Charities Wasting Money

lincroft1710

OK Mr/Ms Charity Donations Manager, write to me asking for £10, but why send me a load of tiny self-adhesive labels with my name and address (which I will never use), a pathetic little ballpoint pen and a small seasonal blank card (which I would be embarrassed to send to anybody) and then send me a reminder letter, 10 days later!! Just a waste of resources, time and money!!!

There's another charity which appears to have done a huge untargeted mailshot (delivered by postman not addressed to anyone) and has enclosed 2 coasters, a decent size ballpoint pen and a larger card, but how much has this all cost you!!!

JReacher1

lincroft1710 wrote: »

OK Mr/Ms Charity Donations Manager, write to me asking for £10, but why send me a load of tiny self-adhesive labels with my name and address (which I will never use), a pathetic little ballpoint pen and a small seasonal blank card (which I would be embarrassed to send to anybody) and then send me a reminder letter, 10 days later!! Just a waste of resources, time and money!!!

There's another charity which appears to have done a huge untargeted mailshot (delivered by postman not addressed to anyone) and has enclosed 2 coasters, a decent size ballpoint pen and a larger card, but how much has this all cost you!!!

I suspect they have done studies that have shown by providing these gifts it increases the likelihood that you will donate to the charity.

Ectophile

That sounds like the British Red Cross. Their argument is that the free gifts only cost pennies, so it's worth it.

I have more pens than I know what to do with - though at least they work, unlike the ones some other charities give out.

Some of the other tat comes in handy, but other things just pile up. I use the sticky labels whenever I post an envelope - I stick one across the seal to add a bit of extra security in case the envelope glue's no good, and it puts a return address on at the same time.

takman

If the total cost of sending out the letters and contents is less than what they receive in donations as a direct result then it isn't a waste of money!. This method must produce good results otherwise charities wouldn't do it.

ThumbRemote

takman wrote: »

If the total cost of sending out the letters and contents is less than what they receive in donations as a direct result then it isn't a waste of money!. This method must produce good results otherwise charities wouldn't do it.

Agree 100%. Charities know what does and doesn't work when fundraising.

(For what it's worth, and I'm not saying the OP is like this, but I find the people who moan most about charities 'wasting' money are the ones who are least likely to donate in the first place. They seem to want to justify not donating - even though no justification is necessary - so come up with the same tired and unresearched clich!s claiming that money is mis-spent).

Pollycat

lincroft1710 wrote: »

OK Mr/Ms Charity Donations Manager, write to me asking for £10, but why send me a load of tiny self-adhesive labels with my name and address (which I will never use), a pathetic little ballpoint pen and a small seasonal blank card (which I would be embarrassed to send to anybody) and then send me a reminder letter, 10 days later!! Just a waste of resources, time and money!!!

There's another charity which appears to have done a huge untargeted mailshot (delivered by postman not addressed to anyone) and has enclosed 2 coasters, a decent size ballpoint pen and a larger card, but how much has this all cost you!!!

I save these and use them on return luggage labels.
I still don't donate to the charities that send them to me though.
I have 4 charities that I've donated to on a monthly basis for probably 20 years - each one was specially chosen for a reason - and that's me done as far as charities are concerned.

Bogalot

takman wrote: »

If the total cost of sending out the letters and contents is less than what they receive in donations as a direct result then it isn't a waste of money!. This method must produce good results otherwise charities wouldn't do it.

Your reasoning is spot on, but it's getting to the stage where it's little better than the scam artists that tell you you've won a prize draw and you just need to send a processing fee. They're preying on the older generation that are seen as soft touches and will send money through guilt. To make it worse, if you donate once that triggers even more contact, just the same as with the scammers.

It's not ethical.

Chickabiddybex

Yeah I always see those "sponsor a leopard and we will send you a leopard toy and updates" and if I donated to them I'd be tempted to include a note saying "please don't send a toy, I'm happy to just donate"

There's a difference between buying something with proceeds going to charity and simply donating. Or at least there should be!

Not that I've ever adopted a leopard. I might if I had more money but I personally only donate to one charity and that's MSF (Doctors Without Borders) as they are consistently rated one of the most efficient charities in the world and are very transparent with their finances. They help people all over the world so no matter where a natural disaster hits they are likely one of the first groups on scene. And they are on the front line when it comes to dealing with diseases such as Ebola, and I think it benefits literally everyone in the world when diseases like that are eradicated and how many other charities can you say help literally everyone?

lincroft1710

JReacher1 wrote: »

I suspect they have done studies that have shown by providing these gifts it increases the likelihood that you will donate to the charity.

In my case they were wrong!

I have had 2 more requests, one asking me to return a Xmas card so it may be given to a lonely person (but I already donate to that charity). And the other one tells me exactly who they are helping and how they are helping plus no "free gifts" enclosed - a salutary lesson to wasteful charities. Seems deserving of support.

lincroft1710

takman wrote: »

If the total cost of sending out the letters and contents is less than what they receive in donations as a direct result then it isn't a waste of money!. This method must produce good results otherwise charities wouldn't do it.

Sending out a letter is OK, spending money to put unwanted rubbish in it and sending a reminder letter isn't!

kelpie35

This is the main reason why I don't donate to charities.

They use donations to pay themselves large salaries and waste so much money sending you rubbish.

I shop in charity shops but only buy items I think are bargains to me and don't really care what they do with my money.