Intelligent Giving

SHOE-BOXES AND KNITWARE NEED UNRAVELLING

This UK branch of the US-founded group aims to help needy children worldwide by, among other things, getting donors to knit and send in shoe-boxes packed with gifts. It also funds training and vocational education in poor countries. Unusually, it's also active in the UK, running a breakfast club for children in deprived areas. Yet its annual report is simply bad, leaving the majority of our questions unanswered. There's also a worryingly small amount of cash in the bank.

Read the charity's reply

QUALITY OF REPORTING What is this?	50 %
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?	Medium
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.
RESERVES WOULD LAST... What is this?	0 months
If income dried up, how long could work continue? 3-12 months is normal. Less may be precarious. 12+ months may be over-cautious (or if very high, may represent the value of the charity's property).
ETHICAL INVESTMENT POLICY What is this?	Unknown
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...

• The charity's website
• View their work on the Big Give
• GuideStar financial overview
• Charity Commission entry and link to annual report

The summary gives the impression that FTC asking for knitted items is not a serious player. FTC has major projects in Africa partnering with the UNWFP in feeding 40,000 school Ugandan children. 12 boreholes in Uganda to provide clean safe drinking water as well as reproductive education centred on HIV / aids. The DEC charities raise £400m in Tsunami donations which sucked funding from thousands of smaller organisations. Many are still recovering from "donor fatigue".