We've had a conversation recently about this kind of thing... some of our pupils have asked to raise funds for Children in Need, specifically because one of them is a young carer and she has been involved in things with other young carers that have been funded through CiN.

On the whole, we don't normally support such big charities as a school. We like to raise money for local ones or ones that are smaller in scale and will never get the kind of national airtime CiN gets. HT suggested we just give any money raised to a young carers charity, but the pupils want to be involved with CiN.

I suggested that we let them, but we include a cover letter restricting how they use any money we raise to work with young carers. If a charity is given money for a specific purpose, they are legally obliged to use it for that purpose. The funds are "restricted".

So many charities do things that are contrary to our teaching, especially on the sanctity of life. I often wonder what would happen if every single Catholic (or like-minded Christian) who ever donated to one of the big medical charities like Cancer Research, for example, specifically restricted their money so that it couldn't in any way be used in embryonic stem cell research?

It's a very difficult subject. It would be so much easier if these charities respected life in the same way the Catholic Church does, but the majority don't... I guess people need to decide for themselves whether they withdraw all funding or donate with a restriction on their money... I'm not sure where I am with it, personally...

I posted this question on Twitter and somebody responded by saying that we should try to find organisations that we do agree with instead. I guess that's okay, where they do exist, but they often don't.

Comic relief is always a concern, as we're often said on this site over the years.

I'd love to see a Catholic version running alongside. After all, we create simultaneous Catholic versions of other things, so why not big charity events??

On another track, I do wonder about the whole issue of restricted funds. If an organisation is planning to spend 5% of it's budget on stuff we don't like and we restrict our funds, does that make a difference? In other words, as long as 95.1% of their total funds aren't restricted, they can still do it. They just say that they were using the non restricted funds for those things.

I've spoken to a load of people about this over the years, and the general consensus seems to be that this is so obvious surely somebody must have thought of it. I wonder if the law also says that if they initially budget 5% for, say, abortion, then they have to cut that 5% by as much proportionally as the restricted funds that come in. Now, that would make a difference. But I don't know if it works like that??

I think the best route is to try and work with as many smaller, locally-based organizations as you can.  These groups are more likely to meet the specific needs of people where they find them, instead of just filling X need for whatever folks find the organization.  These groups tend to be more willing to work within the stated comfort zones of their donors and they tend to be very welcoming of volunteer hours.  You can do work that you very specifically approve of, such as literally putting food in the hands of hungry people, and know that you are responsible for your own actions.

With organizations that do work you support as well as work you don't, I think you need to ask yourself two main questions: How seriously do you disagree with the offence and how much of the organization's mission does the offence take up?  I think there's a difference between a self-esteem & anti-bullying campaign that has a pro-homosexuality component and a women's health group that sponsors contraception & abortions but also provides free general check-ups for impoverished immigrants.  Does the Catholic Church support the largest component of the program?  How egregious is the offending portion?

Unfortunately, most people, even when they are trying their best, fall short of the ideal Christian life.  Also unfortunately, most organizations are made up of people.  This doesn't absolve us of the responsibility to devote resources to fight injustices and serve those in need.  We just need a lot of energy to find the most effective way.