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This is a link post Amnesty International loose the plot
Blimey, no more donations from me. Wages or pay offs like these are why some charities get to big for their boots.

This was reported in yesterday's Independent but strangely absent from their online content; so a Daily Mail link

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/animosity-international-staff-on-strike-in-amnesty-offices-across-the-globe-8317303.html
 (I helped save b3ta! Jahled Three shades of black, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 12:05, , Reply)
This is a normal post
It seems that every last organisation on the planet that claims to do nothing but good ( each to their own ).
is infected by money making bell ends. Orwell's Animal farm sums up these depressingly common occurrences every time .
 (boarders You won't catch me with my trousers, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 12:18, , Reply)
This is a normal post Yeah! Damn charities!
Let's stick with our lean, efficient private sector Human Rights Organisations. This sort of thing never happens outside of the charity sector.
 (dermoth Tonton Zola Moukoko., Sat 17 Nov 2012, 12:26, , Reply)
This is a normal post I work for one
and you really aren't there for salaries or pay offs like that, so Amnesty appears to have lost it's way. I mean for fuck's sake:

"The payment to Bangladeshi-born Miss Khan, who has a reputation as a campaigner against poverty, was more than four times her annual salary of £132,490."
 (I helped save b3ta! Jahled Three shades of black, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 12:31, , Reply)
This is a normal post ^this
The annual salary I can understand - if anything I'd say that was cheap for getting someone to run an organisation that large. The vast payoff seems indefensible for a charity though, especially considering the Non-Disclosure terms.
 (I helped save b3ta! wheresthefish Partly filled with wrong, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 12:37, , Reply)
This is a normal post I have also worked in the charity sector, which validates me as a person
You need to weigh the good that Amnesty does against pissy Daily Mail bullshit like this when making a decision about whether to donate. Plus it's an eighteen month old story. Granted, it was quite a big story at the time, but it doesn't happen often (cf. more recent similar stories oh wait).

Also, even though the size of the payoff wasn't announced, all charities publish detailed accounts. Amnesty spend 20% of every donation on fundraising, admin and governance. they don't disclose exactly how much of that 20% goes on kickbacks for greedy execs with highly paid employment lawyers, but I'm guessing it's not a lot. Meanwhile, the other 80% goes on doing really important stuff. Try not to forget about the really important stuff, because it's really important.
 (dermoth Tonton Zola Moukoko., Sat 17 Nov 2012, 12:57, , Reply)
This is a normal post My point was this was published in the Independent yesterday; I read it on the tube on the way to work
It's not about Daily Mail sensationalism, which 9/10 times I would naturally agree with you on, but those pay offs were nauseating for a charity to be making. If you make the career choice of working for a charity financial settlements like that are not what people donating to the cause would expect to be paying for, by any measure.

I work part time for my one, leaving me the rest of the week to earn money on the side off the radar of the Inland Revenue, and do my own thing.
 (I helped save b3ta! Jahled Three shades of black, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 13:14, , Reply)
This is a normal post I didn't say it was only charities. Animal farm puts my point across perfectly.

(boarders You won't catch me with my trousers, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 12:38, , Reply)
This is a normal post The notorious porn film?
How so?
 (I helped save b3ta! Tab Hunter Make this useless process end and so, begin again, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 14:12, , Reply)
This is a normal post Something something bell ends?

(I helped save b3ta! Fadgebadger (1 like), Sat 17 Nov 2012, 15:01, , Reply)
This is a normal post Help for Heroes spent £153 million on a new HQ
not that i care, it's not my money
 (I helped save b3ta! Rebel biscuit stercore sumus et nos esse novimus, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 12:43, , Reply)
This is a normal post I bet if you are a hero that lives within 30 miles of that place
it is an absolute godsend
 (I helped save b3ta! gaijintendo Regular Member, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 13:24, , Reply)
This is a normal post According to Wikipedia it is actually
"£153 million on constructing and running five regional MOD Personnel Recovery Centres"

However, it is interesting to see that they do not campaign for the government to support wounded soldiers properly (and thus do themselves out of existence). The MOD should pay for those centres, not the public.

Seems like they are doing more to create a problem (ie that the government leave soldiers to rely on charity) than fix it.
 (I helped save b3ta! monkeon schmonkeon, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 13:54, , Reply)
This is a normal post You could apply that to any charity
Why give money to the NSPCC when it's the job of the police and state to protect children etc?
 (I helped save b3ta! Cerebus Sticky! Sticky! Stick! Stick!, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 14:04, , Reply)
This is a normal post I think this is different
because soldiers are the government's employees.

I imagine that part of the NSPCC's work is campaigning for legal change too. It just seems weird that Help the Heroes don't seem (as far as I know) to do that.
 (I helped save b3ta! monkeon schmonkeon, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 14:12, , Reply)
This is a normal post ^pretty much this
Blair shut the dedicated military hospitals a few years after the invasion of Iraq, what a guy.
 (I helped save b3ta! Rebel biscuit stercore sumus et nos esse novimus, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 18:56, , Reply)
This is a normal post I tend to agree.
Why does my local Hospice need a million pounds a year in donations just to survive? THAT is the sort of thing I happily pay tax for.
However, I do understand the RNLI and their attitude; they don't want to be government funded because it would mean government control. They would end up being 'cost effective' rather than out there saving lives.
 (I helped save b3ta! TheSundaeLunch I'm a fucking shrub, alright?, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 14:18, , Reply)
This is a normal post Might as well rant while I'm here on the subject.
I run a charity (yes, I'm a little Saint) and you would not believe the money wasted. We rely on donations and a Council grant. The Council have reduced our grant and now have decided we should pay rates on our buildings (which are owned by the Council and rented to us on a peppercorn basis). So they give us a grant then ask for £2k of it back right away. This involves accountants, paperwork, meetings, all of which I'm sure add up to over the £2k in the first place on both sides.

/rant over.
 (I helped save b3ta! TheSundaeLunch I'm a fucking shrub, alright?, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 14:34, , Reply)
This is a normal post Our journal binding budget has been reduced to practically nothing
other than our own publications and the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine. A tradition of binding and thus protection for academic publications going back to 1826, and we're now storing publications loose in boxes.

Not good
 (I helped save b3ta! Jahled Three shades of black, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 15:06, , Reply)
This is a normal post Why give money to the NSPCC
when I have a nice soundproof cellar they could put them in
 (I helped save b3ta! A Rory Borealis here under duress, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 14:43, , Reply)
This is a normal post Are you sure?
www.helpforheroes.org.uk/how_we_spend.html
 (I helped save b3ta! Cerebus Sticky! Sticky! Stick! Stick!, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 13:58, , Reply)
This is a normal post It is OK to question the behaviour of charities
look at their accounts and all the rest of it. They operate on public money - much like governments.
If you are critical of them, perhaps you will change their culture.
And you have the freedom to vote with your pennies in this case.
And don't think a charity is non-political, and will do what you expect.
In fact, I encourage you all to be more interested in Cancer Research, and Amnesty International. It will make you a better informed human being.
 (I helped save b3ta! gaijintendo Regular Member, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 13:27, , Reply)
This is a normal post Lose.

(I helped save b3ta! JamTallons, Sat 17 Nov 2012, 14:37, , Reply)