support and he has said why - he is entitled to that view and rather than having a go, if you have info that might disprove his doubts then share them.

Why delete the poll? You asked for our opinions and they were given.

Not really sure what you were expecting to get from this. All I can see is that you have a potential 18 resources offering help but have chosen to focus on the negative.

[TheFaQQer]

I've asked the moderator to pull the thread because I don't want it being used to launch attacks on the aforementioned Charity !

Lock the thread if need be, don't delete it!

[GWilliy]

OK - well this about gives me a conclusion

The project stops here.

Thanks to all who posted & voted altruistically & constructively.
Thanks also to those who did'nt.
Special thanks to Churchill

The point of the thread was to see if such a thing could be done - maybe it still could - maybe i'm a Quitter.

But my conclusion is - Someones always gonna Cusade against it !

Shame really cos the (possibly 7 figure) sum that could have been saved was not just donation money - it was nett donation money after expenses !

Think of the difference it could have made

I finally cast my vote on the poll - Guess which one ?

I've asked the moderator to pull the thread because I don't want it being used to launch attacks on the aforementioned Charity !

Overall an interesting thread though

Be Good

GW

[Churchill]

Don't see a problem with that if they are effective.
What works, works.

Like the government really. A few people propped up by the downtrodden masses in the belief that somehow they are doing something good and worthy.

[sasguru]

Ok, yes it is. The point I'm making is that with quite a few charities the upper echelon make a very comfortable living.

Don't see a problem with that if they are effective.
What works, works.

[Churchill]

It seems to me that if the income raised is greater than the amount spent to raise it, this is a justified cost. Are you saying this is not the case?

Ok, yes it is. The point I'm making is that with quite a few charities the upper echelon make a very comfortable living.

[sasguru]

Fundraising costs - spent to increase income £77,200,000

Ask for a breakdown of the "Fundraising costs" and all will become clear...

Almost in the realms of £500k for webservices...

It seems to me that if the income raised is greater than the amount spent to raise it, this is a justified cost. Are you saying this is not the case?

[Churchill]

What's your point?

Fundraising costs - spent to increase income £77,200,000

Ask for a breakdown of the "Fundraising costs" and all will become clear...

Almost in the realms of £500k for webservices...

[sasguru]

Annual income - what the charity received in the year £310,500,000
Annual expenditure - what the charity spent in the year £298,000,000
Admin costs - what the charity spent to run itself £1,000,000
Fundraising costs - spent to increase income £77,200,000
Reserves - spare cash the charity can use however it chooses* £43,500,000
Estimated government income** - carrying out gov't policy £23,100,000
Highest salary £90,505

Can you categorically state that from the fundraising costs, no incentives are offered to employees or freelance fundraisers?

This is where I catch him out folks...

What's your point?

[Churchill]

Churchill
Ref

You actually posted

to which I said you should do a bit of research first & you respond with


if you click on the profile - this clearly states the Highest Salary
see this for a shortcut
http://www.intelligentgiving.com/charity/202918/numbers

Ref


Your previous comment

Clearly shows you in your true light.

Thanks for persistently trying to destroy something that is simply trying to do some good.

Annual income - what the charity received in the year £310,500,000
Annual expenditure - what the charity spent in the year £298,000,000
Admin costs - what the charity spent to run itself £1,000,000
Fundraising costs - spent to increase income £77,200,000
Reserves - spare cash the charity can use however it chooses* £43,500,000
Estimated government income** - carrying out gov't policy £23,100,000
Highest salary £90,505

Can you categorically state that from the fundraising costs, no incentives are offered to employees or freelance fundraisers?

This is where I catch him out folks...

[chicane]

WotNxts correlation with Open Source Projects is very interesting, does anyone know of any source code control & project management software used by open source projects or does it not use these things by it's very nature.

The most mainstream choice for source control in open source these days is Subversion. Trac is fast becoming the mainstream choice for project management, although it's pushing it a bit to call it "project management software".

[thunderlizard]

Out of all the charities I know, Oxfam is the least likely to want to go down that route, simply because it's the most businesslike. It's not afraid to spend on advertising because it knows anything else would be a false economy, & I don't see why CRM would be any different. (Their CRM is flipping good as it is. Yesterday they sent me a free red AIDS ribbon "as a thankyou": today they sent me a disaster response request...)

& incidentally, Barbara Stocking has done some great stuff with it and thoroughly deserves her tenth-of-what-she'd-get-in-the-private-sector salary.

[TheFaQQer]

I would do something like this between contracts (if only!) but I don't do any of the things that you want for this one.

Best of luck with it all, though.

Should have said - as a consequence of not being able to help out (even if I wanted to), I've not voted. There's not even the obligatory AndyW option that I could have chosen

[GWilliy]

Thanks to everyone for your contributions, some interesting points have been raised.

WotNxts correlation with Open Source Projects is very interesting, does anyone know of any source code control & project management software used by open source projects or does it not use these things by it's very nature.

I'll do some investigation.

I don't see any reason why people who made contributions could'nt mention this on their CV's maybe with some kind of official thankyou.

The Graph is currently showing much as I had hoped with 50% willing to contribute if they had time.

I think utilizing some existing full time staff - Project Managers & Technical Architects - it could be possible to put something together.

Maybe a small Project first for proof of concept,

mmmmm I'll think on

GW