PattayaMale Posted October 4, 2009 Author Posted October 4, 2009 [quote name='fountainhall' date='04 October 2009 - 07:26 PM' timestamp='1254659216' post='30640' To try and show I am not biased, I was going to contribute to the 'pattaya street kids' charity by sending a cheque next week. However, having checked the website, I note this is a UK-based charity. I will therefore find a local charity with similar objectives. So perhaps the discussion on this Board will not be just hot air! I encourage other to do likewise. I promise to do the same. Thanks for the suggestion and encouragement. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted October 4, 2009 Posted October 4, 2009 I continue to be surprised that the PGF and venues do not learn from their experience and improve their transparency and accountability or find a better way of organizing such events! All charitable organisations ought to be fully transparent in their fund raising. I assume PGF must be registered as a charity so as not to pay tax, and further assume that the government has some rules about accountability of charities. (But then, this is Thailand!) Whatever, looking at the PGF website (for the first time), I note that they have provided some information about a similar dinner at Bruno's on August 23rd. The site states - Ninety people attended the evening and together with the Lucky Draw a fantastic 150,000 Baht was raised for the PGF Charities. We had 90 guests for dinner which raised 45000 on tickets, 86000 on the raffle and cash donations 10,000 from Dennis Dewsnap and 10,000 From Fredi So it would seem that the revenue from the meal is not the only source of income. Indeed at Bruno's, more than double the meal profit was raised from a raffle and cash donations. 90 guests generating almost 1,700 Bt per head for charity seems pretty good to me! Quote
Gaybutton Posted October 4, 2009 Posted October 4, 2009 Anyone can donate directly to PGF any time he wants. You don't need to go to a charity dinner to make donations. The charity dinners are there because many enjoy them and can make donations via these dinners and further contributions, if they wish, during the dinner and via the raffle tickets. Obviously enough people enjoy these dinners and are willing to pay the price. The host restaurants are up front about how much of the fee will go toward the charity. They keep the rest. Yes, they are going to profit. I don't see anything wrong with that and I don't care whether they profit by 100 baht per person or 1000 baht per person. As long as they are telling how much will go directly to the charity, I fail to see the problem or why the restaurants need to disclose anything else. It's all very simple to me. I know how much the dinner will cost. I know how much from that cost will go to the charity. Now I have all the basis I need to decide whether or not to participate. If I want to pay the price and go, I can do so. If I do not want to pay the price, then I don't have to go. If I want to make a direct donation I can do so. If I don't wish to donate to this charity, I don't have to. What's the problem? Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 What's the problem? A splendidly succinct summation. Answer: there isn't one! Quote
