Bushfires 2019/2020!

[get me outta here]

It seems that the dust may come back as well, what a pain.

They seem to be throwing everything they can at it. High winds tomorrow might be more of an issue.

 

[Meggsy]

They seem to be throwing everything they can at it. High winds tomorrow might be more of an issue.

Three airport fire trucks doing property protection in Railway Ave

 

[Flying mermaid]

It seems that the dust may come back as well, what a pain.

The air purifier we bought for Ms FM arrived today - might come in useful for her after all.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Seems to be under control now

 

[get me outta here]

Charities such as the Red Cross are under fire by very upset people who desperate for the assistance they have collected.
But how do respective charities cope with a sudden overwhelming wind fall of donations with only existing staff to ensure that they get the money to the right people. It’s almost as if there needs to be a particular training for specialists to join these organisations in times of extreme emergency to evaluate and appropriately act very quickly.

 

[TomVexille]

Charities such as the Red Cross are under fire by very upset people who desperate for the assistance they have collected.
But how do respective charities cope with a sudden overwhelming wind fall of donations with only existing staff to ensure that they get the money to the right people. It’s almost as if there needs to be a particular training for specialists to join these organisations in times of extreme emergency to evaluate and appropriately act very quickly.

The news story last night suggested that they are holding onto IIRC approximately 60% of the funds for administration costs and future disasters.

 

[Pushka]

Charities such as the Red Cross are under fire by very upset people who desperate for the assistance they have collected.
But how do respective charities cope with a sudden overwhelming wind fall of donations with only existing staff to ensure that they get the money to the right people. It’s almost as if there needs to be a particular training for specialists to join these organisations in times of extreme emergency to evaluate and appropriately act very quickly.

The news story last night suggested that they are holding onto IIRC approximately 60% of the funds for administration costs and future disasters.

Good points but I heard they have done this previously and it’s been reported in the media it’s for ”future contingencies”. They’ve handed out only 1/3rd of the money. I would have thought their role was for immediate emergency relief and not for future re-establishment. That is the work of Governments and Insurance companies.

I donated to a local agency in KI because I don’t like handing money out to large institutions.

 

[I love to travel]

My clear expectation is that if I donate to a bushfire appeal it gets used for that emergency.

 

[get me outta here]

Realistically though, we hope that ‘professional’ people need to administer all this money. Not all of it can go towards charity.

 

[Deleted member]

The news story last night suggested that they are holding onto IIRC approximately 60% of the funds for administration costs and future disasters.

which is par for the course for many charities

Post automatically merged: Jan 23, 2020

My clear expectation is that if I donate to a bush fire appeal it gets used for that emergency.

I guess that maybe there needs to be some kind of (legally enforced) indication of what % of your donation will be gobbled up in admin expenses, I think it would be unreasonable to expect 100% of your (our) donation to get through unscathed by admin costs

 

[Deleted member]

Good to see Twiggy Forest stepping up agaiun to try and take the p;olitics out of this whole debate around climate change and the Bush fires, in spite of the identity politics brigade trying to bring him down. (a little off piste i know, but thought it deserved a mention)

 

[drron]

But 60% is really on the high side for costs.Future emergencies were not what people were donating for.It was this emergency.
60% of costs on Admin etc is what our hospitals spend their salaries on.Only 40% on all Clinical staff.As the first Bundaberg inquiry was told if the could reduce it to what a private business can do,~20%,they could double the number of doctors,nurses,physios etc.
About time these large charities were publicly scrutinised.

 

[I love to travel]

I understand admin costs. What I don't like is money I donated for bushfires being used for other emergencies including overseas. From what I understand a good percentage of donations get used for ongoing work in third world countries where they have staff based continuously. Hence why I direct my donations to small local charities.

 

[get me outta here]

I thought his idea was a good one, no matter what he personally thinks. As long as all sides were brought into it and the various sides felt they were getting a fair go. Otherwise, a waste of money. He says he needs $500m at least to be raised. Hopefully, the impost can be breached.

Andrew Forrest tells CNN fuel loads, not climate change primary cause of bushfires

Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest has repeated his claim that the bushfires are primarily the cause of fuel loads and arson during an international television appearance, in which he called for donors to fund new climate research, saying "the science has so far to go."

www.smh.com.au

Good to see Twiggy Forest stepping up agaiun to try and take the p;olitics out of this whole debate around climate change and the Bush fires, in spite of the identity politics brigade trying to bring him down. (a little off piste i know, but thought it deserved a mention)

 

[Flying mermaid]

Realistically though, we hope that ‘professional’ people need to administer all this money. Not all of it can go towards charity.

It’s one of the main reasons I don’t donate to people like Red Cross. Yes they do need administrators etc, but the proportion that gets retained is too rich for me. I do sponsor a child through Smith Family and just grit my teeth and know the overheads are high, but do it anyway. On the whole though I do as direct as I can to avoid all the padding.

SIL was working for a charity - they were running aged care and providing packages for in place aged people, plus general charity. So they set up a house maintenance and garden maintenance business and it did that plus trying to get a landscaping business going to raise extra money.

He quit after 2 years as he said the unnecessary overheads of all the extra staff to do admin was driving him crazy and made it impossible to run it at a profit. He felt it was more about cushy jobs for the staff than anything else.

 

[RooFlyer]

Red Cross has responded to criticism. Story in the Oz, which is pay walled and I can’t paste now. Basically denying that Some bush fire funds are being stockpiled for future disasters, but not totally convincing to me. Will probably be on ABC later ( not presently).

 

[Pushka]

Realistically though, we hope that ‘professional’ people need to administer all this money. Not all of it can go towards charity.

Of course. I’d say 10% max.

 

[dajop]

The news story last night suggested that they are holding onto IIRC approximately 60% of the funds for administration costs and future disasters.

60% does seem on the high side, but I’m not opposed to a small proportion of money being held for future bushfires at least..

There will no doubt be some small bushfires next summer (hopefully they will only be small). There might affect a community and a dozen houses. There will be no major international social media driven campaigns to aid them with charity. Who’s going to look after them? I suppose on a smaller scale, the government and others in that same community can.

 

[get me outta here]

The Red Cross says that since July 2019, funds will only be spent in Aus. There is a lot of misinformation around, eg SkyNews saying only a 1/3 of money being used for charity; other sources reverse that. The RC says 10% will go on "necessary" costs.

Bushfires 2019/2020!

It seems that the dust may come back as well, what a pain. They seem to be throwing everything they can at it. High winds tomorrow might be more of an issue.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[get me outta here]

Two fires around CBR a/p again. Emergency level. EDIT, all flights affected. Home - Canberra Airport