Community Chat

[shoekitty]

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@AuntG wrote:

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@Spurt wrote:

Search for The Charity Navigator website which shows charity metrics for an organization. For example what a charity spends on mailings/fund raising and what a charity's Administer makes under Financial Metrics data and there's other important financial info too just scroll down the page. I usually send charities an email telling them not to add me to future mailing lists and do not share my info with other charities either. 

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Thank you for this information. I hope to use it in the future @Spurt . So happy my check is going to a 4 star organization with a rating of 97%. I wonder if any non-profits get 100%.

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@AuntG  97% is very good. I have seen, and donated to one that had 100%, it is hard because there are so many factors that make up the total score.  But over 95% is good. They tell you the reason why they scored that number as well. Sometimes it is because so,ething was missing on report, or something very slight. 

[SamBrown]

I think it is much more gratifying and helpful to help an individual person or family than give to a charitable organization.

[stevieb]

Somewhere along the line 'research' told some charity that incessant pleas for more, more, more worked and the word spread. I wonder if any recent research has indicated diminishing returms based on donor annoyance. 

[aprilskies]

This is the reason I stopped donating.  I couldn’t not handle the incessant mail. It was relentless. I now help those around me, donate to food pantries and I give through work which collects for different causes. 

It it is a shame but I guess they know and feel it is still advantageous for them. 

[Fribwl]

@occasionalrain .  I feel the same way.  So now, I do not write a check to anybody.  I give to food pantry and donate to toys for tots and give to salvation army.  They stand out in front of my supermarket this time of year.  This way I did the right thing for me and my donating nature but I don't have anybody calling me for more.  It works.

[smoochy]

today i was at Walgreens. By the checkout they had a large display of toys. Its their annual toy drive. You can select a toy, pay for it and they put it in a bin. It will go to a local food bank that offers the brand new toys along with the food. I bought two items for the charity. I like doing this locally, as many of you mentioned. 

[Tinkrbl44]

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@occasionalrain wrote:

There are charities that I support, but once I donate, there are endless requests from those charities.

I don't want my donations spent on mailings nor on salaries for excess staff.

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@occasionalrain 

You need to be anonymous.  I access charities ONLY through DuckDuckGo and ONLY make payments through PayPal.  

It seems to work fine for me; no other charities are seeking me out.  

Knock on wood.

[Lucky Charm]

It's sad and frustrating at the same time all the pleas for donations thru the mail.

I gave to one specific Children's hospital  (monthly credit card deduction) and BOOM....I was put on a 'list'.

Add to that, I changed my father's address to mine to receive his mail (I have POA) and I cannot believe the amount of mail they received for donations.

And now these organizations are soliciting ME for donations I guess because of the address change.

Today alone, address labels, Christmas present name tags, pad of writing paper and a shopping list pad.

It tugs at my heart, but I can't help everyone with everything.  Simply can't!

Too late to get off of mailing lists with sending money orders and not being 'tracked'.  The initial charity, which pulled at my heart-strings with the commercials on TV with celebrities begging for help for children with life or death issues, obviously sold me to others.

I give to certain charities and I have my limits.  The rest of the  envelopes, the letters begging, all go in recycle.  It's sad...

[roeroe1005]

I cannot afford to give to many charities. 

The one that I always try to give to is Donor's Choose.  I usually give to one of the local classrooms where I worked when living in Delaware.  I also donate to local classrooms where I now live.

[JeanLouiseFinch]

We don't get mailers from the organizations we support but we do get informative newsletters.  

I'm disappointed with our local Boy Scouts.  Right before Thanksgiving there was a food drive.  They dropped off an empty grocery bag one weekend with a note asking for it to be filled and placed on the front porch for pickup the following Saturday.  I had two bags filled and placed on my porch before sunrise on pickup day.  No one ever came to collect them.  I left the bags there all day and even the next day.  I reached out via our community facebook page, asking for someone to come for them, and crickets.  Our community has a few blessing boxes placed around town so the groceries ended up in one of them.