FEARLESS DOCTORS SPEAK (FAIRLY) CLEARLY
The famous 'doctors without borders' provide medical care in disaster and war zones in 60 countries worldwide. The UK office fundraises for the main international movement and also sent 184 medical volunteers to work on its projects abroad in 2007 alone. MSF UK also monitors the quality of some global MSF programmes, and raises awareness about the charity's work. The annual report is a good effort, although we'd like to see evidence of performance targets and more financial commentary.
QUALITY OF REPORTING
What is this? |
71 % |
How much info does the charity want to share? This score, taken from our search for 43 key points in the annual report, gives the answer. Top mark is 100%. Anything over 70% is a good effort. |
SIZE OF CHARITY...
What is this? |
Large |
We only profile the largest charities in England & Wales, and our sizes are relative to the largest and smallest among them. So where we describe a charity as 'Small', it is still much larger than the national average. |
HIGHEST SALARY
What is this? |
Under £60k |
Taken from the vague bandings given in annual reports; note that 'Under £60k' could be £9k or £59k. Nonetheless the number of bars should roughly correlate with the 'Size of charity' bars. |
ETHICAL INVESTMENT POLICY
What is this? |
No investments |
We asked the charity if it has an ethical investment policy. If yes, it gets an angel. Those with no policy but which don't invest in tobacco/arms get a halo. Those without investments, or who didn't respond, appear neutral. Those with stakes in arms/tobacco get a fallen angel. |
But don't just take our word for it...
Reviewed: 2008-12-09 Accounts ending: 2007-12-31
|
One of the key reasons I support MSF is because I think they are very principled. One of the pitfalls of working in war zones is that it is a political mess, and many people will try to extract a portion of the monies in the form of "commission" or bribes. Your charity might LOOK like it spends 80% of the money you donate it on charitable work but is it really getting to the people that need it?
It's an ethical stance to take, and not all will agree with it, but MSF will pull out of countries and areas where this practice is in place. Many other charities take the view that this is a cost of doing business and it would be better to get 40% of the money to the starving, dying people than none at all. They may accept the theft/siezing of some of their supplies in order to get the rest through. Personally, I do not take this view, and it appears neither do MSF. Money (and in their case, medical assistance) is a scarce commodity and can be used in many locations across the globe. If they feel it can be used to better effect elsewhere, then they will pull out. This also has the benefit of refusing to reward corruption, which is a good thing I think. It's also a benefit of being a global organisation - if you are a charity only operating in one country, you're sort of stuck with the corruption regime there.
It's the same sort of argument over whether on principle to pay a kidnapper's ransom I suppose. So it depends on your view but I think it should help you make an informed decision.