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Why is it so difficult to be charitable?

zippy

zippy

pfm Member
I'd like to make a donation to charity - no problem, you'd think, however these days the charities seem to want you to do it online, at the same time requesting your full name, address, email, and half a dozen other things.
I only ever made an online contribution once, and was immediately deluged by other charities by mail and email asking me if I'd also like to donate to them.
I suppose I could put cash in an envelope and send it but that's always been a bit risky.
Maybe I have to restrict my charitable giving to local charities, and run into a charity shop, slam the donation on the counter, and run out before they ask me anything !

Charities please, come up with a truly secure, and anonymous way to give you our money.
 
Yup. I agree. I can't even buy stuff any more without counter staff asking for my email...'why?' I ask. Oh we can send you a proper receipt she said....hahahaha HALFORDS, you lie lol.

The only way round is to donate using a new and limited e mail account, which you then sternly ignore!
 
Many charities have admin costs that are far too high. Try to get your money as close as possible to whoever you are trying to help.
 
I bought another turtle last week. Everyone should buy a turtle (link).

PS Expect pfm’s gorilla salesman to be along as soon as daylight breaks in Canada!
 
I make regular one off donations online to two particular well known charities, and I have never been deluged with emails from other charities or any charity for that matter
 
I wanted to donate to The Salvation Army and a local homeless charity. The local one were prepared to set up a BACS payment, or I could go along and give them cash, which is what I did. The Salvation Army had no alternative to the whole online rigmarole, not even cash. So the locals got double!
 
Talking of turtle stew, I just came back from a market where fresh, as in still living, turtles, frogs, eels and all manner of fish were on offer. I bought tofu.

Frankly, if the supermarkets sold living examples of the breeds they so carefully package, vegetarianism would skyrocket.

Note: I am, of course, highly biased.
 
Many charities have a JustGiving link and you only need to register with JustGiving themselves, rather than the individual charities. There will be a couple of opt-out check boxes for future emails, but as long as you do the necessary you should be OK. The other online advantage is that the charity can claim GiftAid of 20%, but only if they have your full details and confirmation that you are a UK taxpayer at the time of the donation.
 
I once dropped off some stuff at a local charity shop and blithely agreed to do so via Gift Aid. I was a tad pissed off a week or so later to discover I'd been added to their mailing list. That's not what I signed up for and I should have been informed about that at the time - or at the very least, the possibility of opting out of marketing correspondence.
 
avole said:
Frankly, if the supermarkets sold living examples of the breeds they so carefully package, vegetarianism would skyrocket.
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i agree. we in the west are so far removed from the death of what we eat that we've completely lost sight of the realities behind it. i think a visit to the local abbatoir would disabuse most of us of the quaint notion that meat, of any kind, materialises in hygenic, convenient packages on a supermarket shelf and that there is no suffering behind its production.

note: this has nothing to do with the op! i donate to one charity as one-off payments and another as a monthly dd. i did give once to the salvation army directly and have regretted it ever since, which is a shame because they do a lot of good work.
 
I donate monthly payments either by DD or Text Message to a few. Each time there are options to opt out of the noise, just sponsored a guide dog yesterday and there were check boxes not to be pestered.
 
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?
 
Amber Audio said:
I donate monthly payments either by DD or Text Message to a few. Each time there are options to opt out of the noise, just sponsored a guide dog yesterday and there were check boxes not to be pestered.
Click to expand...
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.
 
awkwardbydesign said:
I wanted to donate to The Salvation Army and a local homeless charity. The local one were prepared to set up a BACS payment, or I could go along and give them cash, which is what I did. The Salvation Army had no alternative to the whole online rigmarole, not even cash. So the locals got double!
Click to expand...

I donated some money to The Salvation Army in the last year. They are now sending me seasons greetings and requests for money by mail. This is annoying.

Jack
 
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.
Click to expand...

Question is: Will those who unintentionally (or by deviousness of a previous 'charity') already get a stream of junk mail from loads of odd charities find their previous 'permission' for this is ended? Or has the stable door been closed too late?
 
Used to give to charities and helped to raise circa 40,000 for NSCPC during one year but have become somewhat cynical because so often money is taken for support and admin rather than the purpose of the charity.
 
Jim Audiomisc said:
Question is: Will those who unintentionally (or by deviousness of a previous 'charity') already get a stream of junk mail from loads of odd charities find their previous 'permission' for this is ended? Or has the stable door been closed too late?
Click to expand...
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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