Children in Need

[Jibar]

It's one of the few things that can consistently pull my heartstrings so I'm going to say it.
Please, do what you can. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/)
And watch the 7 hour long show to find out just why you should.

[Felixaar]

Donated. Not very much, but it'll help somehow.

A bump.

[Dallas-Dakota]

It's apparently 'not available in your area' for me.

[Evil DM Mark3]

Up to £20,991,216.

Oddly enough I found the QI special to be the most enjoyable part of the evening, although Terry Wogan does not feel like the right sort of guest really.

[Elm11]

Not available in my area either

[Oregano]

It's only available in Britain probably. I haven't made a donation this year, but I'll probably donate at some point.

[bosssmiley]

I don't give to grant-giving charities like CIN, Oxfam, Comic Relief, CAFOD, etc. Who are they to decide how best my charitable donations should be spent (after they've leeched off interest payments and two sets of admin costs)? :smallannoyed:

Give directly to charities with a set purpose (the Royal British Legion, the RNLI, etc.), or acknowledge that your money is just going into the hands of special interest groups via the easy largesse of quangocrats.

I don't want to hate on Pudsey, I just want people to think about where their money will do some real good

[Evil DM Mark3]

I don't want to hate on Pudsey, I just want people to think about where their money will do some real good

Whilst I agree with you on most Grant Giving charities Children in Need and Comic Relief DO NOT fall into that category. They both have a very good track record of getting the money into the places where it is needed, frequently small local charities that have difficulty raising large sums without such help (a local children's hospice near me got money towards renovations that would have taken them several years to save up and would have prevented them from using donations for the things people expected them to spent on), and avoid much (or in the case of Comic Relief ALL) of the money loss from admin, salaries etc that tend to blight such charities.

[Sub_Zero]

Up to £20,991,216.

Oddly enough I found the QI special to be the most enjoyable part of the evening, although Terry Wogan does not feel like the right sort of guest really.

welllll....he wasn't really there to be funny, he was there to promote children in need. It was quite a good QI though, I hope a new series starts soon

[paddyfool]

The matter of efficiency of charities is a big one. Websites like Charity Navigator (for the US) and Charities Direct (for the UK) can help you out a bit here, however.

Oh, and on the subject of charities - see my sig. Buy some nets today!

EDIT: More on-topic to Children in Need, check out the stuff they have on auction (http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/bbc_children_in_need). Somewhere in that list, among all the signed Pudseys and other similar items, there's a Bond watch for the taking... (EDIT - for £21000, alas).