Charities

[TR6BILL]

My sweet wife gives to a multitude of charities. By giving to ten, this often spawns requests from tens of tens. I am constantly throwing away requests for donations that arrive in our mailbox, sometimes 2 or 3 daily, every day. The latest was for some obscure Indian school in Oklahoma. A rather thick packet with all sorts of personalized stamps, colorful brochures, pleas for the needy, and a Dreamcatcher. They really should have taken the <span style="font-weight: bold">Made in China</span> label off the Dreamcatcher.

 

[NutmegCT]

Bill, charities (legitimate, and not ...) are all struggling for income. And part of their income often results from selling their address lists to other organizations - charitable or not. The "free stamps and greeting cards" can be used to increase income too; you're not obligated to pay, but you "feel" obligated.

On a different tack, here in Connecticut we still have over 500,000 households without power, internet, or telephone since the nor'easter on Saturday.

https://outage.cl-p.com/outage/outagemap.aspx

I bought a cell phone two days ago, and before I made a single call, I got three calls within one hour after setup, from "get a better credit card rate" solicitors. Their computers just keep calling numbers until someone answers. Thank heaven I hadn't activated the cell's message system.

Amazing.

Tom in CT

 

[JPSmit]

My sweet wife gives to a multitude of charities. By giving to ten, this often spawns requests from tens of tens. I am constantly throwing away requests for donations that arrive in our mailbox, sometimes 2 or 3 daily, every day. The latest was for some obscure Indian school in Oklahoma. A rather thick packet with all sorts of personalized stamps, colorful brochures, pleas for the needy, and a Dreamcatcher. They really should have taken the <span style="font-weight: bold">Made in China</span> label off the Dreamcatcher.

Oops - re the "Made in China"

That being said, consider supporting a couple of charities well rather than a bunch of "appeals" (sob stories) IMHO there are a couple of advantages.

1. Your level of support is enough to make a difference.
2. You can investigate what actually happens to your money - you would be stunned - don't ask me how I know. (BTW as a church we once eliminated a charity just because of the glossiness of their promotional materials)
3. If you (as we do) make your decisions at the beginning of the year, you have a criteria to say no to requests secure in the knowledge that you are a generous person supporting charities well.

(gets off soapbox)

 

[NutmegCT]

+1 on JP's post.

Here's one way to get info on non-profits:

https://www2.guidestar.org/

Tom

 

[DrEntropy]

I keep that all very local .

 

[Basil]

Bill, charities (legitimate, and not ...) are all struggling for income. And part of their income often results from selling their address lists to other organizations - charitable or not. The "free stamps and greeting cards" can be used to increase income too; you're not obligated to pay, but you "feel" obligated.

On a different tack, here in Connecticut we still have over 500,000 households without power, internet, or telephone since the nor'easter on Saturday.

https://outage.cl-p.com/outage/outagemap.aspx

I bought a cell phone two days ago, and before I made a single call, I got three calls within one hour after setup, from "get a better credit card rate" solicitors. Their computers just keep calling numbers until someone answers. Thank heaven I hadn't activated the cell's message system.

Amazing.

Tom in CT

Who's your carrier? I've had an iPhone on AT&T for a few years now and unsolicited calls are extremely rare.

 

[JPSmit]

Bill, charities (legitimate, and not ...) are all struggling for income. And part of their income often results from selling their address lists to other organizations - charitable or not. The "free stamps and greeting cards" can be used to increase income too; you're not obligated to pay, but you "feel" obligated.

On a different tack, here in Connecticut we still have over 500,000 households without power, internet, or telephone since the nor'easter on Saturday.

https://outage.cl-p.com/outage/outagemap.aspx

I bought a cell phone two days ago, and before I made a single call, I got three calls within one hour after setup, from "get a better credit card rate" solicitors. Their computers just keep calling numbers until someone answers. Thank heaven I hadn't activated the cell's message system.

Amazing.

Tom in CT

Who's your carrier? I've had an iPhone on AT&T for a few years now and unsolicited calls are extremely rare.

All my unsolicited calls are from my carrier! :madder:

 

[bgbassplyr]

My sweet wife gives to a multitude of charities. By giving to ten, this often spawns requests from tens of tens. I am constantly throwing away requests for donations that arrive in our mailbox, sometimes 2 or 3 daily, every day. The latest was for some obscure Indian school in Oklahoma. A rather thick packet with all sorts of personalized stamps, colorful brochures, pleas for the needy, and a Dreamcatcher. They really should have taken the <span style="font-weight: bold">Made in China</span> label off the Dreamcatcher.

I got one of those, too. Dreamcatcher does not work.