Charity Rant

[jducoeur]

Yes, I know that you're a good cause -- I wouldn't have sent money to you otherwise. But when you construe that donation as a "membership", and imply that I am therefore somehow obligated to follow it up with the same amount (or, preferably, more) next year, that does nothing to endear your cause to me. And when you begin to send me monthly notices about the latest Urgent Crisis that requires more money from me, I will start to throw out your mail unopened. There are plenty of other deserving charities out there, and some of them are significantly less annoying than you.

(The worst thing about the above is that it applies equally well to a couple *dozen* organizations that are postal-spamming me, effectively colluding to make me thoroughly cynical about the whole concept. When 3/4 of my mail is charities dunning me for cash, it just gets tiresome. Bloody tragedy of the commons...)

Comments

The perils of membership

[chiefoperator.livejournal.com]

I was always pretty laid-back about people who try to count me as a member just because I contributed; I can see why they do it, and it didn't seem like it hurt anything. Then one day I got an Urgent Request from a cause that wanted some extra bucks to fight some case in court, and to try to shake the tree a little they included some remark like "..and you, as a Member, might even be considered partially liable!" Oh, that got my attention all right! Now I'm VERY touchy about it...