Charities and transparency

Sir, – I share the concerns of the Charities Regulator about how donations to charities are used (“Public concerned by transparency and use of donations in charities, study by regulator finds”, News, May 9th).

Having served eight years as a voluntary director of a small Dublin charity, I am concerned at how much the larger charities pay their staff and, in particular, the amount paid out for mailshots, some target-specific but also a scatter-gun approach in sending out appeal letters and also putting these letters inside newspapers and magazines.

I wonder what return they get for this huge outlay on printing and postage.

I look forward to increased transparency from these charities. – Yours, etc,