Wishes Q&A
Q. Is eligibility for a Wish affected by the financial standing of the family?
A. No.
Q. What are the criteria for a Wish?
A. Children must be aged between 4 and 17 and suffering from a life-threatening illness. The Wish must be the child’s own, and will be granted whilst a child is well enough to enjoy it. The trustees have also set out financial and geographic parameters that take into account the nature of the Wish and the number of people involved in it.
Q. Who takes part in the Wish?
A. The Wish is intended to bring a period of happiness, however brief, into the lives of Wish children and therefore we include members of their immediate family, including brothers and sisters who are under the age of 18 and who reside at the same address.
Q. What if members of the extended family want to participate?
A. We cannot arrange for additional people to take part in a Wish. However, where a Wish involves a holiday we can provide all the details so that other members can then make their own arrangements at their own expense.
Q. Who decides if a child will be granted a Wish?
A. Each Wish is individually sanctioned by the trustees. However, the Wish Co-ordinators have been delegated the power to anticipate this, provided that the Wish falls within certain criteria.
Q. Some of the children in the list of Wishes are aged 18 or over. Why?
A. Sometimes there is a delay between Round Table Children’s Wish agreeing in principle to grant a Wish, and the Wish actually happening. This is usually because we are waiting for the child’s condition to stabilise sufficiently for the child to take part in the Wish. Sometimes it is because we are awaiting the availability of a particular personality that the child Wishes to meet. If we have promised to grant a Wish, this promise does not “expire” on the 18th birthday.
Q. What are the administrative costs of the charity?
A. In 2008 administration expenses accounted for 18% of gross income and this percentage is not generally affected by the number of Wishes.
Q. Who runs the charity?
A. The trustees are responsible for running the charity and they are all present or past members of Round Table. They have the backing of a committee comprised of members or past members of Round Table and Ladies Circle.
