Day of Giving – January – Human Trafficking Awareness Month

One of the things that I am committed to do more this year is something charitable, whether that is a donation, fundraising, campaigning, volunteering, or more. Last month, on the 25^th, (yes, Christmas Day), I gave a donation to Oxfam. This month, again, on the 25^th, I decided to align it with something that made more sense.

So, this month, I found out is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. So, I decided to set out and find a charity that aligns with this. But, I didn’t just search for anti-slavery and anti-trafficking charities on the internet, and donate to the first one I came across. Oh no, I decided to do a little bit of research into a few to find the best one. And, I mean, I looked at what they do, where they are, their total income, expenditures, grants/governmental help, employee fees, and more.

I looked at the following charities:

Hope for Justice
Stop the Traffik
Human Trafficking Foundation
Unseen UK
Anti-Slavery Internation

Yes, these charities are UK based, although some do work in many countries around the world. This was a limitation of the search engine I used, as I am UK based myself.

I ended up decided to give a donation to Anti-Slavery International out of the five. Although, in the end, it was nearly a tie with Stop the Traffik. Bare in mind, this was done over only a few hours of researching and deliberating, although in the future, I may spend a little longer to research and write up a post. All links I found will be supplied at the end of the post.

Hope for Justice

Website: https://hopeforjustice.org/

Charity number: 1126097

Founded: ~2008

As of March 2022, their total income was £9 million. Which was the largest incomes out of all five, putting them in 5th place for income in this blog post. They had 1 government grant of £189k.

Within the organisation, they do have the largest employee headcount totally 396, which made up of 384 employees, 6 Trustees and 6 Volunteers.

However, they have 1 employee in the £60k to £70k bracket, 2 employees in the £70k to £80k, 1 employee in the £90k to £100k and 2 in the £100k to £110k. Which was the largest payment benefits out of all five.

I also found there was a bit of a controversy with one of the former co-founders Ben Cooley, this went as far as an appeal, which found “findings of gross misconduct”. There wasn’t an explanation for his dismissal and I didn’t do anymore digging to find details.

Stop the Traffik

Website: https://www.stopthetraffik.org/

Charity number: 1127321

Founded: ~2006

As of March 2022, their total income was £1m, which, despite them still being in the millions, put them in 2^nd place for income. They had 1 government grant of £124k.

They were the third lowest on the headcount, with a total of 64; 27 Employees, 7 Trustees and the largest Volunteer headcount of 30.

They have 1 employee above the £60k total benefits, which is in the £80k to 90k. This was one of the swinging factors for me choosing the other organisation.

Human Trafficking Foundation

Website: https://www.humantraffickingfoundation.org/

Charity number: 1134448

Founded: ~2010

They had the lowest income of only £147k to £211k (there is a variation in reports that I found, likely a result of the dates within financial data sets supplied), putting them in 1st place. They had they lowest headcount of only 7, they had no employees, 7 trustees and no volunteers. As a result, there were no employees having a total benefit package over £60k. I couldn’t find any information about other employees and volunteers within the organisation, to find if this was accurate, so it does appear on the surface as if the foundation runs on trustees only. They have receive one small grant of £64k.

I very nearly decided to go with this organisation, on the fact that it had the lowest income, no employees to pay, and appeared to be solely focused on shaping policy and legislation, providing a ‘sustained and collective voice’ and ‘Identifying opportunities for new and different types of intervention’. The only reason why I decided not to donate was because it was founded by the Conservative Party and I couldn’t guarantee it wasn’t politically driven and I wasn’t in a position to do any deeper research at the time.

Unseen

Website: https://www.unseenuk.org/

Charity number: 1127620

Founded: ~2008

Total income was £3.07m, which put them in 3^rd place. They had a total of £189k from 4 different government grants, as well as a whopping £1.2m government contract. This was essentially the deciding factor on why not to donate, again I was concerned about the charity being politically driven. Although, I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing, as looking at the organisation, they do provide safehouses for survivors of trafficking and modern slavery, and work with individuals, communities, business, governments and other charities, so it’s likely this is the reason behind the contract. Maybe at a later date, I will do further research for my own curiousity.

They also had the second largest headcount with a total of 109, with 93 employees, 11 Trustees and 5 volunteers. 1 Employee was in the 70k to 80k and another was in the 80k to 90k total benefit ranges.

Anti-Slavery International

Website: https://www.antislavery.org/

Charity Number: 1049160

Founded: ~1839

Total income was £3.47m, which put it 4^th place in terms of income. However, they had 2 government grants of £264k. They were the second lowest in terms of headcount with only 55, making up 38 employees, 8 trustees and 9 volunteers. And only a single employee with a total benefit package between £70k and £80k.

However, alongside the fact that the largest benefit package an employee at the organisation has is between £70k and £80k which was lower than Stop the Traffik. Despite it being in 4^th place for income. The charity is also the oldest out of all five, with the current naming of the charity being founded in ~1995. However, it was actually originally founded as ‘The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society’ in 1839 as an international non-governmental organisation, charity and advocacy group. It is in fact, the worlds oldest international human rights organisation, which works exclusively against slavery and related abuses.

It also was merged in 1909 with the Aborigines’ Protection Society to form the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines’ Protection Society. It became the Anti-Slavery Society in 1947, changed it’s name in 1956 to the Anti-Slavery Society for the Protection of Human Rights, then again in 1990 was renamed to Anti-Slavery International for the Protection of Human Rights, and in 1995 relaunched in it’s current name.

Links:

Hope for Justice

https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/humanities-and-social-sciences/research/research-themes/slavery-unfree-labour/slavery-theme-news/hope-for-justice/

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06563365/filing-history

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_for_Justice

https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regid=1126097&subid=0

Click to access Hope-for-Justice-Report-and-financial-statements-for-the-year-ended-31-March-2021.pdf

Stop the Traffik

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_the_Traffik

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06657145/more

https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/STOP-THE-TRAFFIK-Reviews-E4156331.htm

https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/4042044