In the mail today I received another large envelope from CARE. Have you ever donated money to a non-profit group? About a year and a half ago when the Tsunami hit, the tragedy hit us hard. We are close enough that we felt the earthquake. Just barley, I was talking on the phone to my dad, it being Christmas there and the day after here. Then on the Australian TV channel that we get, they showed the news coverage, all day everyday. It was not tame like American news, they showed a lot of dead bodies, especially the children. I remember every morning we would check the death count. We had been saving for a trip to Australia and we sent that money to CARE International. I did some research and discovered that CARE is supposedly the charity which spends the least amount of my money on administrative costs and the most amount of my money on people in need. However, every month since then I have received in the mail a huge envelope stuffed with pleas for more money.
Typically we have a standard charity we give to through a monthly allotment payroll deduction, and they don’t bother us with junk mail. However, this one time I wanted to give to help with the Tsunami. I imagine if I lived in America CARE would be calling me on the phone every day as well. I look at these mailings, the beautiful graphic design, the paper, the postage, all that money wasted. I makes me so mad. I keep thinking that all the money I gave to CARE went into the pockets of people who are richer than I am. The salary of someone working for a non-profit is more than our salary, same is true for graphic designers, etc. It seems to me that giving money to a non-profit is giving money up the social ladder rather than down. Jeff chose the military as a career path to serve his country and make a difference in the world. Not sure if I personally believe that is the case currently, still over the course of his entire career, to protect and serve, to believe in our country and values. That decision along with my decision to put off college and to stay at home costs us the opportunity to have a lot of money. We have given up the opportunity to own a lot of really nice things like a digital camera, or a nice computer, or a nice TV, a house, a nice car…We gave up the money we saved to go and see Australia to help the victims of the Tsunami and to see that money being spent on junk mail is really difficult for me. It just doesn’t make sense to me, I feel like a poor person supporting the rich people. I am sure that CARE is a wonderful organization. It is just that I don’t think that non-profit organizations is the right decision for our family anymore. Especially when we travel to third world countries and we see starving people in real life, why not just give the money to them? Then 100% of my money goes to people less fortunate than me. And if someone is going to buy my coveted digital camera with this money at least it is someone who is poor and not someone who is richer than me.
I don’t control the money at my house. I am trying to convince Jeff to stop the payroll deductions and take that money and give it directly to poor people, no more buying digital cameras for the richie people working for non-profits, the graphic designers who design the lovely literature begging me for more money, the people who spend my vacation money on junk mail. Even if the poor person I give the money to blows the money on booze and drugs, at least they had a little fun, it has got to be more productive than spending it on junk mail. What do you all think about charity?
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2 comments:
I don't know if this is true but it's possible that by giving money to a organization like CARE, they're able to get more done with less money. In other words, they have the resources to get things that those in poverty need at a lower cost and so they can help more people for the same amount of money that you may give directly to a person in need.
It's also possible that the fancy graphic design or supplies used is done at a lower cost than what would be done for a normal corporation.
I don't know that it's not productive for them to send more mail to you to ask for more donations. If it wasn't productive, they wouldn't do it - I mean why spend money on something they won't see a return from. My guess is that they target these mailings to those who have contributed before because statistics tell them that those who donate once can be inticed to donate again.
I personally like to give to local charities that work in the local community.
I've worked for non-profits and for a company that did fund-raising for non-profits.
I have been in charge of designing, printing, lettershopping and doing all the aspects of those junk-mailers you receive (of course, I was doing the more high-end ones, but I oversaw all ranges of donations and appeals).
First of all, what you are receiving is probably costing the charity about one half of one cent to two cents (not inlcuding postage, which is probably about six cents). If you do not wish to receive anymore mail from them, let them know. There is a way to flag you in their computer system to never receive mail again, or only once a year -- whatever you like.
I personally do also get rather jaded about charities, a lot pay people an obsene amount of money for not doing much. The fundraising budget is typically about 10% of their income, and a lot of places only do mailers and grant work to get monies.
Knowning how charities are ran, I'd rather donate my time and efforts to the cause, rather than money. And if I ever had a large amount of money, I would like to offer grants -- those monies are seriously designated to be effiecent.
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