Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

This is in no way intended to be a criticism of the board's answer. I'm sure they are right that charitable organizations are happy to get small donations. But sometimes it is said, "No good dead goes unpunished," and sometimes it feels like this is the case when we give to certain charitable organizations.

It has been my experience that many charitable organizations don't care too much how little you give, even though they would like to encourage you to think big. They usually start with some higher amount, and when you say “no” they work down to whatever you want to give. But here is the thing. They put your name on a list and forever after they will hound you and try to make you feel guilty for not giving more. You will receive numerous solicitations in the mail. They will call you during dinner time. They will be relentless.

Not only that, but they will sell your name and address to other charitable organizations. Now, I suppose this isn't true of the BYU alumni association, but it is true of other charitable organizations. Other organizations value knowing who is a soft touch for giving donations. These other organizations will hound you for donations, and they will sell your name and address to yet more organizations. You will daily receive many requests for money. No problem, you just shred the request. But you may find it troublesome.

It is good to give, but I do get tired of being constantly dunned for money from BYU and U. of A. And the hundreds of other organizations with a sob story and request.

I had a rant typed up...

But I del-taco'd it...

Charities believe there are only a certain amount of "charity dollars" up for grabs... So they compete for them the same way corporations compete for market share... Advertising...

You don't agree that there are only a certain amount of charity dollars up for grabs?

Werf_Must wrote:You don't agree that there are only a certain amount of charity dollars up for grabs?

I'm not an economist. But that's an interesting question.

Obviously if they didn't ask... No one would feel guilted into it and so less money would be donated right? Since those whose guilt causes them to donate would refrain from doing so.

And if a disaster is publicized... Then donations go up regardless as people feel empathetic towards those affected...

So if by changing their actions or current events the dollar amount donated changes, then it isn't set is it?

Or is it?

I just wanted to second the frustration over this problem. Honestly, I would happily donate money to BYU if I could drop it in an anonymous box. But I will never, ever donate with my name attached. (Unless we are donating for the purpose of getting better football tickets, but that is way outa my league.) I have seen what kind of hounding follows such a stupid move like that. My husband said the same thing about volunteering at the MTC when we lived in Wymount- he would love to do it, but hated getting called and asked to come back every single week after that.

Heck, my husband made a small donation to Mitt Romney's campaign last year because his friend was working the call center. After that, we got probably 20-30 mailings asking for more money, and a Mitt Romney bobble head doll among other things in an attempt to butter us up. I'm pretty sure they wasted all of my money in attempts to get more money. So why on earth should I give you money if you are going to waste it? Grr.

This is why my one and only charity is filling out a tithing slip. There are actually a lot of other categories on there, I know prayerful consideration goes into how to spend it, and not a dime will go into hounding me for more. Perfection.

I've donated to United Way for the past two years and they've never bothered me about it.

So I guess they are pretty good about it

Would you change your mind about donating to a charity that might contact you again if you'd benefitted from that charity in the past?

I guess not, since I certainly benifitted from BYU scholarships in the past, and want to donate money in return, but won't because I don't want to be hounded.

TheAnswerIs42 wrote:I just wanted to second the frustration over this problem. Honestly, I would happily donate money to BYU if I could drop it in an anonymous box.

I found a mailing address for the Annual Fund:

BYU Annual Fund
306 HC
Provo, UT 84602-2400

If you're willing to spare the cost of a stamp, you can put cash in an envelope, write a note saying where you want it to go and mail it without a return address. (They'll still know generally where it came from, due to the postmark, but unless you're the only BYU alum in your zip code, you should still be anonymous enough.)

Cheers!

Lol, Katya answers the questions you haven't even thought of asking!

That is awesome though, I will definitely write that down somewhere though

Werf_Must wrote:Lol, Katya answers the questions you haven't even thought of asking!

I think that comes with having written for the Board for so long.

1. Obtain some money marked by the police as "drug money"
2. Send to BYU Annual Fund in unmarked envelope
3. ????
4. Profit!!

I see the Underpants Gnomes have a new idea?

Nanti-SARRMM wrote:

Werf_Must wrote:Lol, Katya answers the questions you haven't even thought of asking!

I think that comes with having written for the Board for so long.

No, I've always liked researching things. The Board was just a good outlet for it.