This article in the Sydney Morning Herald reports that billionaire retailer Gerry Harvey, the founder of the Australian department store Harvey Norman, doesn't believe in giving money to the homeless because they are not worthwhile. His comments are stated in a new book Master CEOs, by Matthew Kidman.

Harvey says he would give money to develop people who help the community, but for people whom he deems beyond development he says "you are helping a whole heap of no-hopers to survive for no good reason."

In my opinion, such an attitude is callous and sickening from a man who has so much. Harvey lacks the most basic human value of helping those in need. What do you think?

A round-up of some of the week’s Charity News.

Friday 14^th November saw the Prince of Wales celebrate his 60^th Birthday. This has prompted media coverage on the Prince’s extensive charity work, including a BBC documentary broadcast last Wednesday: Charles at 60: the Passionate Prince. Cameras followed Prince Charles for a year to see how the influence and power of the future British Monarch has allowed him to promote his campaign work and gain support from some of the World’s most powerful leaders.

Friday’s Birthday celebrations also included The Prince and The Duchess of Cornwall visiting Beckton Community Centre in East London to meet young people helped by The Prince’s Trust. Founded in 1976 by Prince Charles, The Prince’s Trust seeks to help young people who are not in employment, education or training. The organisation’s work gives the practical and financial support to enable disadvantaged young people to develop the key skills, confidence and motivation to change their situation. For example, The Trust has helped tens of thousands of young people to set up their own business.

The Queen recently said she is “enormously proud” of her son’s achievements in setting up The Princes Trust and that The Prince's "vision and conviction" had transformed "countless lives". With a turnover of over £50million, the Trust has helped more than half a million young people to date.

Another big event on television screens last week was the BBC’s Children in Need appeal. Raising a record-breaking £20million on Friday evening, donations from the appeal will go to making a difference to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people. Hosted by Terry Wogan, Tess Daly and Fearne Cotton, the evening’s entertainment included a Children’s Masterchef competition, a performance from the cast of the new West End revival of Oliver! and an exclusive preview of this years Dr Who Christmas Special.

In addition to the £20million raised on Friday, millions will be donated over the coming weeks and months from many Children in Need fundraising events across the UK. This unexpected result has proved many wrong over concerns of public generosity, as raised in my recent The Credit Crunch bites post. The recession has made the public more sensitive to their financial needs and worries. In turn, it appears this has made the public more aware of the more serious needs of others, stimulating charitable giving in this difficult time.

The fundraising methods of Children in Need might also be responsible for its continuing success in the face of recession; the Appeal promotes a ‘do-it-yourself’ approach to fundraising and encourages fun events, providing a pack with posters, stickers and event planners. It is a known fact that when in a recession, avenues of escapism are sought. Children in Need provided this in bucket loads on Friday.

But speculation is still rife over the future downturn of charitable giving. The National Council of Voluntary Organisations recently published a survey showing 70% of charities expecting conditions to worsen in the sector in 2009. However, The Guardian newspaper reported last week that according to new figures for religious donations, faith charities are set to weather economic conditions better than secular charities. The charity Islamic Relief raised £4.3million during the recent holy month of Ramadan and this year’s Christian Aid Week is expected to raise as much as last year’s £14.6million. Lindsay Boswell, chief executive at the Institute of Fundraising, believes all organisations can learn from the experience of faith charities: "It's due to the relationship they have with their supporters ... it's the unity and sense of community."

Webjam welcome your views on any of the topics in the Charity Channel blog; feel free to get involved and tell us what you think in the comments.

Celebrities: they can make us laugh, smile, cry and they can charge good money for the pleasure. The more we spend on our idols, the more they earn.

British broadcaster Jonathan Ross is the highest earning BBC presenter at £6million a year and Johnny Depp is reported to have been paid $55million to reprise his role as Jack Sparrow in the planned “Pirates of the Caribbean 4” film.

These are sums of money which many charities can only dream of. So with fame, money and power do celebrities have a moral duty to support charitable causes?

Many already have a portfolio of charity work on their CV. To name just a few, British comedians Matt Lucas and Jimmy Carr support the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt donated $8million to charity in 2006 alone. In fact, celebrity giving is enormous. The Look to the Stars website, a source of celebrity charity news and information, lists over 1,500 celebrities and the charities they support.

Some celebrities have even carved separate careers as charity campaigners: Bob Geldof and U2’s Bono have arguably become more famous for their charity events and concerts than their artistic careers. Geldof’s achievements are often viewed as a classic example of the power of celebrity endorsement in charity. His charity work gained international attention in 1984 when he galvanised the pop world to produce Band Aid’s ‘Do they know It’s Christmas’ in response to the Ethiopian famine. Becoming the fastest selling single of all time, the success was followed by the Live Aid and Live 8 concerts.

Charity work can have a personal dimension for the celebrity. US talk show host Oprah Winfrey suffered childhood abuse and grew up in rural poverty, often wearing dresses made of potato sacks. After meeting Nelson Mandela, Winfrey pledged to help those from a disadvantaged background and invested $40million in the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. Similarly, music artist Tori Amos is the founder of The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), the largest anti-sexual assault organisation in the US. Having been a rape victim herself, Tori Amos’ charity and music have helped many women deal with rape since 1994.

But not all celebrity involvement is heaped with praise. Following a G8 Summit Bob Geldof declared that the Labour Government deserved “10 out of 10” on debt relief progress and “eight out of 10” on aid issues. However, a spokesman for the World Development Movement spoke out against Geldof’s comments: “The Make Poverty History Campaign was perhaps bravely naive and there were some good elements in that it raised public awareness [but] there are celebrities who really didn't seem to know what they were talking about and Bob Geldof's comments after the G8 were very unhelpful, because they made people think everything had been achieved.”

However, it is generally recognised that celebrities can and do make an enormous difference to the success of charities. Perhaps the biggest donator to charity by a famous person is Bill Gates who has donated a reported $28billion to charity as of 2007.

On some issues, charity and politics often go hand-in-hand and a celebrity can reach an audience effectively, as shown with the appointment of Dame Joan Bakewall as champion of the elderly by the British government. The writer and broadcaster has been a regular on television and radio since the 1960s and her new position will allow her to campaign for the elderly alongside other organisations.

Many British celebrities will be on television this Friday with the annual Children in Need appeal. Raising £37million last year, the campaign’s mix of informative documentary and entertainment is always a success.

But, without the celebrities can a charity raise anywhere near as much money? Are famous faces the only thing that will ‘sell’ a charity? How do smaller and less well known charitable causes compete with high profile fundraising tactics? Well, advantages can be taken of the effective and clear communications afforded by new media: websites, blogs and videos can reach a wider audience than previous traditional methods. Webjam provides all these resources to spread your message.

We would like to hear your views on celebrity giving; let us know your thoughts by posting a comment.

Flickr image from Cristiano Betta's photostream

The credit crunch will also affect another important factor in the third sector namely public generosity. The media have made the financial crisis an unavoidable reality; pick up any newspaper or switch on the TV and you are bound to find advice on how to make cutbacks and earn extra cash on the side.

People’s pockets are not as deep as they used to be. If times get worse then a thrifty outlook may become the norm. But recession is a time when charity is needed most by those worst affected by the downturn. Now, more than ever, is the time to stay charitable; especially true for our Governments.

In September of this year Gordon Brown and Bill Gates announced a pledge of around £1.5billion to help the fight against global malaria. This is a significant step toward combating world poverty but it pales in comparison to the proposed $700billion cash injection into the economy put forward by President Bush just weeks later.

When motivated to do so, Western governments can find vast sums of money. $700billion would eradicate all world poverty for over two years.

None of us have billions of pounds down the back of our sofas and not everyone is in a position to give. But we can refresh a person’s sense of perspective on their situation, especially when comparing with others around the globe. Whilst we in the West now have the financial crisis much of the world has an ongoing food crisis. We may worry about the best-priced garage for our next tank of petrol or slashed credit limits in the approach to Christmas, but others worry about how to feed their families from one week to the next. The current crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo has displaced 250,000 people in the last two months. Thousands have no food and need humanitarian aid quickly.

Major UK charities are already developing tactics that deal with the credit crunch. Oxfam are tuning in to the public mood by appealing to the public to design their campaign posters to be displayed on giant digital billboards in London. If you can think of a powerful message that will shake people out of their credit crunch gloom then visit the Be Humankind Campaign.

But restrained donations have not yet gripped the West as a whole. A cause that has received tremendous support in the face of hard economic times is the pledge from Western donors to rebuild Georgia in the wake of the conflict with Russia. The predicted pledge figure stood at £1.8billion with the actual sum exceeding expectations at £2.7billion. The Georgian Prime Minister, Lado Gurgenidze, said that “at a time like this, to show such support is something that no Georgian will ever forget.”

If you are raising money for an event or charity during these difficult times then the danger is to be more pushy and heavy-handed. Here are some tactics that won’t cause a stir:

• With the recession, more people are now choosing to give to charity by donating clothes, books and toys rather than cash. Take advantage of this by holding a bring-and-buy sale. It may have been done many times before, but this will prove popular in the current climate.
• Shoppers are increasingly turning away from supermarket brands to charity shops to get the best deal. Oxfam’s annual sales have reached a healthy £80million this year. Encourage people to visit a charity shop at least once a week, not only will they find bargains but they will have more cash left over for giving to your charity.

Despite the current recession, figures from the National Council for Voluntary Organisations reveal that while donations to charity may not have fallen yet, this will only be maintained if Christmas donations equal previous years. Here are a couple of easy Christmas fundraising ideas:

• Are you struggling with Christmas shopping? Lost with what to get loved ones? Then give to a charity on your friends’ and family’s behalf – put the donation receipt in their Christmas card and see them smile.

• Don’t like your Christmas present this year, or received something you already have? Give it to a charity shop, or get a cash exchange and make a donation.

When it comes to cutting costs, don’t forget to check out the Charity Event Tips posted here on the Charity Channel over the coming weeks, starting with Tip 1 below: ‘Ask for freebies’.

Webjam welcome your views on any of the topics covered in the Charity Channel blog so feel free to get involved and tell us what you think in the comments.

Flickr image from annia316's photostream.

Setting up a charity event is hard work. This series of blog posts helps look at common problems and helps you get the most out of your event so you can concentrate on the important part: Raising money.

Whatever charity you're working towards, whatever event you're planning, ASK FOR FREEBIES. There are a lot of venues, and a lot of people who will donate their time for free if they know you're doing a charity event. Why? Some do it for goodwill. But most, if we're being honest, will do it because it makes them look good.

So if a venue is asking for a lot of money to hire, ask to hire it for free (or at least the cost price). If they want a door charge, ask that they donate it to charity. If you have to spend any money at all, make sure it's for the things that you really really need. 

The most valuable thing that someone can give you is their time. Getting people to help is key to making an event work successfully. Most people (even if it's friends and family) will work for free. Try not to guilt trip them into helping you, and make sure they know that their help appreciated. Usually free refreshments do the trick.

Get prizes and promotional items donated. Whatever cause you're working towards, and however you're intending on raising money, holding a raffle is a great way to boost your fundraising total. Ask local business to donate prizes - even something as simple as a meal at a local restaurant can entice people to donate money. The people donating the prizes get publicity so don't feel bad for asking. They may say no, and that's entirely their prerogative, but remember that they gain something out of helping you, so don't feel bad for asking.

Remember: all you can do is ask. Some people will be unable, or unwilling to donate anything, but if you're courteous and you don't ask for anything too extreme, you'll find that people are more willing to help than you'd have expected.

Good luck!

Flickr image from John-Morgan's photostream.

It's not often you get to read about fridges and charity in the same blog post. But I've spotted a new webjam called The Great Fridge Adventure! With a name like that, it's bound to make me a little curious.

So here's the deal. Marcus and James are walking around Britain next year to raise money for The Alzheimers Society. So far, so normal. Well to jazz it up, they've decided that they're both going to have a fridge with them. It might be the first charity walk ever done with a fridge. It's certainly the only webjam about fridges so it gets my vote.

The walk isn't actually until August next year, but they've got some preparations to do so there's always something happening over on their site. They're doing a lot of interviews at the moment, and I'm going to be stalking them a bit to see what they're up to. I get excited about good causes, but ones that are doing something good and silly? I get a bit giddy. You can donate money to their cause here.

They've also got somewhere to keep their sandwiches while they're walking. How handy.

As they say it's "A totally purposeless idea, but a damn fine one..."

Flickr image from Pacdog's photostream.

There's officially only one week left of Oxjam, the world's biggest music event. It's organised by those clever people over at Oxfam but run by members of the public (I set an event up myself a couple of years ago). It seems to have come and gone pretty quickly this year but you've still got time to get yourself down to an event. There always are a few events that run thorough into November.

So before you miss all of the events entirely, I thought I'd tell you about a few that have caught my eye. They've raised over £260'000 already and you can help make that total even bigger. Here's a taster of some of the stuff that's going on around the UK:

• There's a 24 hour buskathon going on outside the Cavendish Hotel in Cheltenham. That's taking place on the 30th October.

• The Lodge in Chester has mixed their Halloween party with Oxjam for some spooky money raising on the 31st October.

• Ashton Lane in Glasgow is having its very own festival. Get down there at 2pm on the 26th October to join in the action.

• Something in my ear have got a gig at The Kings Cross in London. They're running a couple of gigs around the city so keep your eyes peeled.

• There's another all day event on November 23rd. That's at The End in Newcastle.

There's s much more stuff going on we don't have space to list it all. You can catch up with the events over on the Oxjam website. If nothing over there takes your fancy, you've still got time to create your own event. Just let Webjam Charity Channel know how it went, won't you?

This month, Webjam have caught up with the charity 'Live Life Then Give Life.' We had a chat with co-founder Emma Harris.

How did the charity get started?

Our charity was founded up in 2006 by myself and my close friend Emily Thackray. We both suffer from Cystic Fibrosis and have between us lost 20 young friends who were awaiting organ transplants to save their lives, but who died due to the shortage of organ donors. At the time we set LLTGL up, Emily was also waiting for a double lung transplant (the last possible treatment for someone with Cystic Fibrosis) and we knew only too well that with 50% of those in her situation dying because of there being so few donor organs available, her chances were not good.

Another music gig for charity? Really? Aren't we sick of these yet? Well, for the most part, yes. But Orange RockCorps is thankfully a little bit different.

You might have seen the annoying adverts. Yes, the ones that say "I am who i am... blah blah blah". You can't seem to escape them at the moment.

But all cynicism aside, Rockcorps is a brilliant innovation. You donate your time instead of your money. In return for four hours volunteer work, you get some tickets to a gig at the Royal Albert Hall. Now that doesn't sound to shabby to me. (I'm not too excited by Busta Rhymes headlining, but beggars can't be choosers, can they?) Feeder are there too by the way, if that's more your bag.

The gig is on Friday so you'll have to sign up and do some volunteering really quickly to get your tickets.

But what I'm wondering is, is this better than the charity gigs you see around the country? Is this a better way of doing things? By people giving their time instead of setting up a direct debit, they get directly involved in something. They become attached to it. I think it's unlikely that someone, through the whole volunteer time would just be thinking about the tickets. It's quite nice to help people after all isn't it?

I've run a charity gig before, and yes, we raised lots of money for Oxfam. But really, people were just there to listen to the music, they weren't too bothered about the charity. In fact, I felt a bit like I was forcing them to donate! (Pushy? me?) Perhaps if more charities set up projects where people could get really involved, that would help much more than a few pounds each month.

Flickr image from p_a_h's photostream.

This blog is going to be used by all you Webjam Charity Channel fundraisers! We know how much work you guys put into your charities and events and we're using this page to give you somewhere to shout about them.

We'll also use the blog to tell you about important fundraising news and events and anything else we think might be important to you and your fundraising efforts.

We'll be getting thing started shortly with a guest blogger. If you're doing something great for charity and you want to blog about your experiences for us, let us know in the forum and we'll be in touch.

Got something so want us to be talking about? The best place to comment is the forum on the community page. That way we'll respond to you much quicker.

Happy fundraising!