I Donate and this annoys me

[clifffaith]

Someone I donated to, I suspect at the request of a memorial fund or walk-a-thon, sent me way too much stuff. Mug, slippers, stuffed animal are the big things that come to mind. I use the mug in my office, and slippers went into the "Europe bag" for stuff that only travels overseas because they were compact and light weight. Stuffed bear went immediately out in the Goodwill bag. Haven't gotten anything in a couple years so they must have given up on me. Speaking of Goodwill, I sell on eBay and when my fellow eBay sellers get to ragging on Goodwill it can go on for pages. Apparently they dump far more items than they keep, let employees have first dibs for free or huge markdowns and no longer employ employ the handicapable as in years past. I think it was DaveNW who pointed out that Salvation Army picks stuff up, so I utilized them on things left from my garage sale that I didn't want to put away again. They came as scheduled, but watching them throw stuff in the back of the truck made me realize that although my breakables were more or less wrapped to arrive intact, I'm sure much of what they picked up that day arrived broken. Better to put it out at the curb -- much to the annoyance of my neighbors, I'm sure. Our previous home had an alley behind it, which I didn't care for at first since I'd never lived on an alley. Grew to love it for putting rolls of fabric, still usable curtain rods and other stuff out. And every now and then I'd find something behind someone else's home that I wanted (old bird cage that I used as garden art comes to mind).

 

[Timeshare Von]

I give anonymously via United Way. My company also have opportunities throughout the year to give your time. One that gets significant participation is creating food delivery boxes at our local Food Bank. The only downside is a local politician loves to use the event for photo ops instead of actually helping.

As great as the United Way is, they really have a lot of overhead and waste. My Mom worked as an admin at her community's chapter, and she said it was appalling.

 

[AnnaS]

I also donate to various charities and the calls, mail and emails are non-stop and sometimes daily. It does get too be too much sometimes. I have unsubscribed to emails and have asked some to please not call. I will donate once/twice a year to a a few when I can/is good for me. Between the solar panel, energy/alternative electricity people, charities, surveys, political parties, we just don't answer the phone anymore.

I always wonder too about the expense of sending out note pads, pens, calendars, 5 cents taped to a paper, stickers, address return labels, etc. etc.

 

[klpca]

Someone I donated to, I suspect at the request of a memorial fund or walk-a-thon, sent me way too much stuff. Mug, slippers, stuffed animal are the big things that come to mind. I use the mug in my office, and slippers went into the "Europe bag" for stuff that only travels overseas because they were compact and light weight. Stuffed bear went immediately out in the Goodwill bag. Haven't gotten anything in a couple years so they must have given up on me. Speaking of Goodwill, I sell on eBay and when my fellow eBay sellers get to ragging on Goodwill it can go on for pages. Apparently they dump far more items than they keep, let employees have first dibs for free or huge markdowns and no longer employ employ the handicapable as in years past. I think it was DaveNW who pointed out that Salvation Army picks stuff up, so I utilized them on things left from my garage sale that I didn't want to put away again. They came as scheduled, but watching them throw stuff in the back of the truck made me realize that although my breakables were more or less wrapped to arrive intact, I'm sure much of what they picked up that day arrived broken. Better to put it out at the curb -- much to the annoyance of my neighbors, I'm sure. Our previous home had an alley behind it, which I didn't care for at first since I'd never lived on an alley. Grew to love it for putting rolls of fabric, still usable curtain rods and other stuff out. And every now and then I'd find something behind someone else's home that I wanted (old bird cage that I used as garden art comes to mind).

FYI, my friend's niece works at Goodwill and she has some cognitive issues that keep her from working in a "regular" job. As far as I know a number of the employees there are in similar circumstances so they are still putting people to work. And apparently people donate a lot of dirty, broken, and unusable items. Everything has to be sorted before it can go for sale. The stories would curl your toes. Yuck.

 

[klpca]

I have delete on my email and a big recycling bin so I don’t let it bug me.

I agree but what bothers me is this. I give a small donation to St. Judes every year - $50. In return I get a thank you (much appreciated), a notepad, address labels etc. In my mind, I am thinking - I only gave you $50 and I didn't want you to spend it on things like address labels and note pads. That stuff, plus postage, adds up! That's what gets under my skin.

 

[Chrisky]

Interesting comments. We donate to our local palliative care hospice. They have helped many of our friends in their final days, we know what they do with the money and they never send us gifts or try to solicit more donations from us. I would not donate to them if they did.
After reading everyones’ comments, I have a question. Has anyone contacted the charities and mentioned your annoyance with this practice. Maybe telling them no more donations unless they discontinue this practice. Just saying. I am a firm believer in complaining.

 

[SteelerGal]

As great as the United Way is, they really have a lot of overhead and waste. My Mom worked as an admin at her community's chapter, and she said it was appalling.

I know someone as well. Our company though matches donation, so I actually donate to our Foster Care Agency. I know ppl who actually would donate to their Church’s non profit.

 

[Glynda]

Standing at intersections with signs asking for help is against the law here. One party could go to jail and the giver could incur a heavy fine. As a result, we have a number of people on our main shopping street sitting on the sidewalks with signs. It can be hard to know who is in real need, but I’ve walked and shopped this street often and long enough to identify a few. I carry some $10.00 Subway gift cards in my purse and stop to speak to and hand the card to the individual. There are two Subway shops within a couple of blocks.

I feel as others about frequent phone or mail solicitation. It turns me against wanting to give again to the organization. Our other contributions are mostly given to local organizations via check.

 

[Glynda]

Interesting comments. We donate to our local palliative care hospice. They have helped many of our friends in their final days, we know what they do with the money and they never send us gifts or try to solicit more donations from us. I would not donate to them if they did.
After reading everyones’ comments, I have a question. Has anyone contacted the charities and mentioned your annoyance with this practice. Maybe telling them no more donations unless they discontinue this practice. Just saying. I am a firm believer in complaining.

My husband used to give to his alma mater once a year. There was no problem for years and then he started receiving lots of mail solicitation which didn’t bother him much or change his timing or method of giving. Then the phone calls started. At least two a week. He complained. It stopped for a week or two and then resumed. He told them if they didn’t stop, that he would never contribute again and asked to be put on their do not call list. It slowed considerably but eventually resumed though less frequently. He stopped contributing. The calls have finally stopped and the mail comes only twice a year. He has not resumed giving to them.

 

[RX8]

I think everyone has heard the ads for Kars for Kids. I googled to see if I could find their percentage of donations that are actually used for charitable causes and came across the article in the link below.

https://www.charitywatch.org/charit...ars4kids-ads-disguise-charity39s-real-purpose

While I did find that only 38 cents on the dollar went to charitable causes there was a lot I wasn’t aware of about Kars for Kids.

 

[presley]

As great as the United Way is, they really have a lot of overhead and waste. My Mom worked as an admin at her community's chapter, and she said it was appalling.

Being on the inside does change things. I used to be part of a group that brought meals to wounded warriors on the base once per week. It was a beautiful idea. Once per week, wounded warriors and their visiting families and friends could have a catered meal instead of the gross hospital food that was served on base. Over time, I realized that about 10% of the food we served went to the wounded warriors and the other 90% went to the entitled civilians working on base, the volunteers serving the food and anyone who would get in line for free food.

I can't tell you how many times a wounded warrior would work so hard to get dressed and ready to come down to get food - often it would take them over an hour, sometimes they'd spend all afternoon trying to psych themselves up to come to the event, and by the time they got there, all the food was gone because the able bodied people were first in line. I spoke to the person in charge a couple times about it and he didn't seem to want to do anything to change it. When there were leftovers, he'd take them home, so I guess he just had a very different mindset about it than I did.

 

[bogey21]

I think everyone has heard the ads for Kars for Kids. I googled to see if I could find their percentage of donations that are actually used for charitable causes and came across the article in the link...

Unless I am being naive I think we need to be careful here. Click here www.Texanscan.org for the Dallas/Fort Worth Cars for Kids operation. Click on Cars for Kids then Our Schools. And yes I know it is spelled differently but painting with a broad brush may be dangerous...

George

 

[Ironwood]

I've had two concerning donation requests in the past two weeks. Two teens at my door canvasing for some medical research that was clearly not mainstream....I was certain they were not from the neighbourhood and I sent them away. More annoying was a cell phone call requesting support for a local police weekend camp for unfortunate kids. I'd never heard of the camp and a friendly opening conversation devolved into an aggressive.... where's your heart and what's wrong with you not supporting kids in need. I cut off the conversation and I've blocked the number. Even if the camp was legit, it was clear the canvasing calls were coming from a third party. I've blocked that number as well.
Then there's still quite a few retailers that ask for a dollar or two at checkout to support their causes. A national retailer was accused a couple of years ago of taking all donations into corporate coffers before dissemination and filing for corporate tax credit for the donations....to which they denied and I don't know how it all turned out.

 

[RX8]

Unless I am being naive I think we need to be careful here. Click here www.Texanscan.org for the Dallas/Fort Worth Cars for Kids operation. Click on Cars for Kids then Our Schools. And yes I know it is spelled differently but painting with a broad brush may be dangerous...

George

Agree that the names can get confusing. Certainly not trying to paint with a broad brush. My post is about the well known, heavily advertised across the US, Kars 4 Kids. That jingle is now stuck in my head.

According to Wikipedia it was reported that in 2017 they had revenues of $59M against expenses of $53M.

 

[SmithOp]

Someone I donated to, I suspect at the request of a memorial fund or walk-a-thon, sent me way too much stuff. Mug, slippers, stuffed animal are the big things that come to mind. I use the mug in my office, and slippers went into the "Europe bag" for stuff that only travels overseas because they were compact and light weight. Stuffed bear went immediately out in the Goodwill bag. Haven't gotten anything in a couple years so they must have given up on me. Speaking of Goodwill, I sell on eBay and when my fellow eBay sellers get to ragging on Goodwill it can go on for pages. Apparently they dump far more items than they keep, let employees have first dibs for free or huge markdowns and no longer employ employ the handicapable as in years past. I think it was DaveNW who pointed out that Salvation Army picks stuff up, so I utilized them on things left from my garage sale that I didn't want to put away again. They came as scheduled, but watching them throw stuff in the back of the truck made me realize that although my breakables were more or less wrapped to arrive intact, I'm sure much of what they picked up that day arrived broken. Better to put it out at the curb -- much to the annoyance of my neighbors, I'm sure. Our previous home had an alley behind it, which I didn't care for at first since I'd never lived on an alley. Grew to love it for putting rolls of fabric, still usable curtain rods and other stuff out. And every now and then I'd find something behind someone else's home that I wanted (old bird cage that I used as garden art comes to mind).

Goodwill has an excellent program for finding jobs and helping people with disabilities, they provide job coaches and job opportunities through partnerships with businesses. My son is employed by Goodwill, has been for 18 months now.

Perhaps they no longer employ at their stores but they have a whole division that helps people with disabilities.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[SmithOp]

I mostly donate with my time now that I’m retired and have plenty of it free.

I am a district coordinator with aarp providing free tax filing for seniors and low income. We also provide sessions with a local firm that assists working disabled adults.

We are not allowed to discriminate because we have government grants. We get seniors that come in that could easily afford paid tax preparers, I just bite my tongue and do the best I can. We have a letter we slip in to their return envelope that gently suggests they go elsewhere next year to free up an appointment for a senior with a greater need.

One place I don’t mind donating is at the cash register as long as I see 100% going to the cause, even though I know the companies are getting the tax write off.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[clifffaith]

There is one charity we give to for purely selfish reasons. The LA Philharmonic has a "music in schools" program. For a $250 donation we get two Disney Hall and two Hollywood Bowl rehearsals. And we called once and they allowed us to bring out of town visitors with us, which we appreciated. Seems like most of time they rehearse straight through, so it is just like a performance. We actually enjoy it more when the conductor makes them back up and try it again! We try to select a combination of music we know and like, and performers we like regardless of what they are playing. We saw a Bowl rehearsal of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy a few years ago, so although the programs are mostly classical, every now and again they add something else to the rehearsal schedule. We were one of two couples who showed up one morning for a behind the scenes tour of the Bowl, including getting to stand on stage and go back to the dressing rooms. That was fun, although it turned out to be the day of the Boston Marathon bombing. We'd gone to Canter's Deli for an early lunch after our tour and each had the experience of walking past a TV in the bar area on the way to the potty and being aware "something" was going on, but didn't figure it out until later in the day.

 

[SteelerGal]

Being on the inside does change things. I used to be part of a group that brought meals to wounded warriors on the base once per week. It was a beautiful idea. Once per week, wounded warriors and their visiting families and friends could have a catered meal instead of the gross hospital food that was served on base. Over time, I realized that about 10% of the food we served went to the wounded warriors and the other 90% went to the entitled civilians working on base, the volunteers serving the food and anyone who would get in line for free food.

I can't tell you how many times a wounded warrior would work so hard to get dressed and ready to come down to get food - often it would take them over an hour, sometimes they'd spend all afternoon trying to psych themselves up to come to the event, and by the time they got there, all the food was gone because the able bodied people were first in line. I spoke to the person in charge a couple times about it and he didn't seem to want to do anything to change it. When there were leftovers, he'd take them home, so I guess he just had a very different mindset about it than I did.

That is horrible.
We have Angel Trees at work. A # of us stopped choosing the children requests because it was outrageous. New gaming system, a specific type of back, etc. Hell, I limit how much we spend on our children so $300 for one child is excessive in my book.
Thankfully they added seniors. Most just ask for GC for groceries. We were shocked how little they wanted so we literally started adding extras.

 

[A.Win]

Because of high admin and marketing costs most of you have noted above, I prefer to do direct giving and recommend you do the same. When I travel to a third world country, I pack as little as possible and use most of the space to donate old clothes or books.

I also tip generously at all inclusive resorts. The staff in Mexico and DR have extremely low salaries. Plus the tips give you better service!