Strange Famous

or I should say, why I dont give money to large organised charities.

If they have charity days at work (like people bring cakes for others to buy and proceeds go to charity, or charity raffles) I take part usually.

But, despite the fact I am bombarded (as most of us are if we live in the West I suspect) with requests and plea's from charities almost daily, I dont give any money - other than I tend to buy a Poppy for Rembrance Day

_

The reason is from one experience I had when I was 21. It was just after I finished university, and I got my first full time job. I was working in a warehouse, earning about £5 an hour (in 1999). Since for the first time in my life I had a reasonable income, one of the things I did was set up a Direct Debit to pay £10 a month to a charity that I felt was worthwhile. A very large UK wide charity.

For the next 3 months, they wrote to me EVERY WEEK, with letters basically saying "thank you for giving £10, but if you gave £40 we could do so much more good works"... showing lots of very sad stories and sad looking photo's, etc.

I really was outraged by this. Fair enough, £10 isnt a huge amount of money, but I was young, I didnt have a great income, and I was giving something which I felt I could afford to give. And what do they do? Spend most of the money I gave them to send me letters trying to emotionally blackmail me into giving more.

I cancelled the Direct Debit, wrote to them and told them why (never received a reply) and since then I have never set up a regular donation, and have never really given to charity other than odd donations to local charities: through work or putting some loose change in a collection tin if I walk past and feel like I dont get asked aggressively

You might say I am mean spirited, or that it is wrong to tar every charity with the ingratitude that one showed over 10 years ago to me. Maybe both accusations are somewhat fair, but I still remember how pissed off and I upset I was with every letter I received back then, and I just dont want to give anymore to people who might be like that.

I thought of this the other day when I was in the supermarket. They had a lady collecting for charity, standing by the checkouts, and she was... its hard to describe, but literally pleading in this desperate voice "disabled children? give money to save disabled children??"

It just really annoyed me. I dont mean to sound like a prick, I have no doubt that the charity she worked for may do good work, and helping kids who have had some hard luck is a good cause... but just the way some of these people try to blackmail you into giving them money annoys me.

I dont have a lot of spare money, and I feel like you should have to feel like a shit if you cant afford to donate something, and thats how a lot of these people seem to make you want to feel. I really dont think I am externalising some inner guilt, or at least not totally.

If someone was standing there just collecting money I may well have put some change in the tin, but she was basically vocally begging for money & gave me a very reproachful look when I walked past and didnt put any money in the tin. I think that supermarkets shouldnt let these people into the shop if they interact in this way with customers, but if they took that position they would probably be portrayed as mean and so on

I am not saying that everyone who works for a charity is like this, nor that all charities are bad... but I have had enough negative experiences in my life that it has really put me off and I rarely give money even when I could afford to give a little. I think thats kind of a sad state of mind to have, but its the way my experiences have made me feel

Id be interested what anyone elses feelings or experiences are like?

__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."

The Gospel of Thomas

Lasereth

I don't give to any charities at all because I honestly don't trust where the money goes. I know that's awfully generic but I really don't. I do however donate food and toys and supplies to my local dog shelter because I know that it actually goes to good use.

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Xerxys

I don't give money to large charities because ... well ... http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/tilted-...-business.html

tasineah

Many charities do an incredible job helping and serving the populations they serve.

Many do not.

Your job is to do your research and serve only the ones that meet your requirements.

This financial climate has hard hit those charities and yes, they ARE desperate. Their fundings have been hit hard and yet their populations they serve have doubled and sometimes tripled or even quadrupled.

I know, for I use to run non profits. Its scary out there right now. Real scary. The government monies are all but dried up.Staffing is now at less than skeleton crews. Operations funds are desperately low. Emergency monies are non existant. Yet, how are they needy suppose to be served?

One day I was driving away from a counseling center after a meeting when a car drove up erratically. It barely stopped, opening up the front passenger car door, heaving out a brown grocer sack, followed by a whispy tow headed three year old girl who landed on her ass as the car drove off. Stunned, she sat there looking at the car as it wheeled off into the street. I was at the stop sign as I watched this transpire. The car was headed in a different direction so it never came my way. Once it was gone the child got up and lifted its arms and started heading in the direction the car went and started crying. I drove back to the center and got the child and the bag and took her in. She had been abandoned.

Your money helps that child and children like her. Or the mom who's face gets beat up so bad it looks like hamburger meat with the toiled brush because dad didnt like the way she cleaned the bathroom. Or the 50 year old who had a brain injury at 12 when he fell off a horse and cant remember more than a 3 step process and needs a sheltered workshop and assisted living.

Give. Just give carefully...

dlish

charity is not just about money.

i give up my time to do charity for an organisation here in the UAE. We do treks to poorer nations and but we do not donate money directly. we buy tangible assets to give to them so that money is not missappropriated. for example, for a school who needed transport vehicle to pick up kids from a tea plantation we bought the truck and donated it to the school.

you will find that most charities will accept any sort of time or effort you put into it.

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

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Xazy

There is a Jewish order in what type of charities I give to, it is family first, friends second, local community third then everywhere else. I have yet to make it to the last group. I give always 10% of whatever I make, and several times I have given on future income in advance since someone needed help. It is also about finding out as much as you can about your organization you donate to.

I give to a local yeshiva that needs help with money, they barely make payroll and are a month behind this year.

I give to a local organization that gives food to poor people in the community. Not a penny goes to anyone but food, and people volunteer to work, buy the food, deliver etc...

I give to a organization in the community that currently is helping for sure 16 families that have lost jobs, foreclosures going on, and can not even put cloths on some of the kids without assistance.

G-d gives me whatever money he wants me to have for the year, if I do what I can to help, and I know it comes back to me.

The best charity though is one I have worked hard on, i have helped 2 people get a job, and I am today forwarding a resume of a friend whose company may close and have already cut his hours. To enable someone and get them money which they need with no shame, no embarrassment is the best level of charity.

__________________
Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.

Cimarron29414

Strange,

Donate your time. You know where the donation goes.

__________________
Gives a man a halo, does mead.

"Here lies The_Jazz: Killed by an ambitious, sparkly, pink butterfly."

Lindy

I contribute both time and money to a local area food pantry. I support local Public Radio in Massachusetts, Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. I worked as a mentor in a program that encouraged middle school girls to explore mathematics and the sciences. I support local arts organizations. I believe in acting locally where I can see the effects (or lack) of my contributions.

Lindy