Unwanted letters etc. Is there a charity?

[Deleted User]

I used to give to wateraid but in spite of asking them not to, they kept sending me unwanted letters, draw tickets, e mails etc so I won`t be supporting that charity any more.

Does anyone have any experience of centrepoint.org? I am tempted to do a monthly gift aid with them but no way if they continually hastle me

Any other large charity perhaps that would gladly accept a donation without all the follow-up letters etc?

lisyloo

I have given to sight savers and the red cross and they haven't hassled me (although I would have ticked the box not to to be contacted).

I also donated to breakthrough breast cancer and they keep contacting me desipte being asked not to.

seashore321

I think that most charities will always keep posting to you as you have given once. The only way I have got around it when I have changed to another is send the letters back with no longer at this address! Haven't heard anything since!! SO it must work.

Savvy_Sue

I work for a small women's charity in Bristol and I promise not to keep hassling you - PM me if interested!

NumboJumbo

I donate to a different charity every month, some big some small. Before I donate, I always contact the charity to find out their policy on adhering to my request of no follow up thankyou or begging letters. As soon as I get a reply from them stating that they will remove me from their mailing list, I donate to them and follow up my donation with an email to the charity. This follow up email copies the charities response to my initial email and reminds them again of their promise to me.

So far, it's been a very successful tactic - I've hardly had any follow up begging letters from any of the charities I've donated to since 1998 and as I mentioned before, that's one a month. I presume I must be doing something right to donate to that many charities and have hardly any follow up letters.

Mike

duhelu

Hi
I work for a charity in Cheshire that would welcome donations of any size. As I do the paperwork for them I promise not to send any mail (snail or email) that you have not agreed to. We can agree how often or infrequently you might like an update or whether you even want your initial donation acknowledged.

Please don't let other charities begging letters and spam put you off being generous to charities.

I would be happy to send you the details of the charity I do voluntary work for if you like. I have not put it here as I think it would be against the rules of the site to advertise.

Regards

oldtoolie

Any properly run charity will respect the requests of their donors. The one I work for does. We have a formal complaints process as well. In addition, we are signed up with the Fundraising Standards Board and anyone who doesn't feel that we have responded to their complaint properly can take it there.

Over 400 charities are now registered with the Fundraising Standards Board including WaterAid. If I was the original poster, I would formally complain to WaterAid and the then the FSB.

Here's the link to the WaterAid complaints page:
www.wateraid.org/international/contact_us/5551.asp

This is the website for the Fundraising Standards Board, although you should complain to the charity before you go to them.
http://www.fsboard.org.uk/

Larry Boyd
Tools for Self Reliance
www.tfsr.org

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Thanks to MSE for making TFSR one of your charities of the year

Ianna

I donate to Refuge an anti-domestic violence charity and I've never had them beg for anything. They sent me a letter thanking me for my donation and since then I've had nothing except when I've asked for things. Then they've been very helpful.

davepitchford

For a non-partial (and non-profit) overview of charities to help you make a choice of a new charity at regular intervals - if that is your tactic! - do visit intelligentgiving.com - it is written precisely for folk like you. You might particularly like the "If you like this charity, you might like these..." feature.

vikki_louise

Hello, I donated to a charity over a year ago since they have sent me a pen, blank cards, wrapping paper, a diary etc, soon they would of spent more on gifts to me than my orginal donation (which was a one off!) not quite what i pictured the donation being used for!

we run an organisation brightening the lives of seriouly ill children, if people donate we thank them via email, and sometimes send an email update as a one off if your donation is used for 1 paricular thing (ie we just purchased postcards with it) 30p can make a sick kid smile (postcard and stamp) for more info see www.postpals.co.uk or http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/3673782.stm