Why do you have to be rich to support charity in Marbella?

Why do you have to be rich to support charity in Marbella?

This time of year I receive loads of invitations to attend charity galas in aid of one charity or another set in a stunning location with gourmet food and great entertainment.

Now as you know I am a big supporter of charities and I also like a good night out, so I’d really like to attend these kinds of events. However…. when you look at the price it’s well out of reach of us mere mortals!

Take the Starlight Gala in August. It’s going to be an amazing night, with Eva Longoria and Antonio Banderas hosting and the beautiful venue of Villa Padierna, but 800€ for a ticket, or 1,000€ if you want to be on a table with a celeb? Come on! This is an extreme example, but most of these things are 200€ +, making supporting a charity the reserve of the rich and famous, not us normal folk who want to make a difference. As you may be able to tell, I find this really annoying! Of course they say you can make a donation to their account, but I haven’t engaged with the causes, so why would I?  

I think the British charities were on to the right idea to get a small monthly donation from a large volume of people – it builds up a loyal group of supporters and a big database, you can count on the donations over a long period and plan your activities in line with a predictable period of giving. Plus, it is totally inclusive so even if you only want to give £1 a month you can get involved with charity. I had about 4 direct debits of £5 each per month running over a period of a couple of years. Now that’s not a big sum, but it means that each charity received £120 from me, an amount I wouldn’t spend on going to some flashy event in support of them.

I wish charities here could adjust to the global climate and realise that they could get a lot more people on board if they organised less costly events and could charge less for their tickets. The Spring Garden Party for Age Concern charged just 15€ per ticket, got stall holders along and sold raffle tickets and made a fantastic 20,000€ while engaging a lot of people in the cause and developing a list of potential donors for the future. I really hope we can see more events like this that I could actually attend!  (Rant over)