I gave to PBS for years…and then I worked for WNET 13, the NYC PBS station during the Christmas holidays. (my sister was then a permanent employee and got me the holiday gig)
The employee holiday party was beyond lavish - piles and piles of jumbo shrimp, crab claws and other, more expensive goodies there for the taking - the food went on fo’ days! The disc jockey was a well known radio personality (pretty expensive hire)
If the local PBS station was able to afford such decadence, they could survive without my hard earned cash.
I give to a scholarship in my dad’s name at DSU and to the United Way.
Several years ago, I was dating a woman from a Salvation Army family, and, inspired by our expanded exposure to their excellent work, my sister felt moved to donate her old couch to them.
Same deal as you describe, the drivers suddenly declared they didn’t want the item. After a bit of conversation, it became clear to my sister that they more or less expected her to bribe them into taking it.
Confronting my then-girlfriend with this development, she did some asking around, and the story is that many of their drivers are not church employees per se, but the people the church is trying to help. They don’t exactly screen for scruples, and not all of their drivers are above looking for a quick buck, even if it tarnishes the image of the organization. The SA generally tries not to get too much attention called to the phenomenon.
This is, for me, the big frustration with trying to give to charity. CARE is the worst. I sent 'em a C-note last year for the tsunami relief effort, and I swear to god they’ve spent it all on postage sending me a new solicitation every three or four days ever since.
Thank you for increasing the amount of good karma in the world.
BobT, if you’re looking for an appreciative charity, I would send you a thank-you note AND a Christmas card if you gave me money. Honest!
Biffy, we donated to a local homeless charity last Christmas, and of course I’ve started to receive mailouts from them. I think I will send them a letter saying I like their charity, I like the work they do, I know where to find them, and if they send me one more piece of mail, they will never see another dollar from me. See how that goes.
<–see my friendly, smiley face?