When do you help?

10 years ago

My heart doesn't go out in situations like that. I don't know those people and I feel no obligation to them at all.

I have donated many times locally as it's common here to set up a bank account to accept donations for people here who have a fire or serious illness or death in the family. It's a local effort and you know exactly where the money goes.

I think we are headed for a backlash against charitable contribution requests online and possibly the 'fund me' sites as people realize they are handing out money to people they don't know for purposes they may not support.

I donate locally - in large part to animal rescue groups. I don't donate to intermediaries or popular causes. I want to know my money saved an animals life or made it easier - that it helped pay for medical care for a child in need - or helped a family who lost their home in a fire. The rest of the world will just have to take care of itself.

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Claude Whitacre 10 years ago

I don't donate. Maybe once in a while to the local animal shelter, but that's it. Animals are sometimes powerless to help themselves. Adult humans are not.

But I'll give money to someone I feel deserves it. What are they doing right now to help their situation? If the answer is "Asking for money", then they are out of luck.

Does donating money give you a good feeling? Then you are getting something out of it.
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Dennis Gaskill

10 years ago

I mostly donate locally. You have be careful about online solicitations. Many times these are just scams set up to get easy money by preying on people's good nature. I'm not saying that the case here, I wouldn't know, but before I donate I want to know it's a real cause and not one contrived for selfish purposes.

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Entrecon

10 years ago

The recent ones I have seen haven't been scams.

The one with the guy being shot was in the news and it was posted by a friend of mine that lives in that same town.

Another one was local, a lady at our church with a High Deductible Health plan. They had insurance, but were doing fundraisers to cover the deductible. It seemed a little to me more like it was being pushed by friends than the person actually dealing with the cancer.

The other was a friend of a friend and we went to a fund raising dinner. We had to eat, but probably paid more for the meal than we normally would have. I don't know how much they raised, but they had a TON of auctions and other fund raising activities going on. It made me wonder how much they actually needed and what the money was going for. Replacing an income? Covering medical expenses?

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DWaters

10 years ago

Of course it is unfortunate that the man was shot and killed. I would not consider it a cause to donate unless I knew more or knew the man personally. I recently heard of money being raised for a police who was killed (very sad and unfortunate of course) but in my state the family of the deceased will be getting a huge pension and a significant insurance benefit so why do they need more money?

I would rather donate to the "less fortunate" who need the money - animals and sick children, disease research are on the top of my list.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/ is an excellent way to learn about good charities to give to.

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ThomM 10 years ago

As with most of the replies, I donate locally when I do.
I rarely have any extra money to donate though so I try to help in other ways. For me it really depends on the situation and what is needed.
A couple of weeks ago it was giving a girl my last few dollars as she ran out of gas and had a baby with her. Yesterday it was helping an old man pick up his wife who had fallen in the supermarket, then I sort of shadowed them until they left in case they needed help again. Whenever I see a car or motorcycle broke down on the side of the road I pull over and see if I can help.
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- BigFrank Banned 10 years ago
  
  I used to give religiously to the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) until they started inundating my mailbox with a never ending stream of items like flag stickers, return address labels, calendars, window decals and the list goes on. I told them that if they did not sending me stuff that I would no longer donate as I wanted 100% of my money to go toward helping disabled vets, not label manufacturers. They said, "No can do." I said, "OK - no more loot."
  
  The only organization that I donate to now is the SPCA. I send them $100 a month to relieve my guilt pangs for not being able to donate any of my time due to health limitations. They are also the main beneficiaries of my life insurance policy and my will. I have never met a dog that I didn't like immensely and I have rarely met a humanoid that I did. The only thing I find similar in the traits of dogs and humans is their breath odor. Dogs are generally slightly better in that regard.
  
  I have a good friend that I have been helping over the past couple of years with occasional infusions of cash. He has a daughter with medical issues and has oftentimes been on the verge of losing his house. Every time I would hand him cash I knew that I was never going to see it again, but it was not a big deal. Fortunately I'm in possession of more money than I am brains or common sense. But after doling out cash for a couple of years I have come to realize that it is not an answer to anything and is probably, in a strange way, keeping him down.
  
  So, I have developed a new tact. I just ordered about $700 worth of The Bob Ross 9x12 Profit System, including all of the upsells, training materials, samples, etc. I am going to give it all to my friend and tell him that it is now time to ‘learn to fish.’ It’s very true when they say, “God helps those who help themselves.” While I don’t actually believe in God, I am totally in agreement with the message that he supposedly promulgated. lol
  
  Joe has a background in advertising and promotion and also in direct mail. Actually, it was how we met and we did some joint ventures together, decades back. Life has dealt him a few sharp blows but he keeps plodding along. Sadly, I have not been able to help him get a solid foothold into anything that has good, long term potential. I’m hoping that this will be perfect for him and I am going to attempt to help him structure it in a way that he can even get his daughter involved. I believe that he will be successful at this and I’m hoping that I can bring a little personal expertise to the party to help him get off the ground.
  
  I just can’t see any benefit to just continuously handing him money. If this works it will be much better for both of us. I’m tired of this guy blowing through all of my ‘hooker and drugs’ money. This just has to stop.
  
  Lastly, I’m so damn bored with my daily existence that possibly, if I play my cards correctly, I might be able to talk him into giving me a job.
  
  So this is the end of my giving while I’m still breathing. Folks are just going to have to wait until they scatter my ashes on the lake for their next payday and it won’t be anything that will change their lives. They can always visit the wing that I hope they will name after me at the SPCA and curse me out. lol
  
  Cheers. - Frank
  
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hardraysnight

10 years ago

i usually give locally but seldom do i give money, i give goods and not everyone likes that

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Jacqueline Smith

10 years ago

I never donate to any of the large charity organizations. Like many others on this thread, I donate locally....food, clothing, blankets, etc. to the family shelter and the animal shelter.

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Joe Mobley 10 years ago

Two things come to mind:

1) You have probably been put on a suckers list from some of your past donations.

2) You are probably not operating your finances from a written budget.

Joe Mobley
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teamfraggle

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Entrecon

There are so many people out there in need. I often find my self struggling to determine when to help and with how much.

There have been many instances where I waffle on what to do, but one that recently popped up in my Facebook thread really made me question it more. In this a gentleman was just shot and killed on Tuesday and already someone had posted that they were taking up donations for the family. This only happened 2 days ago and already they are asking for donations? I don't know the financial situation, but does he have life insurance? What does the family really need?

I am sure people mean well, but it seems like a couple times a week I see people asking for money to help support someone who has lost a loved one or has a loved one going through challenges of some kind. Often, these are medical related. My heart goes out to them, but I only have so much money in my bank account and some of that is there because my wife and I plan for a rainy day when we might need to cover expenses taht aren't covered by our insurance. Don't even get me started on the ice bucket

When/how do you decide what you are going to donate?

Practical Donation always works

I am loathe to contribute financially to most charities these days!

My eldest daughter is on the front line with practical donations as one of several carers for young Neil as seen in the article below.......just like all the nurses, doctors, ambo's, medical staff etc etc...

As others have said here, if you want to donate, do it locally, that's been my experience anyway.

No Cookies | dailytelegraph.com.au

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When do you help?

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