Money Recently Given to Charities by Your Parish Council

Recently your Parish Council has given £1,243.00 to the following charities:

Shropshire Hospice £220.00

Samaritans £ 82.50

Talking Newspaper £110.00

Citzens Advice Bureau £ 82.50

NSPCC £ 33.00

Hope House £220.00

A4U £ 44.00

Shrewsbury Diabetics £ 66.00

Macmillan Nurses £110.00

Air Ambulance £ 220.00

Skids £ 55.00

We have been advised that 5% of our precept total (money raised by tax and given to the parish council) should be the upper level of our charitable giving. In other words, based on our current precept this would indicate a maximum total of £935.00 a year should be given to charity. It appears that most parish councils have a blanket ‘No’ to donations to charities as they feel it is easier to say no to everyone than have to judge whether one charity is more deserving than another.

We are currently working on a questionnaire for the Community Led Plan – one of the questions will address this subject. Should we give to charities at all? If so how much? Should we allocate a set amount of our budget? How to nominate the charities we give to?

If you are interested in having an input on this subject please make sure you look out for and take the time to fill in the questionnaire for the Community Led Plan that is due to reach every household in our parish early January 2017.