British charities

                                British Charities

1) Definition of a charity

A charitable organization or a charity is an organization which has no profits for itself but for needed people. It’s usually a private organization because it isn’t helped by the government. They act in various domains like environment, health, equal rights and cultural heritage. They have fewer taxes. They raise funds (collect money) from:

-Donations from volunteers.

-publicity for their organization

-meetings

-demonstrations

-TV programs

-Second Hand shops

   2) A little bit of history

The 1st charities appeared in the United Kingdom during the 10th century in York with the creation of almshouses (Places for poor people where they are helped, feed…).Charities were founded by religious groups, by the nobility or rich individuals to help the neediest members of the country (the poor especially orphans, widows and the sick or disabled). Charitable organizations often took the form of hospitals, orphanages and poor houses. The number of charities has increased over the centuries especially during the 18th century because there were more and more rich people who became volunteers for charities thanks to the new ideas of the philosophers of this century.

3) Differences with France and particularities of the British Charities.

The differences between French charities and British charities and the particularities of the British charities are:

- There are second hand shops selling the objects which volunteers give to the charities. These shops are very frequent in the United Kingdom. These shops doesn’t exist in France.

- The British give a big importance to charities. Some charities like the National Trust or the Royal Poppy are so famous that even the British celebrities or the Royal Family support them.

- In the United Kingdom, there are more domains where the charities act than in France. For example in the UK, charities exist for the natural sites of the country, not in France.

- In the UK, the museums, the libraries and some churches are free. It’s for that charities give money to maintain them. In France these monuments are publics so it’s the government who maintain them.

- At the television, the British charities make programs for supporting big events. In 2012, one of these programs brings a lot of money for the preparing of the Olympics Games.