I hadn’t seen his TED talk, but I’ve seen Pallotta in person before on this subject. He’s absolutely correct, if not maybe more than a little aggressive about it than anyone else on the planet. Ultimately, he speaks to a fundamental misunderstanding in this country on a what a non-profit organization actually is and does.
Yep, me too. Fuck 'em.
I don’t give to any charity that wraps itself in religion. Christian Aid? Fuck that. Call it Aid and you can have my money.
I’m confused as to what you mean by this. Are you saying that kids go door-to-door - and it’s pretty much every kid in the school (or at least the older ones) required to do this - asking for money for the school in general, as opposed to specific things?
Does someone asking for money for his high school football team count as “fund raising for the school”? How about something like a car wash to send students on a class trip of some sort?
Here’s my list (although I will give my usual caveat about my list - it’s subject to change in the next five minutes or so):
Anybody who calls me on the phone, or sends me mail, unsolicited - however, I will consider a door-to-door request
Pretty much any “environmental” organization (PETA, Greenpeace, Sierra Club)
Any religious organization
I refuse to give to any charity that calls me, or solicits by having people collecting money at intersections.
Ah this gives me a chance to rant about one of my least favorite charities and I don’t even have to be in the pit.
Smile Train:
This organization just hits so many of my annoyment buttons.
I already hate appeals based on gut reactions to cute kids. But these take it up a notch by saying here is an almost cute kid and by donating you can make him or her into a cute kid, as if the cuteness is all that matters. Further we are going to plop these children in your face in the Newspaper so that you can’t possibly ignore them. While I understand that growing up having a cleft pallet might be hard for children and I feel sorry for those that do, it’s really just cosmetic and doesn’t directly affect their health at all. It seems to me that there are a lot more serious issues in the third world being neglected that we have better places to spend our money than making kids cuter.
Add to that the fact that they blackmail you to have them take you off your mailing list Just send us a donation and we’ll stop sending pictures of cleft pallets to your mail box (of course even with a donation they don’t stop). Finally their ads are deceiving they actually don’t provide a surgery for every $250 raised, and their overhead expenses are more like 30% rather than 0%.
http://www.charitywatch.org/articles/smiletrain.html
The local fire department where I used to live did “Boots for Burns,” sending the fire crews out into one of the major intersections - all between the lanes of cars - to collect change and bills for children’s hospital burn units. The collection bins were their fire boots. They didn’t hassle anyone or even make meaningful eye contact unless your window was down and you were waving at them. But it was VERY effective year after year, and I always dug out a buck or two when I saw the circus up ahead.
Most of mine have been mentioned:
Komen
United Way
PETA
Boy Scouts
But I’ll add anyone that uses a paid call center. I’ve even given up asking what percent of donations go to the charity, and just hang up. It was just to depressing to hear someone cheerfully tell me that 25% of my donation would go to whatever charity they were calling from.
They’ve done that for MDA around here for many years, too.
When my kids are asked to do the school fundraisers that require them to sell stuff, I just make a donation directly to the school for double what their target sales amount would be. I hate these things with a passion. They’re organized by companies that get a huge cut of the sales and the kids sit through pep rallies that get them all hyped up about the “prizes” (they, of course, think they’re likely to get the ipad and not the superball that they’ll more likely get with the amount of stuff they’d sell). It sends the message to the kids that they’re raising money for prizes and not for the school. And the stuff they sell is a bunch of junk that nobody would normally buy - another message I don’t agree with.
I also don’t donate to United Way (I’ve been exposed to the strongarm tactics at work), BSA & Salvation Army (anti-gay, anti-atheist), and I try to avoid religion-based charities in general, although that’s not a total deal-breaker.
I wouldn’t give to charities like World Vision and any organization that says ‘Christian’ anywhere in its charter or mission statement. It is all very well that such organizations draw inspiration from Christianity - nothing wrong with that - but they are often involved in less-than-charitable activities such as converting people through fraud and allurement.
‘Christian’ charities have become a permanent source of societal conflict in places such as tribal areas of India where their activities are both very visible and extremely toxic to the native religions and traditions. In effect, they use well-meaning donations made by honest folks to fund their religious right-wing agenda, far from home, where they shall not be held accountable for the violence they create.
I contribute far more to environmental causes and organizations that work mitigate global warming and stuff. This is an area where the Christian charity department hasn’t found a toehold - yet. Apparently Jesus has instructed them to stay focused on harvesting souls for his next day’s breakfast, and forget Mother Earth for the moment. Which suits me very well, indeed.
First off, “cosmetic” doesn’t necessarily mean “trivial”. Being born with gross disfigurement can mean the difference between being adopted or being kept in an orphanage, being allowed to go to school or being kept home, in shame; and being able to marry and/or have a job versus living as a lonely beggar. One could make the case that “cosmetics” are especially important in the developing world.
Secondly, cleft palates AREN’T just cosmetic. They can severely affect one’s ability to swallow and communicate. For a family with a lot of mouths to feed and no money, these aren’t small hurdles to overcome.
I don’t know anything about this charity. But I think your comments are a little off-base.
I am uncomfortable with fire fighters soliciting money for, I think it’s muscular dystrophy, by holding out boots to be filled by motorists stopped at an intersection. Maybe I’m a little paranoid, but there is an air of, “That’s a nice car you got there, pal. Nice house, too. Sure be a shame if anything happened to them, like catching on fire and finding the local fire fighters are too busy to respond. Especially if you have ignored them at charitable drives. But, hey! Your choice, man. I don’t want you to feel pressured, but, shit does happen, you know.”
Most of the violence seems to be caused by the fanatics of the old heathen faiths rather than the converts, if so I don’t see why the charities should be blamed for it.
Omitted because of potential hijack.
?? What are they??
Komen and United Way, for sure. We used to get little United Way payroll deduction slips at work, all preprinted with name and SS#, for us to fill out and return. They always said “we need these back even if you don’t give.” I never did- screw that.
Police and fireman unions. They call up and before they get 10 words into their spiel, I hang up. Why should I donate to a union I don’t belong to?
Any group with “Cancer” in its name other than ACS. So many of those donate only marginally to research, most is fundraising.
I do throw money in the Salvation Army pots. They may be homophobic and heavy on the religion, but they do a lot of good, feed a lot of people, and house a lot of homeless.
About 15 years ago, right after I moved to Chicago, I got a call from a police charity, and the charity beggar mentioned it sure is nice to have that sticker that says you gave in your back window, if a cop is thinking about pulling you over.
*Disclaimer - I don’t remember the charity - it may not have any actual connection to police. The guy was probably not following his script when he said that. But man, what a dick!
Those telephone solicitors imply that the window stickers will let you get out of a speeding ticket. So when I was bored once, I pressed one of them on exactly how useful it would be. “Would I avoid a ticket if I were going 65 MPH in a 55 MPH zone? How about if I was going 95 MPH in a 55 MPH zone?” They, of course, can’t promise anything. But it was fun to try to pin him down.
Anything that’s not Jeeeezus.
There are only a few charities I do donate to, but the ones that I definitely won’t are also the Salvation Army and PETA.