I have given money in the past to charities, and I have ended up becoming (apparently) a permanent entry on their mailing and telephone solicitation lists (and I suspect that they also sold my info to other organizations). They have now spent more on the mailer solicitations than I had donated to them in the first place. Grrr.
Watching the images of the extent of the problems they are having in Puerto Rico, I want to give a few bucks to some charity, with the hope that what little I can give will help, even if a tiny bit. (Every little bit helps, right? It all adds up, I tell myself.)
So, on Monday, I call the Red Cross’s 1-800 number, planning to use my credit card for the donation. Well, the agent that took my call wants all kinds of info. Some info is reasonable, (name of card holder, for example), but they also want my mailing address, phone number, and email.
I ask “why do you [the Red Cross] need this”? The agent replies that this is “in order to process the card”.
But I’m not purchasing a product that will have to be shipped out to me. I can walk in to a brick and mortar retail store, and make a credit card purchase without having to give the store my personal info. The only thing that pops in to my mind is that the Red Cross wants to be able to spam me with requests for donations in the future.
Thanks, butt heads. Thanks for making me wrestle with the (cynical) feeling that I have been taken advantage of, when all I want to do is help folks in need.
It’s possible that that is their company policy, but that information certainly isn’t needed, at least in my experience processing credit cards. All I need is a number, expiry, and CVC/CVV code from the back of the card and it’ll go through. I don’t even need your name. It may be for marketing (which I’d actually guess it probably is), or it may just be another layer of fraud protection or something.
I agree that the Red Cross doesn’t need it, but it sure seems that they still want it.
What fraud protection is needed? How does a criminal, who somehow obtained my credit card number, use it to profit themselves? There is no physical product, and credit card charges that got reversed don’t result in a cash deposit to some bank account. I guess I am not imaginative enough to figure out how to scam a charity.
To be clear on this subject, the Red Cross killed a friend of mine. I hate them with a passion.
The Red Cross is more interested in raising money than using it for the purpose the donors intend. They have tons of highly paid personnel and valuable real estate that they need to maintain first, so that they can continue their fund-raising. Then, if there’s money left over they may apply it to the humanitarian needs you are concerned about, or maybe something else. You’ll have no guarantee that any donations you make will go to Puerto Rico, or even be spent on any current humanitarian needs.
I don’t know why, but I have seen some cc processors that are much more strict than others. Obviously, this doesn’t apply to in-person transactions (though gas stations often ask for my zip code). Some are very strict on the name - I have a long name and use my middle initial on my cards. My first name always drops the last letter. On rare occassion, if I type my whole name or omit my middle initial, it will be flagged. On even rarer occassion, I’ve had my address flagged because I type with a dash between my street number and avenue number (NYC addressing style), while the bank omits the dash.
More likely, Red Cross system is hard-coded so that the call-taker has to input this information to proceed and it is used for marketing (Occam’s Razor).
I looked in to the Red Cross’s online thing. Same personal info is gathered, IIRC.
Also, if you wanted to mail a physical check, they want you to print out a form to send in with it, and this form also requests the same level of personal info. (At bottom of donation page is a link to the pdf “donation form”.)
Tainted blood. They were not following their own procedures. My friend was infected with AIDS, she died, the current drug cocktail treatments weren’t yet available. Her two children were infected also, both are still alive but suffer numerous physical problems as a result.
Ok. I went and donated through “One America Appeal”, a charity set up by the five still living (former) U.S. Presidents. The charity’s web site asked for email and street address, but did not need my phone number. I was able to select that my funds go to hurricane Maria only. (I gave to the Red Cross for Harvey and Irma, each, prior to hurricane Maria showing up.)
Dealing with the Red Cross made me feel like I was dealing with a (primarily) money making machine. (That’s totally subjective, and possibly unfair, I realize that.) For some reason I can’t quite put my finger on, I am hoping that One America Appeal won’t be spamming me with donations requests, so I felt more at ease giving out my email to OAA.
Just to note, the American Red Cross, from 1881, is a national society affiliated with The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies it started in 1919 ( to exclude the losers in WWI ), not with the older International Committee of the Red Cross, started 1859-63.
So the older body, and the other national Red Crosses, should not be associated with any mistakes of the ARC, and vice versa. In Britain the Red Cross * does not as far as I know collect blood.
Works in association with the British Order of St. John Ambulance ( 1881 ), which is not really related to the real Orders of St. John on the continent dating back to the 11th century; just a copy-cat.
It’s not just the Red Cross and other charities that would apparently rather have your personal information than your money. I called a number from a TV commercial to “get a free brochure”. Obviously they need my address, but they refused to send me the brochure without a phone number and email address.
