How to find the best charities

As the marathon-running season rolls around again, you're probably being badgered to give money. But how do you know the charity you're sponsoring will spend your money wisely?

This weekend, the London Marathon is rolling around again. That might mean that you've already been asked to sponsor someone for their blisters. But if you haven't and you live in or around London, odds are you will be today.

But if you get asked, how do you know that your money will end up being put to good use rather than wasted on buildings, smart cars and status producing projects for charity managers?

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.