Too many People and Orgs have Hands Out

[kevin]

I've always noticed recently there are more People and organizations looking for Donations........The list is almost endless and if you give once appears they believe your on the hook forever....Now this is nothing new but my local Church managed to piss me off today.....As a regular contributor they give me dated envelopes to make life easier. But what I noticed every third week there is always an extra envelope requiring a donation...(food bank)........(victims of ?).......( Ministries Abroad).....and they repeat with Earth Quake and other Catastrophies sprinkled in...............My push back is the lack of over sight on these funding undertakings........I only donate to the Red Cross and Salvation army outside of the Church, and I have serious reservations in regards to the one of them.....

[Brad]

I have run into the same feelings.  I have decided to limit my charitable donations to a few organizations that were there for Deedo and myself so I donate to Hope Lodge, Mayo Research, American Cancer Society, Hospice of the Valley and of course Marty.  I feel bad I can't give to others but these organizations really were there for us.  I do take the dimes and nickels mailed to me for the grandkids.  I am starting to get frustrated with some of the organizations I do donate to since they don't seem to recognize what I do give as much as they continually want more.  I just got a book-marker from one group with the suggestion I donate another $250 to make my yearly donation an even $1,000; as if $750 wasn't enough (if anything it's more than I can afford.)

[Gwenivere]

Ugh, once you do donate you do get on thier list and are hounded.  We settled on 4 charities we give to every year.  I have upheld that tradition.  It does annoy me when I have just given to one they enclose an envelope for more.  I still get things from charities I have to years ago and quit.  They send labels, calendars, coins, pens, pads to get you to give.  The mail stuff I can deal with as my recycle bin is very handily placed.  It's the phone calls that really annoy me.  I've begun telling them to remove me/us frim thier list.  I've even had to raise my voice to get thier attention over thier script they ramble.  One really annoyed me asking if I would send out requests fir them.  ???  I said.....you want me to do your job for a cause I'm not even contributing to?   I also pill out the widow card if needed saying this is a house in mourning, lease leave us alone.

[Marie Lee]

I agree. I do what I can for who I can and file 13 the rest.

[kayc]

15 hours ago, kevin said:

I've always noticed recently there are more People and organizations looking for Donations........The list is almost endless and if you give once appears they believe your on the hook forever....Now this is nothing new but my local Church managed to piss me off today.....As a regular contributor they give me dated envelopes to make life easier. But what I noticed every third week there is always an extra envelope requiring a donation...(food bank)........(victims of ?).......( Ministries Abroad).....and they repeat with Earth Quake and other Catastrophies sprinkled in...............My push back is the lack of over sight on these funding undertakings........I only donate to the Red Cross and Salvation army outside of the Church, and I have serious reservations in regards to the one of them.....

Kevin, think of it as them giving you the opportunity to participate in these things...but knowing you already give to these situations through another avenue, peaceably throw those envelopes away with a smile and don't let it bother you.  There is more than one organization to contribute through and I like to see how much goes to the intended without wasting an undue amount on overhead.  Sometimes we don't believe in the cause that is being asked about and that is fine too.  We don't have to and can't give to everything!  

As I sat in my son and DIL's church yesterday I heard more than I care to about their finances and needs, etc. yet they have lavish everything, I can't help but wonder if they didn't set their budget over-high and perhaps should tax their congregation with these pleas so much.  My church never does that, and amazingly, they manage to do more than my previous church with all of it's pleading and begging and demands.

[kevin]

I hear the same stuff about fundraisers and finances......But what I find disappointing,... most initiatives are piggy backing something that is already in place........Sometimes I think the focus has changed to fund raising,tithing, politics, and self serving initiatives not for the collective good......Next year I will get more engaged, but for now I just shake my head at times.....

 

[kayc]

When I was in the Nazarene Church, they often solicited for special cause, disaster relief, etc.  They had missionaries already in place in these countries so it was easy to get help to them for disbursing, a hurdle some places have a hard time getting through.  100% went for the cause, no overhead, the general church bore the brunt of that.  So if I donated $100, I knew $100 went towards the need.  It felt good knowing that.  The church I am in now (Conservative Baptist) their mission system is set up differently and not as extensively, so it's a different situation.  I often look for outside means to contribute, although sometimes they'll have something they're spearheading.