Donating to charity .
Most of us enjoy when we have sorted our unwanted clothes, checked for faults and made sure that it is ready for donation to our choice of charity and, triumphantly, bring it to the charity shop or have it picked up .
Lately, there have been so called scandals mentioned in the press, at every given mentioning of charity, making the trip to the place of donation less pleasurable and more doubtful .
It is not only when a member of the British Royal family, write on bananas, hand them over to the less fortunate and call it charity that scandal is mentioned .
Sadly, there has been economic fraud and volunteers that took personal advantage of victims in areas hit by catastrophe .
Globally the wholesale used clothing trade is valued at more than £2.8bn.
Only a small portion, around 20 percent, of Americans’ used clothing, including those sent to consignment shops, are being sold at secondhand retail outlets and thrift stores in the U.S. Most of it is shipped to developing areas like sub-Saharan Africa, South America and China, the donations reach an estimated eighth largest export . Clothes are sold in tons of bales, sorted and resold to the local population .
Across the African continent second-hand clothes are a mainstay of informal traders, even accounting for the majority of clothing sales in some countries. In Nigeria they are known as kafa ulaya (the clothes of the dead whites) and roupa da calamidade (clothing of the calamity) in Mozambique.
It has been a much appreciated tradition to hold a charity ball, where people dress up, have an enjoyable evening and pay a large sum for access to the ball . Or you can donate your antiques to a charity auction where all proceedings goes to a charity of choice . Those events seem innocent or perhaps somewhat ignorant, when you study the facts .
The economic fraud has reached millions of US$ and British Pounds at a level that suggests organized crime and a serious lack of self control and empathy .
The scandals seems to have roots in the administration of the, often, large sums that we, kindly donate . Or the clothes that we donate never reaches the destination that we intended .
The American organisation , Charity Watch , have some general advice on how to choose a charity , here :
https://www.charitywatch.org/charity-donating-tips
Wikipedia has a list of the biggest frauds here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Charity_scandals
Personally , we only donate to organisations or individuals that bring the donated clothings directly to the intended area .
www.networkvintage.com don`t donate to foundations, either, we only donate, directly, to the actual charity, as there is no need for middlemen.
copyright : Helena Hamilton
Designer vintage news, articles, tips, guides and shopping at www.networkvintage.com
Not so fast fashion.
28.12.2021 Paris France
https://networkvintage.com/2015/03/25/fast-fashion-in-these-horrible-times-of-fast-spreading-vira/
