Bad experiences donating?

Discussion in Charitable Causes started by JoanMcWench • Feb 26, 2014.

  1. JoanMcWench

    JoanMcWenchActive Member

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    Recently, I had a discussion with friends and we talked about bad experiences when donating or where the donated money ends up. A lot of people had complaints about Red Cross but it seemed like a lot of people were equally angry with the Salvation Army. I guess there have been bad experiences dropping things off and getting tax receipts. I, personally, have not experienced this. I'm fully aware of the fact that sometimes our money doesn't go to what we would like it to go to but that's life.

    Has anyone had bad experiences with donating?
     
  2. tinyfang

    tinyfangMember

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    I try to avoid donating items to charities such as the Salvation Army because with the three experiences I've had so far, the people working there can be quite rude and not helpful at all.

    As for other bad experiences, the only thing bad so far is the endless calling, even after donating. I used to donate to four different charities yearly through phone calls, but then switched to their websites. I even told them about it, but they never take me off their call list.
     
  3. Dora M

    Dora MWell-Known Member

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    I haven't had bad experiences donating to the Red Cross or the Salvation Army. Quite the opposite, it's always a pleasure for me to be able to give something to someone who really has a need for it. I also donate to Animal Welfare, Guide Dogs and several other worthy institutions. I don't like it when I get hassled in the street or in shopping centres to sign up for a charity organisation that will regularly take money out of my account. I think a good old fashioned charity pot collects more in a day than those people who want you to give them all their personal details.
     
  4. clairebeautiful

    clairebeautifulActive Member

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    I've never had a bad donation experience, but I do think it is important to know exactly what I am supporting and make a personal decision if it is an organization I believe is "worth" my time and my free stuff.

    For this reason, I've begun donating to a local Christian homeless shelter that runs a thrift store to fund it. I used to donate to a thrift store that funded my private school. I'm not above giving to Goodwill (even though it is "for profit") simply because it is so convenient and I do believe they are making a difference in people's lives by providing jobs.
     
  5. ACSAPA

    ACSAPAWell-Known Member

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    I don't donate to the Salvation Army because they're homophobic and they destroyed a bunch of donated Harry Potter dolls because they think magic is evil. They refused to sign contracts and open programs in San Francisco that would help elderly and homeless people because the government in San Francisco supports gay marriage. I'd rather deal with Goodwill or any other thrift shop than Salvation Army.
     
  6. lifeliveson

    lifelivesonNew Member

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    Have you researched into goodwill? What exactly is their mission? On the website Im looking at for them, basically all theyre doing is creating jobs, they do say they put 94% of the revenue back into the mission, but they don't actually have a mission statement (could be just the website I am looking at I don't know) I heard something before though that the ceo basically makes a ton of money because all he does is sell donated clothes (nothing but pure profit) but doesn't actually put the revenues into anything but his pocket. I don't want to discredit, I could be wrong. But since reading that I would definitely have to really check into it before I donated.
     
  7. Dora M

    Dora MWell-Known Member

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    I don't like donating money to any other organisation that Animal Welfare and Guide Dogs for the blind. To charities like Red Cross, St Vincent de Paul or similar organisations I prefer to donate clothes, furniture and whatever else they might need. I also never give out my details to people on the street who want me to sign up for some regular payments to support a certain cause. I simply don't trust them and ponder how much of the donations actually go to where they are needed.
     
  8. Neperon

    NeperonActive Member

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    Sometimes things goes wrong and i guess purpose being that is bad satisfaction level that the staff provides to the costumer because finally its all about the things which are fine enough for learning and at the same time understanding how goodly it all can go.
     
  9. JessMere

    JessMereNew Member

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    This makes me think of an interesting experience, not where I had donated, more like I was on the other end of this spectrum. For less than a month I had worked for a Save the Children campaign. It’s an excellent cause, don’t get me wrong. But, I was expected to stand alone with a clipboard with peoples credit card information in a folder clipped to it. Plus, once a guy had given me a $100 credit card donation and nothing could have stopped me from simply changing that to a $400 donation and I would have secured my job position that week for getting my average. In all honesty, I never worked in the administrative part of it, so I don’t really know where the money actually went. Oh, I sure did have to deal with a lot of people very concerned and angry about just that.
     
  10. ACSAPA

    ACSAPAWell-Known Member

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    It kind of bugs me that Paypal and credit card companies charge their usual transaction fees for charity donations. I'm doing an emergency fundraising page right now because my kid and I are about to lose our apartment, and Paypal is taking a chunk out of the funds for transaction fees, so even if we make the goal, we'll still be short.
    And they even do the transaction fees for charity drives for sick people and human rights causes. You would think they would waive those fees for big charity efforts.
     
  11. erik120

    erik120Active Member

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    Charities often target symptoms, not causes. The accusation is that charity helps the recipient with their problem, but it doesn't do much to deal with the causes of that problem. It certainly is true that some charities do stopgap or 'band-aid' work, either exclusively or some of the time.
    But in fact, a lot of charity work is devoted to dealing with the fundamental causes of problems: for example trying to reduce global poverty, or doing research into diseases like cancer.

    I have not had bad experiences with donating because I haven't had the money to donate, I live in a pretty bad financial situation myself. But I always spare a cigar for a beggar on the street if he asks for one for example. So I can only hope it counts as doing my bit.
     
  12. Jessi

    Jessi<a href="http://www.quirkycookery.com">QuirkyCooke

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    Like others, I don't donate to GoodWill or Salvation Army either one.

    I choose local charities instead and have a lot better experiences. For example, my favorite one is responsible for doing Thanksgiving baskets, a daily food pantry, and weekly "bag sales" on clothes where people can fill a bag with clothing for a mere dollar. While I don't know where all of their money goes, I'm pretty confident knowing that they truly do give back to the community.
     
  13. preacherbob50

    preacherbob50Member

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    The one that particularly angers me is a veterans association in the south-eastern part of the U.S. They call themselves the vietnam veterans or America. There are two groups. One is real, the other is a totally bogus group of homeless guys standing on street corners and asking for money while using the Vietnam Vet. moniker. The actual group of vets do not stand around street corners. The actual vets group have thrift stores, and when asking for donations will generally do so in front of major stores who have already checked them out to guarantee authenticity.
     
  14. DTracy3

    DTracy3Member

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    I had a bad experience related to a donating organization. A friend of mine was working with them, it was an organization dedicated to helping children with cancer, when suddenly the news came out that one of the higher up had made it so that a lot of the donated money went into his pockets (+more people that were involved). The thing that's most shocking is that they were literally stealing from kids with cancer. The organization may wasn't totally at fault, only an important group of higher ups, but it's always frustrating to hear something like that.