A Warning To Charities (and other small businesses) - People Will Take Advantage Of You!

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

I am a trustee of a small charity in London and at the latest AGM we started discussing costs of some services. I was shocked that they were paying £15-20 a month per user for an email service.

What is strange is that this hosting company advertises MS mail services for between £3-7 a user.

What is even more frustrating is that both Google & MS offer their services for (many) charities free of charge!

I am now looking at all of their costs (last year, I highlighted that they were paying too much for merchant service - one call and, hey presto, a 50%+ reduction!).

Moral of the story - It doesn't matter whether you work for a good cause or starting and growing your business, some people/companies just see you as a cash cow!

Moral of the story 2 - If you are starting a CIC or charity, you are basically a COMPANY with a cause - your issues are mostly the same as anyone else starting a business.

 

[fisicx]

Not just charities, many small sports and similar clubs get taken for a ride.

The car club of which I’m a member has just signed a £15,000 contract for a new laraval website. Something you could put together for almost nothing using Wordpress.

 

[intheTRADE]

Check you aren’t paying the CCL (Climate Change Levy) on the energy bills as charities are exempt but its often overlooked by the suppliers

 

[cjd]

We provide most of our phone services free to charities. We have about 350 of them now.

VoIP for charities

Voipfone wants to help where it can and we provide most of our services free to small, UK registered charities.

www.voipfone.co.uk

 

[WaveJumper]

I would say this even goes as far as some business owners, and I would guess for many a charity or club those running them have little business sense but a big passion for what they do.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

I would say this even goes as far as some business owners, and I would guess for many a charity or club those running them have little business sense but a big passion for what they do.

Exactly.

 

[Scott DLE]

Personally I think there are too many charities in the UK. I get that they need and want to keep the costs down, but that shouldn’t be to the detriment of suppliers either.

At least twice per month I get a call from charities or people raising funds for charities wishing to get my services for free or for as low a possible price as possible. I have a standard 10% discount but some come back quite rudely explaining how they are a charity and how I should work for free or at cost for them.

When I look up there company accounts online I often see that the same charity expecting me to work for free have much more 0000 in there accounts that I do.

Yeah sure shop around on your fixed costs that’s normal for anyone not just a business. But the whole charity thing in the UK is mostly just an industry called the third sector with many employees who get paid handsomely.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I would say this even goes as far as some business owners, and I would guess for many a charity or club those running them have little business sense but a big passion for what they do.

Let's be honest,people selling stuff are doing it for profit. Some will be more mercenary than others.

Personally I treat charities the same as any other business - no favours or concessions, but no rip off. Which usually results in no deal because I always want to talk to a decision-maker, and most smaller charities don't know who that is.