I know you are getting old. I was not even talking about big charity. That is another can of warm. I limit what I give. I don't give to Org that have paying positions. I was shunned a few years back when I refuse to participate in United Way fundraisers. The co-worker thought that I was mean because I did not subscribe to the narrative. I had to educate some.
We have some candy drive thing at work for a college student to be able to travel to Belize. How about get a freaking job?
Boy scouts? sure, but only to the local troop. United way? no way. If they have TV ads, good luck some where else. Air Fence, absolutely but that's kinda selfish, no? I actually like buying stuff that's needed and giving that instead of cash, that way it's harder to be diverted, of course other's cash donations might be fully diverted...I used to donate to the local volunteer fire company until they got the township involved to give them tax money. Now I figure I'm already paying AND there's no choice either. Donated a couple of times to the USO, got on their mailing list, can't get off...Damn, should've used an alias. Good luck if you give to either the DNC or the RNC, they will hound you until death and beyond.
If you want to donate to the USO, stop by their office at the airport and there's a giant clear plastic bin you can slide cash into. No name on a mailing list. or so I've heard, I don't give no one nothing! It's mine!
Did you really just cast aspersions on the heretofore unquestioned supremacy of government inefficiency?
For whatever reason, it seems to be school bands here... and its always to go on a trip. If I'm giving money, its for something a little more worthwhile to society.
FOP are some of the most aggressive telmarketers and utilize their shitty titles to keep you on the phone long to start spewing their solicitation. I do love hanging up on them though. They could at least get off their asses and hold out boots at intersections like the fire dept.
I used to give to the fire and police benevolent associations until they hired a company to make the phone calls instead of the actual police and firemen making them. If I'm going to donate my money, I don't want a sizable chunk going to a telemarketer. If it's too much trouble for them to do the asking, it's too much trouble for me to do the giving. And the teenaged boys in baseball uniforms standing outside the grocery store with collection cans get nothing either. I'll gladly pay them to mow my lawn or rake or something, but not for just begging. I don't like GS cookies but I'll buy a couple boxes, at least they give some value. Someone will eat the cookies.
I give my time and my home to foster dogs with a local animal rescue group, and I give my O- blood. Both are far more valuable to those who need them than money. All yall, especially you O- peeps, please give blood regularly!
I have not done it much in the last couple of years but I always find it interesting to surprise someone with a sign saying "Hungry" with a drive-tru meal. I have seen a few folks dump it on the ground. And, I have seem some people genuinely appreciative. None more than an older man with some disability off I-94 just west of Kalamazoo, MI.
I don't give roadside beggars human food, but I have been known to go grab a coupla cans of Alpo if they have a dog with them, As you said, many are very unappreciative. I believe that the dog is a theater prop more often than not.
Charitable giving should be just that. Find a cause that is meaningful to you, one that is underserved by the government, give what you can to them. As you earn more, it is definitely conflicting to feel you have more to give while simultaneously the government is taking more to give on your behalf. It doesn't help that they just take more $, but also more %. I generally don't give to diseases or issues that are the result of lifestyle choices. That said, I do give to injured motorcyclists
