poll re: charitable contributions

Heffalump

cupcait927 said:

@Heffalump I have vowed to H that we will never live anywhere that doesn't have a Wegmans. When we were in Orlando last week, we had to shop at Publix and it was AWFUL. 

And yeah, I never thought it was a great idea to make getting donations into a contest. It doesn't really seem to be in line with the spirit of giving and I could tell that a lot of customers were irritated with being asked after about a week. We did start doing the round up option a couple of years before I quit and that turned to be the most popular way for people to give, at least in my experience. Much easier to ask and much more well-received.

I keep hearing rumors that they will open a Wegmans here, but TBH, right now I think it's wishful thinking more than anything.

cowgirl8238

cupcait927 said:

For those that have been bombarded by cashiers at the checkout - I worked at Wegmans for a loooong time as a cashier and every year we did the United Way donation drive. I absolutely loathed asking customers to donate but if you didn't, you got in trouble. They also had mini contests every day for who could get the most donations, and they'd usually give away a bigger prize ($100 giftcard, free vacation day, etc) for the cashier that got the most donations at the end of the drive. So if they're hounding you, it's probably not because they even care about the charity, it's because they want to win a contest. Not that it makes it okay, and no one should be berated by a cashier into donating, but it can make people a little competitive. 

I worked for Stop and Shop in NY and then Giant in PA when we first moved here...both are owned by Ahold, (along with Martins, Food Lion and few others they recently acquired) and they did the same thing.  I was written up once because I didn't get enough donations...it was horrible and I couldn't wait to quit that job.  That was also the same manager that would leave me in Customer Service with a screaming customer because "I have to take a shit right now, just make up something and I'll get there when I'm done." 

As I had said before, I don't get too annoyed when they ask because I know that they have to.  I never give though, and I absolutely hated to ask people that I knew couldn't/didn't want to give.

thefanciestbeckler

@lyndausvi will you PM me a link too? I'll be happy to donate. I know lots of people who have a need for an organ donor or have received a donated organ. It's close to my heart

thisismynickname2

I said some solicitations are ok and the method of delivery matters. 

I like donating to something specific. Like, Trader Joe's was doing water donations for the Flint, MI situation. I donated to that. A local store here was doing a donation to give toys to military kids. Easy peasy. A "cause" is more my taste than an established organization. 

My employer does United Way too. I got really irritated because I got added to United Way's mailing list and they sent out an ad for a "Women's Luncheon" or something that was honoring women leaders... and it had a shopping and shoes theme. This is not the first time I've seen a women's leadership charity or convention or whatever centering around a fashion/shopping/shoes theme. Pisses me off. Is that all we are? Is that all gets our attention?

I wrote a Nastygram to Starbucks somewhat recently for promoting a charity that tried to get women's attention with a shopping convention. You know, if you run a marathon and go to the health expo, it's a health expo. You run a women's charity and the expo is a shopping event. Bullshit. 

charlotte989875

It's interesting to see how regional (or stores?) do things differently. At our Kroger (which is definitely NOT Wegmans) there is a small sign near the check out that says "Will you round up to donate to the Toledo Food Bank?", and that's it. I've never been asked by the cashier, so I like that it is a subtle ask/reminder that feels unobtrusive. 

Why is United Way the employer charity of choice? Ours in United Way as well, and it drives me crazy. There was a catered breakfast even with the University President to hear "about our long-term partnership with United Way". Why are we spending all that money to cater (and fancy cater not the cheap option) to hear about charities when that money could, you know actually be donated to that charity?! 

PrettyGirlLost

I'm addicted to Amazon since I have my Prime account, so I shop solely through AmazonSmile now on the site.  That allows a tiny portion of your purchases to go to a charity of your choice- JDRF is listed as a Smile charity participant.

This is a great option is you already use Amazon a lot.

I also give directly to the local food banks, women's shelters, school fundraisers for kids in my family, and several animal rescue organizations.

I never give to the United Way, or Komen, or several other mainstream charities because the majority of donations go to administrator salaries and overhead; Specifically I won't give to Komen because they give very little grants towards research because they claim that's not their focus- awareness is their focus.  It's 2016. . . anyone with boobs is well aware of breast cancer.  Meanwhile those of us in the research field could surely use more funding.

I also never donate to my undergrad college- talk about wasted money on overhead and admin salaries!  How about you use the majority of your endowment to lower tuition costs?  No?  Well, consider my 4 years worth of tuition donation enough.

thefanciestbeckler

PrettyGirlLost said:

I'm addicted to Amazon since I have my Prime account, so I shop solely through AmazonSmile now on the site.  That allows a tiny portion of your purchases to go to a charity of your choice- JDRF is listed as a Smile charity participant.

This is a great option is you already use Amazon a lot.

I also give directly to the local food banks, women's shelters, school fundraisers for kids in my family, and several animal rescue organizations.

I never give to the United Way, or Komen, or several other mainstream charities because the majority of donations go to administrator salaries and overhead; Specifically I won't give to Komen because they give very little grants towards research because they claim that's not their focus- awareness is their focus.  It's 2016. . . anyone with boobs is well aware of breast cancer.  Meanwhile those of us in the research field could surely use more funding.

I also never donate to my undergrad college- talk about wasted money on overhead and admin salaries!  How about you use the majority of your endowment to lower tuition costs?  No?  Well, consider my 4 years worth of tuition donation enough.

So. much. this. My alma mater asks for money all the freaking time while they're charging out the ass for tuition and building new multi-million dollar buildings. Nope. Not happening.

short+sassy

PrettyGirlLost said:

I'm addicted to Amazon since I have my Prime account, so I shop solely through AmazonSmile now on the site.  That allows a tiny portion of your purchases to go to a charity of your choice- JDRF is listed as a Smile charity participant.

This is a great option is you already use Amazon a lot.

I also give directly to the local food banks, women's shelters, school fundraisers for kids in my family, and several animal rescue organizations.

I never give to the United Way, or Komen, or several other mainstream charities because the majority of donations go to administrator salaries and overhead; Specifically I won't give to Komen because they give very little grants towards research because they claim that's not their focus- awareness is their focus.  It's 2016. . . anyone with boobs is well aware of breast cancer.  Meanwhile those of us in the research field could surely use more funding.

I also never donate to my undergrad college- talk about wasted money on overhead and admin salaries!  How about you use the majority of your endowment to lower tuition costs?  No?  Well, consider my 4 years worth of tuition donation enough.

Donation calls from my college alma mater just started about 2 years.  For me, college feels like a lifetime ago.  In fact it usually takes me a few seconds and I'm thinking, "Huh?  What?  Cal State who?"

I had a great time when I was in college, but just don't really feel any connection to my campus and have zero desire to donate.  And I know the students who call me can't relate to that...yet.  The last one who called noticed I lived in NOLA and, in an enthusiastic tone asked, "Have you been back since you graduated?"  Me, "Ummm, yes.  Once when I was out visiting my sister who lived nearby...but that was like 15 years ago."  Bless her heart.   

bleve0821

I use AmazonSmile, too, and I was donating through Kroger through their community rewards program, but there are no Krogers near us anymore and I haven't checked to see if Harris Teeter has a similar program.

DH and I donate a lot of clothing and food every year to local shelters, and my workplace participates in a workplace charity campaign program (not UW) which has hundreds of participating organizations.  My favorite feature of the program is that most of the organizations list their overhead, so you know going into it how much of each dollar donated is actually going to the cause you want to support.  I've been participating in that every year since I started working.  I have my pet organizations, but I try to find a new one every year or so to contribute towards.

I will do the round-up thing at store checkouts, but I don't particularly like being asked.  I prefer to do the research on a charitable organization before I donate.  I know it's always a good cause, but I can't bring myself to donate to places where I don't know the overhead or their mission.  It doesn't bother me to be asked, but I do feel like a heel when I say no.

PrettyGirlLost

The head of the board of trustees, who is an extremely wealthy and privileged woman, had the balls to stand up at our graduation ceremony- before we had even been given our damn diplomas, and entreat us all to "give, give back" to our college.

Are you fucking kidding me with this shit?!  I just spent four years paying tuition, I literally haven't even graduated yet, let alone found a job or started paying back my student loans- which will take about 20 years to repay- and you are already trying to fleece me for more fucking money?

That school will never see another dime from me.

The Trustee's daughter was in my class and she was a raging bitch, too.

short+sassy

For any of you South Park fans, there is an episode where Randy goes to a Whole Foods (with a slightly different name) and is constantly harassed to donate to various charities every time he checks out.

And the "no" button/response gets continually more complicated and crazy as the episode progresses.  I think one of them involves pulling a sandwich OUT of a child's mouth on the computer screen.  I may not have it exact, but it was something like that.

KatWAG

This is going to be long. Apologies. 

My company (like so many corporations) do an annual giving event with the United Way. It annoys me for so many reasons. 

First, like others have said, I don't like UW. 

But what really annoys me is the way my company goes about soliciting. My company basically forces you to give. And to give a lot. I was told when I first started that my participation in the giving campaign would be reviewed before any promotions or new position would be accepted.

They also told me that I need to give 1% of my salary each year. That is a lot of money to me, especially considering I cant give to a charity of my choice. (I can only decide which branch of the UW my donation will go to: job training, children, medical, etc)

But my company took it a step farther this year. It is our 200th year anniversary. So now they are asking that everyone donate $1,817 (the year we were founded) which is way too much IMO. 

I will get at least one email every day until I give at the suggested amount. 

I have no idea how it is legal to allow charitable giving to be tied to promotions. But I have no idea what to do about since it is so ingrained in our corporation culture. And I work in the division that is responsible for employee giving, so the pressure is extra high for my group. 

Time for a new job. Vent over. 

charlotte989875

That's ridiculous @KatWAG, and quiet possibly not legal. How can they tie your promotion to donations?! That's some bullshit right there. 

PrettyGirlLost

KatWAG said:

This is going to be long. Apologies. 

My company (like so many corporations) do an annual giving event with the United Way. It annoys me for so many reasons. 

First, like others have said, I don't like UW. 

But what really annoys me is the way my company goes about soliciting. My company basically forces you to give. And to give a lot. I was told when I first started that my participation in the giving campaign would be reviewed before any promotions or new position would be accepted.

They also told me that I need to give 1% of my salary each year. That is a lot of money to me, especially considering I cant give to a charity of my choice. (I can only decide which branch of the UW my donation will go to: job training, children, medical, etc)

But my company took it a step farther this year. It is our 200th year anniversary. So now they are asking that everyone donate $1,817 (the year we were founded) which is way too much IMO. 

I will get at least one email every day until I give at the suggested amount. 

I have no idea how it is legal to allow charitable giving to be tied to promotions. But I have no idea what to do about since it is so ingrained in our corporation culture. And I work in the division that is responsible for employee giving, so the pressure is extra high for my group. 

Time for a new job. Vent over. 

Holy Crap!  I doubt it's legal.

Are you just deleting the emails and not participating?

*Barbie*

@Heffalump - The human factor probably plays into the annoyance because I feel like there is more guilt and judgement involved. A lot of times, it feels like everyone has their hand out - and I really don't want to feel like I have to justify my choice to someone. Do I care if random cashier is judging me for saying "no" - not really, but it's tougher to say no to friends or family, and not feel like I have to justify the response.

A lot of the organizations that I regularly help are ones that I sought out, or knew someone that was already involved and asked them to include me during the next event/drive/etc.

@KatWAG - I'm i2i with you on the UW thing. I even got voluntold to be a chair about 7 years back in my old office (couldn't exactly tell the department VP no)- and I hated having to pressure my colleagues to participate. I actually set up "united way" in my spam filter so i don't see the e-mail traffic for those 2 months. the pressure isn't as bad for the general population, but I think the leadership (especially senior leaders) are pressured pretty heavily to donate. 

6fsn

Funny story- My husband just stopped his donation to OSU last month.  HIS EMPLOYER.  HE WAS DONATING TO HIS EMPLOYER.

TrixieJess

I'm a special snowflake. 

I don't like being told what to do and where to spend my charity money. There are a few organisations that I donate time and money to on the regular, but I don't beat people over the head with it. I don't like being asked for money in stores, if I want to contribute money or food, I will don't bug me when I'm obviously in a hurry. 

I used to work for a company that wanted us to volunteer on a regular basis (on top of working 44 hours, and I had a child under 1 at home and a partner). However, all of the organisations that I brought forward to volunteer for were shot down by my manager because they weren't "esteemed" enough. I'm sorry, I'm a) not volunteering for a Christian organisation (which is what she wanted) or b) volunteering to be on some committee that will bore the hell out of me. It was one of the many reasons I left the company. 

I think Charity is something very personal to everyone. You shouldn't have to advertise how "charitable" you are. I also think there is a lot of competition now and a lot of the time the money donated doesn't all make it to the cause as we all hope. 

short+sassy

KatWAG said:

This is going to be long. Apologies. 

My company (like so many corporations) do an annual giving event with the United Way. It annoys me for so many reasons. 

First, like others have said, I don't like UW. 

But what really annoys me is the way my company goes about soliciting. My company basically forces you to give. And to give a lot. I was told when I first started that my participation in the giving campaign would be reviewed before any promotions or new position would be accepted.

They also told me that I need to give 1% of my salary each year. That is a lot of money to me, especially considering I cant give to a charity of my choice. (I can only decide which branch of the UW my donation will go to: job training, children, medical, etc)

But my company took it a step farther this year. It is our 200th year anniversary. So now they are asking that everyone donate $1,817 (the year we were founded) which is way too much IMO. 

I will get at least one email every day until I give at the suggested amount. 

I have no idea how it is legal to allow charitable giving to be tied to promotions. But I have no idea what to do about since it is so ingrained in our corporation culture. And I work in the division that is responsible for employee giving, so the pressure is extra high for my group. 

Time for a new job. Vent over. 

WOW!!!  That sounds absolutely horrible.  I'd hate to work at a company that mandated how much and where my charitable donations went.  And, yeah, $1800+ would be a LOT of money to most people.  Myself included.

I participate in a Money Matters forum on The Knot.  One of the regular posters is an attorney and I know she has talked about there is a lot of charitable giving that is "expected" of her.  Some of it is networking, ie buying tickets to charitable events.  Some of the law firm partners have their pet charities they're heavily involved with.  The way she describes, none of that is technically required, I don't think it is part of her performance review.  But it's looked down on and is a negative impression if she doesn't participate.

KatWAG

PrettyGirlLost said:

KatWAG said:

This is going to be long. Apologies. 

My company (like so many corporations) do an annual giving event with the United Way. It annoys me for so many reasons. 

First, like others have said, I don't like UW. 

But what really annoys me is the way my company goes about soliciting. My company basically forces you to give. And to give a lot. I was told when I first started that my participation in the giving campaign would be reviewed before any promotions or new position would be accepted.

They also told me that I need to give 1% of my salary each year. That is a lot of money to me, especially considering I cant give to a charity of my choice. (I can only decide which branch of the UW my donation will go to: job training, children, medical, etc)

But my company took it a step farther this year. It is our 200th year anniversary. So now they are asking that everyone donate $1,817 (the year we were founded) which is way too much IMO. 

I will get at least one email every day until I give at the suggested amount. 

I have no idea how it is legal to allow charitable giving to be tied to promotions. But I have no idea what to do about since it is so ingrained in our corporation culture. And I work in the division that is responsible for employee giving, so the pressure is extra high for my group. 

Time for a new job. Vent over. 

Holy Crap!  I doubt it's legal.

Are you just deleting the emails and not participating?

Yes, I am deleting all the emails. I plan to quit at the end of the year anyway, so it doesn't matter to me anymore. 

But I have been here 4 years without any significant promotion/ raise, and I am wondering if it has anything to do with my participation level. 

KatWAG

short+sassy said:

KatWAG said:

This is going to be long. Apologies. 

My company (like so many corporations) do an annual giving event with the United Way. It annoys me for so many reasons. 

First, like others have said, I don't like UW. 

But what really annoys me is the way my company goes about soliciting. My company basically forces you to give. And to give a lot. I was told when I first started that my participation in the giving campaign would be reviewed before any promotions or new position would be accepted.

They also told me that I need to give 1% of my salary each year. That is a lot of money to me, especially considering I cant give to a charity of my choice. (I can only decide which branch of the UW my donation will go to: job training, children, medical, etc)

But my company took it a step farther this year. It is our 200th year anniversary. So now they are asking that everyone donate $1,817 (the year we were founded) which is way too much IMO. 

I will get at least one email every day until I give at the suggested amount. 

I have no idea how it is legal to allow charitable giving to be tied to promotions. But I have no idea what to do about since it is so ingrained in our corporation culture. And I work in the division that is responsible for employee giving, so the pressure is extra high for my group. 

Time for a new job. Vent over. 

WOW!!!  That sounds absolutely horrible.  I'd hate to work at a company that mandated how much and where my charitable donations went.  And, yeah, $1800+ would be a LOT of money to most people.  Myself included.

I participate in a Money Matters forum on The Knot.  One of the regular posters is an attorney and I know she has talked about there is a lot of charitable giving that is "expected" of her.  Some of it is networking, ie buying tickets to charitable events.  Some of the law firm partners have their pet charities they're heavily involved with.  The way she describes, none of that is technically required, I don't think it is part of her performance review.  But it's looked down on and is a negative impression if she doesn't participate.

This sounds like our company. I am sure (or at last hopeful) that employee giving isnt an actual qualifier for promotion, but rather something that is noticed. 

Our department's giving "Ambassador" sits next to me. Things get tense

short+sassy

TrixieJess said:

I'm a special snowflake. 

I don't like being told what to do and where to spend my charity money. There are a few organisations that I donate time and money to on the regular, but I don't beat people over the head with it. I don't like being asked for money in stores, if I want to contribute money or food, I will don't bug me when I'm obviously in a hurry. 

I used to work for a company that wanted us to volunteer on a regular basis (on top of working 44 hours, and I had a child under 1 at home and a partner). However, all of the organisations that I brought forward to volunteer for were shot down by my manager because they weren't "esteemed" enough. I'm sorry, I'm a) not volunteering for a Christian organisation (which is what she wanted) or b) volunteering to be on some committee that will bore the hell out of me. It was one of the many reasons I left the company. 

I think Charity is something very personal to everyone. You shouldn't have to advertise how "charitable" you are. I also think there is a lot of competition now and a lot of the time the money donated doesn't all make it to the cause as we all hope. 

Pfft.  OR, they could have done what some companies do.  Let employees choose one day a month (if they want to) to work at a charitable organization, instead of their job.  But still get paid for it.

Oh.  But then that would be putting their money where their mouth is.

TrixieJess

short+sassy said:

TrixieJess said:

I'm a special snowflake. 

I don't like being told what to do and where to spend my charity money. There are a few organisations that I donate time and money to on the regular, but I don't beat people over the head with it. I don't like being asked for money in stores, if I want to contribute money or food, I will don't bug me when I'm obviously in a hurry. 

I used to work for a company that wanted us to volunteer on a regular basis (on top of working 44 hours, and I had a child under 1 at home and a partner). However, all of the organisations that I brought forward to volunteer for were shot down by my manager because they weren't "esteemed" enough. I'm sorry, I'm a) not volunteering for a Christian organisation (which is what she wanted) or b) volunteering to be on some committee that will bore the hell out of me. It was one of the many reasons I left the company. 

I think Charity is something very personal to everyone. You shouldn't have to advertise how "charitable" you are. I also think there is a lot of competition now and a lot of the time the money donated doesn't all make it to the cause as we all hope. 

Pfft.  OR, they could have done what some companies do.  Let employees choose one day a month (if they want to) to work at a charitable organization, instead of their job.  But still get paid for it.

Oh.  But then that would be putting their money where their mouth is.

You have to be kidding me, even when I took vacation days for this company I had to have my phone with me in case they called. I never truly had a day off from that company, even during Holidays. I'm so glad I left. 

MissKittyDanger

Question for charity - would you rather donate money or time/other?

M's current job occasionally does a blood donations. If there's enough people, they have the blood clinic come to their office with a van and do it that way. M donates even if his work can't get enough people, he's a popular blood type so he's adamant on donating.

My work does different things. Head Office does lots with the food bank, and our office is doing more with the food bank or one of the kids has a donation thing for school, they donate. Also we do snowsuit fund, and during holidays we donate turkeys for meals.

MissKittyDanger

**double post oops*

*Barbie*

@MissKittyDanger

said it in another post, but i would rather do time/material goods than cash, because i feel like it's more impactful, and i can actually see/meet the people/places that benefit. I prefer things like mentoring/Junior Achievement, nature cleanups, planting trees, Habitat for Humanity, or donating goods/food to the veterans organization and local shelters/food banks. There are a few medical charities where I do a cash donation, but I try to contribute where it's funding research vs. overhead. 


the blood drives at work also made my spam list - but it's not because of the ask, it's because it's an insane amount of e-mail traffic for a 1day/quarter event. they start the build up like a week in advance and day-of send out hourly updates on progress, and even more frequent if they are close to the end of the day and short of their quota. I can't/won't donate, so it's just a hassle to have to sort through all of that. 

MissKittyDanger

@*Barbie* I feel same way about charitable things. Feels more useful when you're doing something or physically giving something.
Certain cash things, I get they need the cash vs physical things because of where it is.

I don't donate blood, more because I'm terrified of needles. With M's work, it's not a huge office so it's lower amount of emails. One mass email to see who's interested, then who ever is gets a different email with just those interested to confirm information etc etc. It's a lot of emails depending on the company

lovesclimbing

thisismynickname said:

I wrote a Nastygram to Starbucks somewhat recently for promoting a charity that tried to get women's attention with a shopping convention. You know, if you run a marathon and go to the health expo, it's a health expo. You run a women's charity and the expo is a shopping event. Bullshit. 

I started liking Starbucks less (I hate coffee, so I never overly liked them, pretty neutral I guess) when I found out from my cousin, who worked there, that Starbucks pressures their employees to volunteer for specific causes (in that particular instance, it was Pride/LGBT+ events) ON THEIR DAYS OFF!!!

thefanciestbeckler said:

PrettyGirlLost said:

I also never donate to my undergrad college- talk about wasted money on overhead and admin salaries!  How about you use the majority of your endowment to lower tuition costs?  No?  Well, consider my 4 years worth of tuition donation enough.

So. much. this. My alma mater asks for money all the freaking time while they're charging out the ass for tuition and building new multi-million dollar buildings. Nope. Not happening.

Oh yes.  And considering, how much they spend on overhead and salaries, it's SHOCKING how horrible the administration can be.  

My senior year, it felt like they were literally trying to keep me from graduating. And considering how high their dropout rates are and low their rates of people finishing a bachelor's in four years is, you would think they'd have been kicking me out the door! My degree audit (which is supposed to be tell you about any issues you have that may keep you from graduating when you want to early enough that you can add classes or fix things to graduate on time) came back clean.  Then literally the day before the last business day to make changes (a Friday, the last day to make changes was Monday), I get an email (when I'm out of town for a degree-related conference no less) telling me I won't be graduating!  Turns out, I've fulfilled all the class requirements for my degree, but somehow I'm two credits shy of the minimum number of credits required for the degree. That isn't supposed to be possible. I'm the first person in the history of the program to do that, and my adviser still doesn't know how I managed to do it.  So sure, partially my fault for not being completely on top of things, but WHAT IS A DEGREE AUDIT FOR if not to point out problems like that EARLIER instead of LITERALLY THREE WEEKS BEFORE GRADUATION!!! My adviser was able to get those two credits waived past the deadline, thank goodness. We had a plan B of calling my part-time job my senior year an extra two credits of internship, but we didn't have to do that. I had other problems too that yera.

My little brother, same college, has had innumerable problems. He had three appointments made with an adviser, and every time, he showed up the adviser wasn't there for some reason. Once, the appointment was on a Friday and he shows up and they say the adviser doesn't come in on Fridays. Why they made the appointment then is beyond our comprehension. 

He and my sister had professors never send graded papers back during the semester (which they're supposed to do) and never update online grades except once at mid-terms, so literally no way of knowing how you're doing in the class.

My brother has had so many problems with the administration that he's considering sending a complaint letter to the Board of Regents. 

And then there's the new buildings they build that have sat unfinished because they started them even though there was no money to finish them, and they knew that. 

I've had no solicitations, except an annual one to join the alumni club or whatever. Maybe H and I move enough that we've managed to stay ahead of them? Or maybe they wait five years until you're hopefully settled enough to have money to give?

MesmrEwe

With so many actually using "Charity" in quotes and not actually doing the work of being a charity (Komen comes to mind - everyone is enthralled with pink but at the end of the day, they do squat compared to what goes out for admin and other bogus spending).  I choose to give generously when there's a REAL need.  For example, our church needs a new roof because the present one leaks... or I know a family that can't afford jackets for their kids - DONE...  or a kid needs money to pay for a school trip and can't afford the opportunity otherwise, no problem.  I'm also involved in a competition that raises funds to provide family support and activities for kids with life threatening conditions where a super high percentage goes to doing the work.  I find the soliciting to be hugely annoying, I say "No" at the grocery store or drive-thru without guilt..  But, I also give generously where there is a real-world need in places where people are falling through the cracks.  

TrixieJess

MesmrEwe said:

With so many actually using "Charity" in quotes and not actually doing the work of being a charity (Komen comes to mind - everyone is enthralled with pink but at the end of the day, they do squat compared to what goes out for admin and other bogus spending).  I choose to give generously when there's a REAL need.  For example, our church needs a new roof because the present one leaks... or I know a family that can't afford jackets for their kids - DONE...  or a kid needs money to pay for a school trip and can't afford the opportunity otherwise, no problem.  I'm also involved in a competition that raises funds to provide family support and activities for kids with life threatening conditions where a super high percentage goes to doing the work.  I find the soliciting to be hugely annoying, I say "No" at the grocery store or drive-thru without guilt..  But, I also give generously where there is a real-world need in places where people are falling through the cracks.  

^^^

This. 

I'm part of a free site on FB, most if the people who frequent the site are single moms who have difficulty making ends meet for their kids. I put a lot of my kid's old clothes, toys, and furniture up. People are extremely gracious and the goods go directly to people directly.

I have no problems giving my time or money for causes I enjoy, but don't pressure me and don't force your beliefs on me.

thisismynickname2

short+sassy said:

TrixieJess said:

I'm a special snowflake. 

I don't like being told what to do and where to spend my charity money. There are a few organisations that I donate time and money to on the regular, but I don't beat people over the head with it. I don't like being asked for money in stores, if I want to contribute money or food, I will don't bug me when I'm obviously in a hurry. 

I used to work for a company that wanted us to volunteer on a regular basis (on top of working 44 hours, and I had a child under 1 at home and a partner). However, all of the organisations that I brought forward to volunteer for were shot down by my manager because they weren't "esteemed" enough. I'm sorry, I'm a) not volunteering for a Christian organisation (which is what she wanted) or b) volunteering to be on some committee that will bore the hell out of me. It was one of the many reasons I left the company. 

I think Charity is something very personal to everyone. You shouldn't have to advertise how "charitable" you are. I also think there is a lot of competition now and a lot of the time the money donated doesn't all make it to the cause as we all hope. 

Pfft.  OR, they could have done what some companies do.  Let employees choose one day a month (if they want to) to work at a charitable organization, instead of their job.  But still get paid for it.

Oh.  But then that would be putting their money where their mouth is.

My employer instituted, last year, VTO. It's only 4 hours a year, but it does help when the charities you want to volunteer with often have time slots only during the standard workweek. 
We also do two full serve days a year- you sign up for a 4 hour slot on a day you're working and the employer buses you to the chosen place and back to work. It's a lot of fun. Then we have the occasional gift drives or school supply drives.  I'm thanking my lucky stars we're not pressured to do all this. We participate because we want to.