Would You Have Donated $5 ?

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

SF VIP
Location
New Jersey
I got this cute, colorful cloth tote bag with a solicitation to donate $5. I never ordered the bag, so they must've gotten my name from another organization's list. I learned the hard way that donating to certain charities got me on other lists after which I became bombarded with solicitations from different charities. That's what happened when I donated to Feeding America during COVID. Next thing I knew, similar organizations kept sending me mail. It is for that reason I ultimately decided not to donate to Doctor's Without Borders.

Considering the tote is certainly useful, would you have sent a donation?

Doctors-Without-Borders-Reusable-Shopping-Tote-Bag-Lightweight.jpg
 

I don't donate if I didn't initiate the first donation. I've had so many charities bothering me since I have belonged to many in the past. I know there must be a list they put you on and it used to irritate me. It doesn't anymore. I just take the mail they send and put them in the trash.
 

OneEyedDiva said:
I got this cute, colorful cloth tote bag with a solicitation to donate $5. I never ordered the bag, so they must've gotten my name from another organization's list. I learned the hard way that donating to certain charities got me on other lists after which I became bombarded with solicitations from different charities. That's what happened when I donated to Feeding America during COVID. Next thing I knew, similar organizations kept sending me mail. It is for that reason I ultimately decided not to donate to Doctor's Without Borders.

Considering the tote is certainly useful, would you have sent a donation?

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OneEyedDiva said:
I got this cute, colorful cloth tote bag with a solicitation to donate $5. I never ordered the bag, so they must've gotten my name from another organization's list. I learned the hard way that donating to certain charities got me on other lists after which I became bombarded with solicitations from different charities. That's what happened when I donated to Feeding America during COVID. Next thing I knew, similar organizations kept sending me mail. It is for that reason I ultimately decided not to donate to Doctor's Without Borders.

Considering the tote is certainly useful, would you have sent a donation?

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Click to expand...
I donate monthly to MSF by direct debit. I chose this charity decades ago when I retired from teaching. What I admired about MSF was that whenever there was some crisis like an earthquake or famine, they were already there on the ground.

But no, I would not respond positively to the gift of a tote bag. That is not what I expect my donation to be used for.
 
I fell for the same charities. I didn't mind helping one charity but within a couple of months I too was bombarded with requests from other charities. I used to return them with a "Return to sender" but that did no good, now I just rip them up and put them in the trash cans. What a waste of money with them sending all that stuff?????
 
No I would not.

I've received pens, socks, tote bags, address labels from various charities wanting a donation.

I donate regularly to charities of my choice. Anyone sending me stuff I did not want or ask for gets ignored.

If it is a pen or such that I can use, I use it, no point just binning a useable item - but I would much prefer they stop this practice so I do nothing to encourage or reward it.
 
I worked for a charity in the 70s teaching CPR. Most of the donations go to keeping the lights on, heat, rent and salaries, etc. And the majority of what's left goes to donation raising programs.
If you have a list of charity "givers", that's something you can sell to other charities.
 
No no no! I've written here how much solicitation mail my stepfather was getting when he was hospitalized and in rehab. One day I checked his mail and it was for 2 days. 72 solicitations. I wrote, called, sent back and even stamped almost 300 organization. Some sent 2 a week. I had an alphabetized list going. I think I rewrote it 3 times as it grew.

I knew there was a problem when he would drag two garbage bags down the hall for me to 'take to PAWS.' Mostly crap. Some stuff had his name on it so I had to go through everything. This is what I put up with while my brother yelled at me I wasn't doing anything.

In research, I also found small donators get their names sold because organizations have the information and they can make more money by selling your name. They are not so interested in selling the names of people who make larger donations.
 
I don't know. I'd probably look them up at Charity Navigator first. Charity Navigator

They have a good rating so I know they are not spending 1/2 of my $5 on administrative costs or bags no one needs.

On the other hand, I'm not crazy about this bag because so many people will just toss it in the trash or give it to a thrift store, so then it becomes part of a landfill.

With that in mind, I might send them a scolding letter with any donation, saying this bag is a polluter. I realize the bag is an advertisement for them, but it will also become trash eventually.

OR, and perhaps this is the best solution, send it right back to them. LOL. Can you imagine if they mailed out 10,000 and 8,000 recipients use that $5 to send it right back to them? They would not like to get 8,000 bags back in the mail, which is my point.

What's wrong with maybe a calendar instead? Or address labels? Coasters. A kitchen towel.
 
When I was still working a few years back, I gave a fair amount of money to a variety of charities. Now that I am retired and living in a retirement community, I get far more solicitations for charitable donations than I ever did back then. Some are for organizations I never heard of, averaging about 5 requests per day. A few are large packets filled with a variety of trinkets. I throw everything away without opening them. I still give some donations to a few favorite charities, most of them toward the end of the year when I take stock of my finances.

Short answer to your question is no.
 
No, I would not have donated $5.
Its a good cause. They usually are, but I ‘hate’ the expectations of some charities. They ‘assume’ since they’ve given you something that you ‘should’ offer money. I only donate money when it’s MY idea.

Last year I joined a charity which I really believe in. Daily they started sending me donation requests so I offered $50 twice. They called me and personally thanked me for the donation. The next thing they requested was that I get on their monthly donation which I found very cheeky. The requests just kept coming and coming so I opted out of the charity. They’d try and guilt me out to get a donation from me which I didn’t appreciate.

If I’m going to donate it’s got to come from my heart.
 
LoveTulips said:
Why don't they just not make the bags and use the money from making the bags for themselves??? And no I don't donate unless I want to donate, no matter, what freebie I might have received.
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Well now, there ya go! Exactly my feelings... I used to get "gifts" from a place wanting donations for at-risk runaway teens. Very worthy cause, of course... but since the "gifts" were actually very nice, I always wondered why they didn't take the tons of money they were using for those freebies and build a center or something for those kids.
 

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