I get calls. I get asked on sidewalks. I get solicitations in the mail.
Really? The only thing that bothers me is that I’m too poor to give a lot to every worthy cause.
Too poor? And yet I’m wealthy beyond the dreams of most people who live on this planet.
Ever had those kids come up to you with boxes of candy and say, “Buy some candy to keep kids like me off drugs”? I used to see them at the University of Minnesota all the time about 10 years ago. Thing is, they were often soliciting during school hours, so why weren’t they in school? I don’t know where they were really coming from or what the money was really going toward. Probably drugs.
I used to also see kids who were selling magazine subscriptions “to win a trip to Europe”. I’m sure that was a scam, too, but even if it wasn’t, I was pissed that someone would always let these people into what was supposedly a secure apartment building.
I just got some mail today from a cancer/lymphona charity asking me to go door to door for them.
A few hours ago, somebody showed up at my front door, having gotten my name and address–as well as those of all the neighbors, apparently–from said charity.
:mad:
What drives me nuts is when these folks call me and ask me for an amount “because we’re trying to make our budget.” You can’t budget without first getting a concrete pledge from me? How’s that my problem? Get lost.
All of the above, but especially telebeggars. We once made the mistake of sending some money to a Catholic charity, I forget why but it was a specific purpose and we had reason to know that they didn’t waste money. We included the information that we weren’t Catholic and please don’t solicit us. Hah! Not only did they, but so did every Catholic charity under the sun. Never again.
I have warned a number of charities to whom we contributed regularly that if they didn’t stop calling, we would stop contributing. Mostly that works, but there were two we have crossed off: Habitat for Humanity and Madd.
Another vote against telemarketers (even when for a god cause that I agree with). After telling various organizations that I do not like receiving unsolicited telephone calls, and they kept doing it, I finally decided NEVER to give money to anyone who telemarkets for it. And that includes various organizations that I have sent money to in the past and who do good work.
A couple of them were particularly tenacious and it took YEARS before they stopped calling me. One of two of them still call me, but I expect they’ll drop away in another year or two.
That being said, I do succumb to calls from my alma mater.
p.s. – Alma mater does not include graduate school. A few weeks ago, the U where I got my master’s phoned me asking for money, and they SUGGESTED that I donate $1000 !!! Where in hell did they get the idea I’d give them $1000?
I also dislike the letter written by a neighbor who I don’t know asking me to donate to some cause. I recently received some junk mail requesting that I send a letter to 10 neighbors soliciting donations. It’s sleazy and disingenuous. It gives the appearance that this neighbor really cares about this organization where he is just a pushover for causes. It’s really just an obnoxious chain letter.
Even worse. When my daughter was in college - an expensive private college - they had the nerve to hit me up for money beyond the fortune I was paying in tuition.
I just ignore grad school requests. Though if we really wanted to find Osama, just tell the University of Illinois Alumni Office he is an alum, and they’d have his address and phone number inside of a week.
I started a thread about this at one point. I have no kids, but it still bothers me. Not sure why anyone would send their child out to get leered at for a couple of bucks.
Anyway, the one thing I cannot stand is charities calling up and asking you to help by getting magazine subscriptions. I can’t imagine the charity gets more than a few cents on the dollar for this. I have to hang up on them. When I want to support a charity, I’ll find them.
I have a budget for how much a year I will give to any charities that I approve. Who gets what varies according to who rings when and what other options crop up. I particularly like The Life Savers, they just read out a list of things to buy and they receive a cut. If I don’t want anything from this years product list so be it and they are perfectly friendly, “May we call you next time?”
The people who ring me, knowing I have contributed before, and refuse to accept that they didn’t make my list this year, who try to shame me into just a **small ** donation, lose me forever.
In the UK, the ones who accost you on the street - and don’t usually ask for cash, but rather your debit card details so they can take a monthly donation - are called Chuggers: charity muggers.
It is fun to ask them how much they earn, and whether it comes out of the charity’s funds. They are required by law to fess up, but they don’t half squirm and evade.
zhongguorenmin
“Facers”, as they’re called here, really annoy me. Organizations like UNICEF, Amnesty, Greenpeace, Save the Children, etc., are all well and fine in and of themselves, but it seems like every single one of them arranges to have an intensified street recruitment campaign simultaneously. When I get off the bus in the morning to go to work, I will probably get approached by someone from each organization within 20 meters. What’s worse is once I get past them, I get attacked by another bunch next to the Kamppi shopping center about 100 meters away because that’s where all the buses from Espoo have their terminal. Sometimes it seems like one of these guys will approach me and start their spiel and three more from different organizations will all hang around a little way back waiting for their turn. Also, the amounts that they suggest I arrange to be donated directly from my bank account aren’t really appropriate for me. While I’m sure that 20 euros a month is “a small sum to pay” for “the lives of needy children somewhere in the Third World”, that 20 euros a month is quite “a large sum to pay” for “a college student who has to pay rent and would also like to eat every once in a while.”
Then again, I kind of understand them, because I’ve heard the pay is absolutely hideous and they only get money if they’ve recruited a certain amount of people per day. Still doesn’t stop them from being annoying.
I bloody hate chuggers - and you’re right - apparently, quite a surprisingly large cut is taken by the agencies/people involved in collecting funds this way.
What I really despise, though, is inertia sales - its illegal, but it still happens occasionally. I was a member of a conservation charity and they sent (unsolicited) all their members a pack of raffle tickets, with the instruction that the members should sell them to friends and family, buy them for themselves, or if they didn’t want to participate, return the tickets. I sent them back with a letter terminating my membership.
I never donate by phone or in the street - luckily we get very few telemarketers phoning us at home and the machine is always on so they never get to talk to anyone. The chuggers just don’t seem to understand the word “no” and it seems they work on trying to make you feel guilty.
I either ignore them or point out that all my charitable giving is giftaided so the charity is better off if I don’t give via street collections.