Biggest beef with giving and supporting causes...

[webbie]

...is that it seems I end up on so many email lists!

Every once in a while I decide enough is enough and spend a week unsubscribing to every single bulk email I get.......ah, the pre-New Years purge is now on!

 

[begreen]

I hear you! It seems to be way worse this year, both in email and US mail.

 

[mellow]

Just curious, would you rather receive the appeals via mail or email?

 

[hossthehermit]

Send all your giving and support to me, and I promise you'll never hear from me again.

 

[BrotherBart]

Don't ever hit that "unsubscribe" link. Just tells them that one of the spray hit and who.

 

[snowleopard]

I hate the way they follow you around on the internet after you've visited the site ONCE!! Okay, okay, I"m sorry that the little girl died, but if I see a picture of her seven or ten times a day on whatever site I'm on, it becomes a little not-tragic-anymore. I am haunted by a persistent internet ghost. And if I give her money, it won't make her go away. She'll be back. And she will bring friends!

 

[fossil]

My mom used to donate annually to a couple of causes...like American Cancer Society and such. She died in 1991. My dad continued to donate to a couple of societies, like the American Lung Association, until he died in 1998. I continued to receive solicitations, in both their names, for years, through two moves. Not just from the causes to which they had donated, but others as well. The mailing lists must be shared/sold/whatever. Because I was the one who finally settled the estate after my dad died, the public record showed my address as theirs, I guess. The address changes are somehow automatic through the postal service. It was pretty strange to still be receiving mail for my parents for more than a decade after their deaths. In some cases it took a phone call to get off the mailing list. In other cases they actually wanted me to send them a copy of the death certificate. Oh please! I never did. Gradually it all faded away. Once you give a nickel, you're on the list. I can't imagine what that costs them...money that seems to me would be better spent doing what they purport to be doing. But then, if they didn't do all the fund-raising stuff, they wouldn't have nearly as many funds, I guess. Anyway, I'm not particularly stingy, but I'm very careful about just how I donate. I remain as anonymous as I can. Rick

 

[tfdchief]

...is that it seems I end up on so many email lists!

Every once in a while I decide enough is enough and spend a week unsubscribing to every single bulk email I get.......ah, the pre-New Years purge is now on!

Yah, but you are one of the good guys. That "ain't" easy, but then it is still the best way to go!

 

[webbie]

Just curious, would you rather receive the appeals via mail or email?

In general, none at all.....
But, being as they do have to at least try - I'd say once a year by mail and also email. But it seems as if some of them are constant.....and they add up!

I think many of us are bombarded by too many messages these days.......

 

[tfdchief]

Just curious, would you rather receive the appeals via mail or email?

In general, none at all.....
But, being as they do have to at least try - I'd say once a year by mail and also email. But it seems as if some of them are constant.....and they add up!

I think many of us are bombarded by too many messages these days.......

True!.......and we make our choices.

 

[snowleopard]

In other cases they actually wanted me to send them a copy of the death certificate. Oh please! Rick

:gulp:

 

[Dune]

That's why I give in person, plus no loss to administration costs.

 

[snowleopard]

I've sent contributions intermittently to an organization that I think does good work. It helps people in remote African villages build rain cachement systems on their schools so kids can attend rather than spend a good part of their day hauling water for families. In some of these areas, water hauling is also dangerous because of conflicts in the region. As kids get better educated and opportunities increase, the region stabilizes. The systems are low-tech, use local labor for construction, and are locally sustainable, and each village that receives one of these commits to helping other villages get systems installed. It's a simple-brilliant win-win.

This thread has made me realize that I have never received spam or nagging mail as a result of contributing money to them. I get a thank-you email when I send them a donation. If I want to know who they're helping or what they're up to, I have to go looking for it. I'm going to email them and thank them for that policy; it may influence them to continue it, and if nothing more, let them know that the policy is appreciated.

 

[begreen]

Just curious, would you rather receive the appeals via mail or email?

Neither, I make our contributions on our schedule and based on how the organization is performing. I do not want appeals, special offers, etc. They just clog our mailbox, analog or digital.

 

[kenny chaos]

The only mail I get anymore are Pre-Disapproved Credit Card offerings.

Bah

 

[Dune]

Yo Kenny, merry christmas.

 

[kenny chaos]

Yo Dune, merry Christmas to you.
Thanks-
Kenny