Should people who don't want to donate to charity be made feel to cruel and obstinate?
For those who are wondering, I say no because I would rather my very hard earned money go towards my own family.
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M$11 Answers
Major charities are a disgrace. They have a huge percentage of overhead and overpaid executives and are just like regular corporations except that they avoid taxes.
Virtually no function that charities perform should not be done by the government instead. In fact, the government is usually performing the legitimate functions while the charities take as much of the credit as they can get away with. Unscrupulous politicians try to prevent the government performing functions in order to cut taxes while persuading people to give even more money to the private charities. That way there is less burden on the rich and more on the working and middle classes.
I usually take advantage of attempts to solicit funds as an opportunity to explain my opposition to the charity in question and attack it in detail, such as CFC and the Girl Scouts.
This has nothing to do with my personal finances. I pay taxes to have the poor looked after. I frequently donate money to non-charity nonprofits with special purposes such as the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
www.birds.cornell.edu
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M$
My exceptions:
1. If the person at the office is someone that I am close with and they are raising something for a significant event (maybe a big Habitat trip they are taking or a Cancer run in honor of a lost loved one) then I'm okay with them hitting me up. In that case though, it's more that they are asking as a friend than as a co-worker (big difference to me).
2. Voluntary donation to relax an office rule - a few of the offices I've worked have been pretty formal (in dress code), but on occasion they offer a "donate $5 to cancer research and wear jeans to work" day. Sometimes there can be some peer pressure here, but at least you get to wear jeans.
Related comment:
Truth be told, we are rich. With that comes some moral obligation to others (my opinion).
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M$
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M$
If they do think the worse of you, I would take the time to look at whether you handled saying no well, and what your relationships with your colleagues are like apart from this incident.
Put it simply, if they saw you as a nice guy to begin with, this one act would not have resulted in you getting dirty looks.
It also matters whether you said for example "Things are tight right now, I'm afraid I'll have to pass" or "Don't bother me with this BS". The latter would obviously get you dirty looks.
Basically, if your attitude in life is "I'm gonna look after #1, and never mind anyone else", don't expect other people to warm towards you.
On the other hand, I doubt anyone expects you to give what you can't afford.
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M$
Face-to-face solicitations are always more difficult to handle tactfully. Usually I say something like "I donate to my church and other causes." Other people say, "I can't afford to." An explanation is not required, however, and a polite "no thanks" should be accepted.
Having said that, it is much more difficult to decline in a workplace setting. You may decide to give a small amount to avoid damaging relationships with co-workers or bosses. It may also depend on the cost of the "donation." I have purchased many $1 candy bars from my colleagues' children. On the other hand, being pressured to give $100 or more to United Way so that your firm can achieve 100% participation involves a harder choice. Especially if you are uncomfortable with some of the organizations your United Way supports.
I personally do not believe that employees or their children should be allowed to solicit donations at the office or other workplace. But it is unrealistic to think that this long-standing practice will be stopped any time soon.
Personal experience.
For a discussion of the decline in charitable giving from the perspective of a charity, see "Charitable Contributions Decline as Economic Crisis Continues, http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1353398/charitable_contributions_d...
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M$
I don't think anyone has the right to judge you for not donating your hard earned money to any particular charity. Everyone has their own priorities and financial responsibilities. It is your money and it is up to you how you want to spend it.
Don't worry about what others think. See about you and your family first. Then, if you want to donate to charity, donate to a charity that means something to you. Choose the charity that you feel will do the most good.
Just because someone feels strongly about a particular charity doesn't mean that you absolutely have to donate to that charity. It is your prerogative to use your money how you choose.
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M$
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M$
That being said, when a friend or colleague does directly approach you, it isn't the same situation as as a random stranger hitting you up in front of the grocery store or a telemarketer bugging you on the phone. Aside from the "charity" aspect of it, they are effectively asking you to validate their views and choices by means of a small gift of money. This makes it personal and turns it into a relationship issue. This is especially the case if they are asking you to sponsor them in some sort of event in which they are personally exerting themselves, such as running a marathon for charity. You are under no obligation to give, but it would be best if you carefully word your rejection to let them down gently. A cool blunt "no" to a colleague can be interpreted as: "I don't care about you. Go away!".
For better or worse, in the office you need to be able to get along with others so that you can work well with them. However inappropriate it is for them to solicit in the work place, you shouldn't respond to their breach in etiquette with one of your own. A token donation or a friendly excuse can save you from being sucked into an office feud that could make it harder to get things done. There is nothing wrong with not donating, but it would be wrong to give offense if a few kind words can avoid it. "Wow, good for you! I wish I could help but...#excuse#. Good luck!"
Exception:
If you are approached with belligerence, there is no reason to be kind. "Hey tightwad, how about donating for once in your life?" doesn't exactly warrant a warm and fuzzy response.
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M$My humble opinion:
Everybody should have his choice whether to donate or not based on his financial condition.
Everybody should have choice to donate to charity organization that the cause he is aligned to.
There are bogus charity bodies; there are also agencies which collect donation for charity bodies but charged certain percentage for the service. It’s better not to donate to these bodies.
Things you can do:
Tactfully decline, saying you morally support his cause, but you: (which ever is the true case)
have reserved $ to donate to charity bodies that you think are more needy;
financially tight currently
In normal conversation with your colleagues, casually advocates the charity that you truly support, tell them how you have support the charity etc..
Some Buddhism’s ideas:
Charity can be of 3 different forms: monetary, knowledge imparting, fear removal..
Components of true charity:
donor won’t know recipient; recipient won’t know donor; donor doesn’t keep in mind his donation.
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M$
I personally love these charities as I can visit the sites and sponsors will donate to the charity for me.
www.thehungersite.com
www.freepoverty.com
www.freerice.com
Note every year when I get Xmas gifts for my family I get them through the hunger site, it gives to charity every time I buy something. I have the reputation of being very charitable even though I rarely donate.
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M$
On the otherhand going from person to person asking for donations is unfair and shouldn't be allowed. Your collegue has no idea if you've sponsored 1 or 1 million people this month... and he also has no idea if your limit is 1 or 1,000,001!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP3EpWahV14&feature=PlayList&p=DC66F48A11A01631&index=36
Having said that I think that donating to charity is a fine thing, fortunately I don't need help from any charity, but if I did in the future I'd hope they were able to help me.... And seeing as I can help now, I know someone else is getting the help they need.
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M$
I'm wondering if you've just been involved with some really poorly run charities. Many charities are putting 90-97 cents of every donated dollar toward their specific program. The government could only dream of being this efficient. You should check out sites like Charity Navigator (http://www.charitynavigator.org) to see how well-run a given charity is.
FWIW - I would be careful bashing the effectiveness of charities while "promoting" a NFP that doesn't appear to disclose their financials online.
mrcal, I just checked one of the biggest ones, Oxfam, and they are only running a mere 80%, and their boss is earning $246,976.
Organizational Efficiency
Program Expenses 80.2%
Administrative Expenses 5.0%
Fundraising Expenses 14.7%
Fundraising Efficiency $0.13
(http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4288)
I also checked red cross, and they are also JUST above 90%, but are spending a whopping $0.19 on fundraising. That's not very efficient. Their boss earns $565,000. so now you know where your dollars go.
I took a look at that site. While it is commendable that they try to sort the numbers out, they are bending all their interpretations to be pro-charity. The low overhead of the food giveaway charities is due to their simply handling donated food which skews the numbers. Overall they seem to consider it fine for a charity to spend up to 33% of its income on expenses.
I wasn't actually promoting the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology but using it as an example of a special purpose organization. It's famous in its field, but unknown to the rest of the world. If you were a big supporter of Ornithology research you would know about it and give to it but if not there is no reason to. I don't go around asking other people to contribute to them.