Annoying charities... rant

There are a few national charities that I give to a few times a year. Mostly I'll send them a check for $50-100. I give what I can, when I can. Occasionally I'll give more. I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT when the charity turns around and sends me a form letter saying, "Thank you for your $100. Please give us $250 next time", or something to that effect. Just say Thank You. DON'T ask me for more next time. If I'd wanted to/been able to give more I would have. Don't be greedy!

(OTOH, I've found that local charities don't do that. They just acknowledge the gift graciously.)

Easy cure: give only to local charities. They probably have less overhead anyway and will put your dollars to immediate use in the community rather than for more direct mailings! That's what I started doing. Even though I want to give to every worthy cause, I just can't afford to. I know where my money will go the farthest, and it's right here in my local community.

It's not even the content of the mailings (I don't read them anyway, I learn about charities from their own websites, news stories, IRS 990s and charity rating sites), it's the volume that gets to me. I know I should be supporting the Post Office, but I just hate getting the annual reports that weigh two or three pounds. We've had moderate success with enclosing a note with our check, asking them not to send any paper mail. But maybe that only ever works with larger donations. I don't find any difference as far as local vs. national vs. international, except for the super tiny local organizations that just don't send any mass mailings at all.

I don't have a lot to give, but I do donate to my high school (it's a weird situation where it's a public school open to multiple districts but isn't fully funded through taxes). They're extremely grateful, to the effect where they encourage folks to give as little as $5 and publicly thank everyone via facebook for any donation. I wish I could give more than I do, but I'm glad that they appreciate what little I can donate.

I mostly give locally, and have had good luck limiting the reminders and mailings by simply asking that they stop. My local public radio/tv station is a good example of that. Having been on a not for profit board of a local chapter of one of the biggest national charities, I can tell you that the pressure to raise money is intense and never-ending. I often felt that we were employing less than ideal methods because of that pressure. If an organization you otherwise support has a practice that you find obnoxious or troublesome, I'd encourage you to share your thoughts with them. If it helps them figure out best practices, then you will be doing them a favor in the long run.

Once, when I was younger (28 or so), I went to a meeting of the Jewish Business and Professional Women of Greater Phoenix. I had gone mostly to their evening networking things and this was a brunch with a well known speaker, a woman who survived the Holocaust. Yes, you can see what was coming. After the food and speech, they started with the "give to the campaign." I was not only shocked, albeit a bit naive, but then my shock turned to disgust. I actually said something, like, "No I'm not giving. I came hear to hear the speaker and meet people. I don't really care that the $ is going to... I give money to my synagogue..." Wow, that was the kiss of death. I really didn't know about this stuff, and I think they gave me a little leeway, as I was 8 months pregnant. Using the speaker's experience as a guilt trip to give really pissed me off.
I do give money to just a couple of things, but I always regret it, because of the incessant calls and stuff.

Oh, I HATE that too. I don't usually give a lot to special campaigns, I've picked my charities, two well-known respected ones that do work I really feel is important, and I donate to them every single month. And it still pisses me off that the one of them (a children's charity) sends me form letters every Christmas trying to tug at my heart strings and asking me to donate to their oh, so special Christmas campaign. I don't care, stop bugging me, I've been giving you money all year where it can do some real good. I hate the emotional blackmail attached.

Okay, I feel the need to play devil's advocate a bit. It's hard to survive as a not for profit, and it gets harder each year. I realize that some methods may strike us as obnoxious, but you have to appreciate how hard it is for a NFP, especially smaller ones, to serve their missions. They simply cannot survive without asking for money at their every opportunity. If they have an audience, you better believe they're going to make the pitch. If it's a cause you otherwise believe in and they spend their donations wisely, I would encourage you to cut them some slack.

It's not the asking that I object to. I expect them to ask for another contribution. It's when I donate X amount and their next letter is asking for 2X or 3X that my first response is to send them nothing ever again.

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Originally Posted by roadie gal

It's not the asking that I object to. I expect them to ask for another contribution. It's when I donate X amount and their next letter is asking for 2X or 3X that my first response is to send them nothing ever again.

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Yes, this. I send what I can afford to give, and while there was one situation where I still gave after getting this kind of letter, it took some thought before I did it but I typically won't.

I understand the need, as my closest friend is a development officer for our local hospital. I could never do what she does. She doesn't actually ask for the $, she has to shmooze people, plan events, and deal with the volunteers who work at her events. In other words, she has to be nice to people she doesn't necessarily like, to, in the end, get money.
I work for a non profit, so I understand. The one I work for, at least treats the professional staff fairly well. When I went on interviews last year, I couldn't believe the lack of, well, decency, in some of the attitudes I encountered from clinical directors, all because as some told me, "we are non profit, we have no money." And coming from public education, this was an eye opener. I thought schools were bad.

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Originally Posted by Catrin

Yes, this. I send what I can afford to give, and while there was one situation where I still gave after getting this kind of letter, it took some thought before I did it but I typically won't.

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any charity thattells me how much I should give or could give gets nothing. My husbands company does a United Way giving campaign each year, and they have the nerve to look at the general income levels of the various executives ( which are generally in the public annual reports) and have the nerve to prefigue everyones' "expected" contribution and send them a letter to that effect. Talk about having the nerve! My husband send them back an interior memo with a penny attached and tells them to mind their own business.

Cahrities that send me a dollar, or a nickel or a penny? I keep the money and shred the letter. Several of these I have never given too and so they are obviously combing public mailing lists. At this point I have enough scratch pads and return address stickers to last me for the rest of my life, I wish they could just give up and give the postage and printing costs that they save to whatever cause they are supporting.

I rode a fair number of local charitiy rides where I support causes I believe in and can see how the money is benefiting local groups. Of course this means that both DH and I have more "ride" t shirts than we could ever use as well.

Maybe I'll start making lap quilts out of them and donating to the local pet shelter or old folks home.

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Originally Posted by roadie gal

It's not the asking that I object to. I expect them to ask for another contribution. It's when I donate X amount and their next letter is asking for 2X or 3X that my first response is to send them nothing ever again.

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Still -- I have never known a local charity to do this -- only the national charities. It's fine if you want to give to them, but just know that they are going to do this.