Charitable Giving
Every year at Christmas-time, the employees of our corporate office go together to make a donation in honour of our corporate owners. Each of us puts in whatever we can manage, and the donation is usually between $150 and $300.
At the same time, our company sends its corporate holiday cards with a note that a donation has been made in honor of our investors and clients. That donation also varies, from $500 to $1000.
The employee gift has been to the same charity for the past eight years: The Church Health Center. The corporate gift recipient has varied; past recipients include the Phoenix Club (which benefits the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis) to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and The Church Health Center.
I get mail from all of these organizations, and it’s something I want to address because a fellow-employee who wrote a check for her gift last year complained that she had been getting mail — lots and lots of mail — from the charity asking for more money, and that she didn’t think it was wise use of her donation. She felt that they should notice that the person gives only once a year, and not waste postage, paper supplies, etc., on a holiday donor.
Her comment struck me, because one of the charities that we have supported has successfully struck itself from my charitable giving list for the same reason. Here’s why.
Our total donation last year was approximately $150 to this particular charity. Since making that donation, I have gotten a solicitation mailing from the charity at least twice a month. Every single one is a multi-piece mailing, with a letter, a brochure, a SASE, and various other items. The SASEs alone account for about $15 of last year’s donation. The postage to send the mailer is at least another $30, and then there are the printing costs for the full-colour letters, brochures, and other pieces. Not to mention the special “gifts” of picture-frame ornaments and writsbands and what-not. At a conservative estimate, only about $75 of our donation probably actually was used for charitable purposes. The rest was used to solicit more money from me. That’s not how I want my charitable monies used. When I give to a charity, I want the money to be used to help the people directly. If I give to a medical establishment, use the money to pay for patient-care supplies, or a new MRI machine … not to buy postage to ask me for more money.
I don’t really mind the charities who send me the quarterly newsletter, or even a modest monthly newsletter. I do like to keep up with what’s going on at the places I support. But packets filled with nothing but appeals turn me off completely, especially when I see SASEs that are basically a chance to throw money in the trash.
A first-class stamp costs 44 cents … almost half a dollar … right now. If I got 22 of these mailings, that’s $10 wasted just on the stamps. I would feel better about it if they used a business reply envelope, since they want to pay my return postage. Then at least it’s just a piece of paper I’m tossing in the bin.
Maybe I’m just snarky, but if I am, I’m not the only one. I understand the challenges of fund-raising, but I find unremitting appeals for more money to a small-time, once-a-year donor to be off-putting.