Phil Gyford

Years ago I told myself the reason I didn’t give any money to charity was because I was a poor student. After that it was because I was unemployed and still poor. Then it was because I was working for a pittance in London. And then, once it stopped being quite such a pittance, I didn’t really have an excuse any longer. But it’s still taken me a few more years to get round to actually giving anything.

In 2003 I told myself I’d try giving 1% of my net salary to charity. It seems an amount that might be useful but one that won’t be so disastrous for my bank balance that I’ll quickly give up. I’ve belatedly given January’s donation to The Jhai Foundation which Danny brought to the attention of many people several weeks ago.

It’s hard to know who is most deserving of charity; shouldn’t one try and send it to where it will have the most effect, ie, save as many people as possible from dying? But anyway, if, like me, you’ve run out of reasons to not give money to those who need it, you could do worse than donate to the Jhai Foundation. It beats worrying about how a quarter per cent drop in the interest rate affects you.