Why support Charity (Adventure) Links?
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Make an Impact
Many donations to large charities are barely acknowledged as they will be a small drop in a pond, that’s not to say they are not valuable but they just can’t have the same impact as donations given to a small charity like Charity Links where a single donation might well make the difference between a project starting or remaining ‘on hold’.
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The barriers to giving
If you are reading this, you are probably considering giving your support to our charity, but naturally you have some questions, in particular ‘why Charity Links?’
So we have thought long and hard about this and believe we have identified the most important questions. To these questions we offer our responses below – please do read on.
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1. “Charity should begin at home”
There are many people living in the UK in need of charitable support for a whole range of reasons. If you feel strongly that charity begins at home, support a UK charity. Our passion is to alleviate the most human suffering as possible. The most direct way to do this is to tackle poverty in Africa, where the greatest number of people live in absolute poverty. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as not having enough income to meet the most basic human needs for adequate food, water, shelter, clothing, sanitation, health care, and education. Absolute poverty line is less than $1.25 per day. 1.4 billion people around the world under this line. Africa has one third of words extremely poor people, highest rate of child mortality and shortest overall life expectancy.
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2. “Isn‘t charity bureaucratic and ineffective anyway?”
Some charities are 10 times, 100 times and even 1000 times more effective than others in terms of how their money is spent. If this is a concern for you, it is quite easy to find out which charities are more / less wasteful with their fundraising, simply read their annual reports (Read our annual report here). We believe in total transparency about how undertake our work. Charity Links is run entirely by volunteers, so our annual core cost for running the charity are a few pounds raised by trustee donations or some modest drawings from the gift-aid we recover. The result is that 100% of donations are made available for our projects in Africa.
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3. “How much of a difference can I really make?”
It is true to say that no one life is instantly saved by the construction of a classroom, but the potential of empowering young people through education, and giving them choices as a result, provides a path out of poverty. In the last 8 years we have raised around £200,000 to our projects in Africa. Today, thanks to the great work of the schools we have supported 1000’s of children every year receive a quality primary education. These schools now need minimal financial assistance from Charity Links partners and will continue to provide a safe and effective learning environment for years to come.
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4. “I can’t afford to give to charity, I struggle for money as it is”
Living in the UK can be financially challenging for all of us. However, we still have access to a glass of water whenever we want it. We still all have wardrobes full of clothes. The laptop / desktop / tablet / smart phone I am using to write this / you are using to read it are probably not the only electronic device we own. We’re OK. If any of us have bought a bottle of water, or a cup of coffee in the last month, we can afford to give cash to a cause that helps alleviate the suffering of those less fortunate. Supporting the provision of education is a proven way of doing this and one that we feel passionate about. We would therefore encourage you to support those engaged with Charity (Adventure) Links as they take up challenges that will ultimately make a real difference ‘on the ground in East Africa’.
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