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Why is it so difficult to be charitable?

Up till four months ago I had monthly Direct Debits to four charities. The British Red Cross would send me an email every time there was some catastrophe, which I found immensely irritating as surely they should be able to understand budgeting of a regular donation to cover unforeseen disasters. I cancelled their DD as a result. In fact I cancelled three of the four because of their effusive postal sendings, and retained the one whom I hardly ever heard from being Marie Currie nurses.

I do not pay the chuggers a penny, not ever. There are some charities whose methodes are not far off those of the protection racketeers.
 
djftw said:
Anyone who pays tax and doesn't giftaid is a prat, if you don't think that money will do more good in the hands of the charity than it will in the hands of corrupt politicians why the hell are you giving them money in the first place?
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I know someone who has given more to charity on gift aid than they pay tax and now has to pay a big tax bill to make up !!!!!
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
This will soon need to be changed. Under new data protection (and associated e-privacy) legislation the default will have to be not to be further contacted unless an 'opt in' to email marketing is checked. No pre-ticked check boxes or, worse, an assumption that unless you tick the 'opt out' box, you are happy to receive further contact (or have your details sold on to whoever the body deems appropriate). Charities have been warned, in no uncertain terms, about this by the ICO. Some are still in denial.
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I am looking forward to this because some charities really do take the mick and it does out you off , I use charities aid cheques to give to charity sometimes as you don`t have to put your address in. charities really should know better and I think since that poor lady was deluged with demands they have clamped down on charities
 
The Far North said:
Many charities have a JustGiving link and you only need to register with JustGiving themselves, rather than the individual charities.

'Just Giving' take something like 18% of your donation. Wish I'd though of it. I'd have called it 'Just Taking' and done myslef out of a whole wad of cash.
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I have stopped the DD's to three charities because of their constant marketing intrusion. The worst were the World Wildlife Fund who hassled by phone. They went first.
 
I occasionally support MSF/Doctors without Borders. They spend 91.5% of income on their actual work, 3.5% on fund-raising and 4.9% on administration: seems like a good proportion. They send me a magazine once a quarter, an e-mail to acknowledge donations, a year end e-mail to say thank you, and that's about it in terms of solicitation. No mailers every time something goes wrong in the world.
 
hifinutt said:
I know someone who has given more to charity on gift aid than they pay tax and now has to pay a big tax bill to make up !!!!!
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That is just idiocy, all the giftaid literature explains how it works. You just tell the charity to stop giftaiding your donations once you have reached the amount you contribute in tax. This can be a bit trickier if you donate something other than cash or something else with a clearly defined value, but you can just ask the charity.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
Yes, as far as the new data protection legislation is concerned, if you can't demonstrate that you have consent (ie, provide evidence of freely-given, fully informed consent to whatever it is you're now doing), then you don't have consent. People will have more rights to enforce the rules, and the powers of the regulator are also being strengthened.
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Are you sure this is retroactive? From my reading (and assuming you are talking about GDPR ), the "right to be forgotten" legislation means you need to invoke this individually and directly with each company that has your details. Some companies may wipe it all automatically to save themselves death by a thousand administration cuts, I guess?
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
Yes, as far as the new data protection legislation is concerned, if you can't demonstrate that you have consent (ie, provide evidence of freely-given, fully informed consent to whatever it is you're now doing), then you don't have consent. People will have more rights to enforce the rules, and the powers of the regulator are also being strengthened.
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That sounds good, but it hinges on:

1) Challenging the individual 'charity'.

2) Them saying "we assumed we had that because we bought a list of names of people who have (allegedly) given consent for their details to be passed around"

3) You then arguing that isn't so.

Particularly difficult when it arose because some charity N list redistributions ago, took it from your missing a tiny box to 'opt out'. So even if they take your name off their list, when they next buy in a new list... your name and details may well be on it... and they then sell that on to others before you can contact them again to complain.

The point here is that these lists get sold one from one company/charity to another. And have been for years. Can become 'whack a mole'.

Personally, I donate to charities I like by two means.

A) I put some money into the box in the shop when out shopping.

B) When a *neighbour* comes round with a box/envelope, I give some money.
 
I don't think the reputable charities are quite as prolific as you think for circulating lists - or at least not in my experience. I've got five direct debits to "mainstream" charities, have had for maybe 20 years now, and don't get any unsolicited contact.
 
djftw said:
That is just idiocy, all the giftaid literature explains how it works. You just tell the charity to stop giftaiding your donations once you have reached the amount you contribute in tax. This can be a bit trickier if you donate something other than cash or something else with a clearly defined value, but you can just ask the charity.
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mmm now this person gives a lot to lots of charities so that would be very complex. so now they have written to all the charities stopping gift aid because of this tax bill they have accrued which runs into several hundred pounds !!!
 
Michael P said:
Are you sure this is retroactive? From my reading (and assuming you are talking about GDPR ), the "right to be forgotten" legislation means you need to invoke this individually and directly with each company that has your details. Some companies may wipe it all automatically to save themselves death by a thousand administration cuts, I guess?
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I am reasonably certain it is, a charity I am involved with (but won't name per their social media policy) has, on the (pro bono) advice of some very reputable lawyers written to every person on their contact lists inviting them to explicitly grant permission for future contact and giving a few options. Those who do not reply in the affirmative will be expunged from the contact lists.
 
hifinutt said:
mmm now this person gives a lot to lots of charities so that would be very complex. so now they have written to all the charities stopping gift aid because of this tax bill they have accrued which runs into several hundred pounds !!!
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Still idiotic, what method of donating do they use that allows gift aid to be claimed but does not generate a record they could consult to see how much they had donated? Vis afformentioned charity, reciepts are given for cash donations (other than shoved in a collecting tin which is obviously not giftaided). People who donate goods to the shops and giftaid are written to every time the sale of their donations has generated £100 worth of giftaid, or every twelve months. The extensive bureaucracy demanded to claim giftaid as a charity requires amongst other things, that you keep doners informed!
 
it is stupid i agree , i think at the bottom of the gift aid slip there is a instruction not to give more than you pay in tax , but not everyone knows that figure perhaps if they are elderly and very motivated re charity .

on a positive note , my good lady avoided a tax bill beacuse she gives a shed load more than me to charity . it can have substantial tax benefits giving to charity i.e dropping you below higher rate tax band by giving it away

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/the-tax-benefits-of-giving-to-charity
 
I’ve adopted gorillas (just to make sure Joe P doesn’t corner the market) via Dianne Fossey, turtles via Marine Conservation Society and WWF, and set up ‘Just Giving’ accounts for British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research here on pfm in memory of Cliff and Markus (links still active in the Charity room) and I don’t feel I have been bombarded with anything untoward in the way of email. The Diane Fossey trust did send a surprising amount of paperwork which annoyed me a little as there is a cost to that which I’d prefer be used on gorillas, but aside from that no huge issue. All emails should have an unsubscribe option somewhere.

The thing I can’t figure out how to unsubscribe from is cd-services.com, I bought a Klaus Schulze CD about a year ago and barely a day goes by without some spam or other!
 
well done , next time buy it from groove unlimited !! they only send me weekly emails of the latest wonderful berlin school of music cds !
 
This thread generally matches my experience, and resulting scepticism.

It is not hard to be Charitable, at all; the very opposite.

It is well-beyond-annoying to be also taken for a mug subsequently, by hard-marketing attitudes bought-in at some high level (& which must be paid -for ... by decreasing the efficacy of the 'giving' generally.)

I have long, and continue to, espouse causes close to me - personal and geographic - and I try to do that by the most direct & local or efficient contribution means possible. Sometimes that's by gift; occasionally by more direct action.

Those quasi-'national' bodies which subsequently bombed me with remote-marketing-expectation no longer feature. Which is not their loss, but their Constituencies; and therefore sad; and I have always given robust feedback as to why, in those terms.
 
Tony L said:
The thing I can’t figure out how to unsubscribe from is cd-services.com, I bought a Klaus Schulze CD about a year ago and barely a day goes by without some spam or other!
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Report them to the ICO here:

https://ico.org.uk/concerns/nuisance-calls-and-messages/

Mention specifically that you can't unsubscribe, as failing to provide an unsubscribe option on each marketing email is a breach of the regulations. If enough people complain about a body, this will trigger further action. My understanding is that many companies, once the ICO gets in touch, come to heel.
 
djftw said:
I am reasonably certain it is, a charity I am involved with (but won't name per their social media policy) has, on the (pro bono) advice of some very reputable lawyers written to every person on their contact lists inviting them to explicitly grant permission for future contact and giving a few options. Those who do not reply in the affirmative will be expunged from the contact lists.
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Yes, it will be retroactive inasmuch as, once the new rules are in effect (25 May 2018) they have to be complied with, which means organisations will have to be able to document their gaining consent, and show that the consent relates to whatever it is they are now doing with the data. Laying the blame off onto a list broker ("we bought records which were certified by the provider as 'opt-in to marketing' data") won't wash.

djftw, you've received good advice, I hope more people will do as you are doing.
 
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