A pig for Christmas

postingalwaysposting

i sent a goat as someones 20th birthday gift. But to be fair she was all 'save the people' when we were at college so me being lazy i ordered one of these and a pack of seeds... she has never spoke since :rotfl: i must say though i would love to get a goat for my birthday

setmefree2

What a controversial thread , so let's mix it up abit more:p. There are many charities I wouldn't give money to and so likewise I wouldn't want a donation made on my behalf to them at xmas - the Princess Diana Trust is one, the RSPCA and the NSPCC - are just 3 I can think off....people have different opinions of different charities and I think making a donation on someone's behalf is a potential mindfield....:cool: Socks are the safest option

Leothecat

setmefree2 wrote: »

What a controversial thread , so let's mix it up abit more:p. There are many charities I wouldn't give money to and so likewise I wouldn't want a donation made on my behalf to them at xmas - the Princess Diana Trust is one, the RSPCA and the NSPCC - are just 3 I can think off....people have different opinions of different charities and I think making a donation on someone's behalf is a potential mindfield....:cool: Socks are the safest option

Please tell me why. I donate monthly to RSPCA and NSPCC and am now worried that they are not getting it or something. Please elaborate.
Ta.

setmefree2

oooops I think that illustates my point. I'm not trying to offend anyone, I'm just saying charities are personal.

(The reason I wouldn't give money to the RSPCA is that they have so much money that most of it sits in the bank.It was also the case recently that one year the NSPCC spent so much money on advertising and admin that they actually spend no money on children. I'm sure these statements can be checked. Feel free to shoot me down in flames.) So someone might prefer a pig but someone else might rather give that money to someone in the street.

Leothecat

setmefree2 wrote: »

oooops I think that illustates my point. I'm not trying to offend anyone, I'm just saying charities are personal.

No no no no no!! You haven't offended me in the least - I'm curious (and a bit worried) about why you wouldn't give to them.

SugarSpun

It's quite a personal thing, so I wouldn't rank it in the same sort of gift category as smellies or chocolates - if you're getting someone one of those sets, the chances are you don't know them well enough to know their charity preferences and so you run the risk of offending them.

For the people you know would appreciate a charity gift, some thought should go into it, so you don't sponsor a child through one of the Christian charities who insist on the child's conversion to Christianity to a militant atheist. When my cousin and his partner married, we looked at their wedding list and saw nothing we could afford as a complete gift in itself. We also know what the two of them do for a living, what their politics are and so on. So we found an appropriate sort of charity gift, and everyone was happy.

I'm getting carbon offsetting this year, and I'm thrilled.

V_Chic_Chick

As someone who has chickens (productive pets!) and works on a small city farm, I would be really quite happy to receive chickens / goats / sheep etc. Then again, I think I'd rather have the livestock myself, but that's another matter

As sugarspun said, I (as an atheist) would not be too happy about receiving a gift through a Christian charity that does what she describes.

Dawnteabag has probably the most ungrateful self-centred (sorry) uncle that I have come across in recent years, but I'm sure that the family who received the chickens won't care about your uncle's reaction

Getting medical supplies for a nurse / doctor, teaching equiptment for a teacher, gardening tools for a keen gardener / livestock for a farmer etc. etc. etc. does seem to be the best option

~Chameleon~

Leothecat wrote: »

Please tell me why. I donate monthly to RSPCA and NSPCC and am now worried that they are not getting it or something. Please elaborate.
Ta.

I have a friend who works in the RSPCA and she told me that very little of the money donated centrally is used to help the animals at the various shelters around the country and most of it goes towards paying for the animal rights propaganda they use and to pay for all those people in their plush offices that never even come into contact with any of the animals :mad:

The local shelters do their own fundraising and rely on donations direct to them to pay for the animals needs and welfare. I actually found it quite shocking when she told me as I've donated money to them in the past but I checked online and found various sources to back up what she'd said so now I only donate to local shelters and not the main RSPCA fund.

James_N

Leothecat wrote: »

Please tell me why. I donate monthly to RSPCA and NSPCC and am now worried that they are not getting it or something. Please elaborate.
Ta.

I am glad there is someone else like me. I DO regularly give to charity - Oxfam & Air Ambulance. I am considering giving to a "new" one for me (and rather personal) - I think it was "sightsavers" - to do with 25p injections to combat river-blindness in Africa. A few quid saves several people's sight ... surely that's worth it.

So I am not a scrooge ...

I will never give to the NSPCC. Put simply, I think they put a self-serving fear into people of bogey-men. They got it spectacularly wrong on Orkney and broke up several families. I believe they are capable of doing the same again almost anywhere. I almost feel they have a self-perpetuating agenda of making themselves important and necessary by whipping up anxiety.

I bet THAT'S going to be controversial!

skint_spice

I would much rather someone sent a fiver to some poor souls for seeds/chickens than gave me the smellies they've obviously put zero thought into, maybe I should drop hints this year for next. but then I wouldn't be rude enough to say their smellies were a !!!! pressie - Dawnteabag, your uncle is the most ungrateful sod I've ever heard of and you're well shot of him from your list and your life!