PSA: When a charity calls asking for a donation

[klmama]

If you get a call from a charity you'd like to support, pay attention to what the caller says.  If the caller says they work for ___, HIRED BY the charity, please realize that much of the donation is going to the telemarketing company itself, not to the charity.  If you want to make a donation that you are sure goes completely to the charity, donate via the website or by mail. 

[Evergreen State Sue]

That's good to know.  I received a call today and the gentleman said he was a "paid caller".  We are planning to donate to this charity, but plan on doing that later in December.  I was shocked when he asked if we would be willing to contribute $400-500!  I'm sure there are very generous people out there, but that kind of donation to one charity is out of our budget.  

 

[Hikin' Mama]

I tell all charity callers I don't make any donations over the phone, but they are welcome to mail me their info. They never take me up on it.

[Quint]

I dont donate to charities who call. I only donate when I look up about the charity to see if its going to a good cause.

[Tsuga]

If you get a call from a charity you'd like to support, pay attention to what the caller says.  If the caller says they work for ___, HIRED BY the charity, please realize that much of the donation is going to the telemarketing company itself, not to the charity.  If you want to make a donation that you are sure goes completely to the charity, donate via the website or by mail. 

 

Nothing goes completely to "charity", as if it doesn't cost money to raise money.

 

World Vision has a 10% fundraising budget. That's fundraising only. They also have one of the most effective fundraising machines, and largest total budgets for the poor, of any charity in the world. I do not believe that they operate in bad faith. I use them as an example because I personally do not give to World Vision as I don't agree with their uh... vision for the world... But anyway, I think their consideration is, "If we don't pay to let people know what is going on, they won't help. They do respond. We publish our fundraising costs. We answer honestly, and we also allow them to donate "directly" to children. So it's worth it." 

 

But those administrative costs are the bulk of giving that is not directly to a child, and even "direct" gifts require oversight.

 

But even looking at much more "efficient" charities, depending on how you count it, about 13% of Mercy Corps funds go to fundraising and administration, but that does not include costs like reporting on institutional funds spent, and so on.

 

There is no magical way, other than bringing a needy person into one's home, to ensure that you aren't paying anyone to deliver goods and raise more funds for more goods. 

 

Also, it costs a lot of money to maintain a website and to advertise online. Anyone who's running a call center is going to fund that all equally through donations online, by mail, whatever. Whatever commission goes to a caller, if that's their business model, that would be shaved off of online donations anyway. It's not possible to just mail a check and know where that goes.

 

I once had to cold-call asking for political donations. I hated that job, but the worst part was, people were like, "Are you paid??" Yes, I will get all of like 1% of your $5 if you pledge tonight. Would you rather I work a different job and then do this instead of sleep? Like how are the calls getting made? And clearly people are not beating down Google to find charitable causes to donate to. Calling works.

 

When someone calls asking for a donation, I just say, "I don't give over the phone. If you give me the URL, I'll consider adding you to our list of charities for annual giving. I don't make exceptions so I won't waste any more of your time. Thanks for your hard work." I'm not worried that someone would actually get paid for helping out... I just don't want to make a last-minute decision like that.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Tsuga

[Meriwether]

Some charities do a better job than others at keeping costs down. MCC does a decent job. The Gideons are a religious organization, but it is maintained strictly by the members. Members pay dues to cover the overhead and pay 100% of their own costs. They can't be the only organization supported by its membership.

[Night Elf]

I do not give donations by phone. I suggest they mail me their literature. I had one place yell at me because they don't have literature and said my policy was dumb. Good grief!

[Carrie12345]

I do not give donations by phone. I suggest they mail me their literature. I had one place yell at me because they don't have literature and said my policy was dumb. Good grief!

 

I've had people get really aggressive with me and tell me they'd only send literature if I committed to a donation.  Then I've had other people send me literature with "Thank you for pledging $XX... here's your envelope."  And then I've had people calling to berate me for not following through on "my" pledge.

 

Most times I think these charities would be smarter to have a few people stand outside my grocery store with buckets.

[marbel]

Yeah I never donate over the phone either.   I also don't pledge any amount over the phone.  Like others here, I ask them to send me something but I never do get anything in the mail.

 

Of course all charities have costs.  There is no way 100% of the donations goes to the actual work. 

 

Another thing I don't tend to do is go to restaurant  fundraisers.  You know, eat here and 15% goes to the place.   If a charity I want to support has one of those, I usually just donate the amount the dinner would have cost me/my family. 

 

There is a well-known charity I supported for a while which I won't donate to anymore, after "the calendar incident."  They sent me a calendar one year, with a fundraising letter.  A few months later I got a bill for the calendar. I didn't pay it - I hadn't ordered the calendar and don't feel any obligation to pay for unsolicited gifts.  They continued to send me letters asking me to pay for the calendar for a few months.  That was so annoying!

[luuknam]

I wouldn't donate over the phone either if they called me. How would I know if it's legit or a scammer? If I wanted to donate over the phone, I'd look up the charity and call them.

[Miss Tick]

Nothing goes completely to "charity", as if it doesn't cost money to raise money.

 

 

I don't think OP was objecting to fund-raising costs, just pointing out that there is generally a significantly higher administrative cost when a third party is used to cold call trying to raise money. If you truly want to support a charity, find a way to give more directly, mail to them, website, you call the charity, whatever cuts it the middle-man.

[klmama]

I don't think OP was objecting to fund-raising costs, just pointing out that there is generally a significantly higher administrative cost when a third party is used to cold call trying to raise money. If you truly want to support a charity, find a way to give more directly, mail to them, website, you call the charity, whatever cuts it the middle-man.

 

Exactly!   

[Laurie]

I tell all charity callers I don't make any donations over the phone, but they are welcome to mail me their info. They never take me up on it.

 

Most of our mail is from charities.  A couple of weeks ago there was a day when we got 23 envelopes!

 

At least we get very few phone calls from them.  We have an unlisted number, and I also asked my husband to stop having our phone number printed on his checks.  He writes the checks to charities, so removing our phone number really cut down on any future contact by phone. 

 

 

[Tsuga]

I don't think OP was objecting to fund-raising costs, just pointing out that there is generally a significantly higher administrative cost when a third party is used to cold call trying to raise money. If you truly want to support a charity, find a way to give more directly, mail to them, website, you call the charity, whatever cuts it the middle-man.

I understand but I don't think that's true. One IT / webmaster can cost as much as 8 part time callers... Or more. You just can't say it's a call center thing.

 

Edited for spelling

Edited December 1, 2015 by Tsuga

[klmama]

It's not a call center thing. It's a contract thing.  The charity agrees to pay a certain percentage of monies raised to the telemarketing firm.  Sometimes the percentage is low, which is great, but sometimes it's exorbitant. The charity may still come out ahead because the telemarketer is able to bring in larger amounts of money, but that doesn't mean you want them to use half of your donation for that.  Even if the telemarketer claims their percentage is low, that may not be true. 

 

If you have time, maybe reading a news story on this would help you understand the point I'm trying to make. I just did a quick google search and came up with this one from a few years ago.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-09-12/charities-deceive-donors-unaware-money-goes-to-a-telemarketer

[Pink and Green Mom]

In most states (it may even be all) you can ask the caller what percentage of your donation will go to charity and they are legally obligated to tell you.  I got a call on behalf of the Virginia State Police asking for donations for fallen officers and asked the question - after much hemming and hawing I was told "10 percent."

 

[TranquilMind]

If you get a call from a charity you'd like to support, pay attention to what the caller says.  If the caller says they work for ___, HIRED BY the charity, please realize that much of the donation is going to the telemarketing company itself, not to the charity.  If you want to make a donation that you are sure goes completely to the charity, donate via the website or by mail. 

I don't answer the phone.

 

I donate to organizations I have chosen, not to anyone who contacts me via phone. 

[TranquilMind]

In most states (it may even be all) you can ask the caller what percentage of your donation will go to charity and they are legally obligated to tell you.  I got a call on behalf of the Virginia State Police asking for donations for fallen officers and asked the question - after much hemming and hawing I was told "10 percent."

Wow.  That's just scummy. 

[forty-two]

I used to work in an in-house call center (fundraising for the seminary my dh was attending - the school covered a significant portion of the tuition costs for the students in addition to all the other school expenses), and we were happy to send out a letter to anyone who asked.  (We were evaluated based on number of completed calls - spoke to a real person and got a yes/no/send-me-a-letter response - instead of on how much we got in pledges, which made for a less stressful working environment.)

[wendy not in HI]

Did you know today is #givingtuesday?  It is sort of a big deal in the nonprofit world - Black Friday, Cyber Monday, GivingTuesday!  I think that's why you go the call today.  End of the year giving is where it's at with non-profits.

 

I had never heard of it before, but this fall I stumbled in to "working" for a small non-profit.  So, now I know that there is a Giving Tuesday!  Today!!

 

We are so small that we don't have a call center or a single paid employee. I love this group that I'm volunteering with, and it is something that i feel strongly about - I am excited to do the work and help get this thing going.  But I can see that "real" non-profits really do need a paid staff to keep things moving.  That 10% used to keep the company afloat is not actually a bad thing.  It's a good thing!  Someone has to lick the envelopes and sort the donations... Someone needs to file the taxes and write the grants and keep the website up to date and....

 

I wish I knew more about working for a non-profit!  I keep reading and working and trying to figure out what this whole things is on-the-job!  (anyone want to be my mentor?)(anyone want to teach me how to do graphic design?)

 

#unselfie  

 

 

 

[Word Nerd]

Good tips here.

[Tree Frog]

I tell all charity callers I don't make any donations over the phone, but they are welcome to mail me their info. They never take me up on it.

 

We do that here, too, but some of the callers are really pushy, insisting I agree to donate prior to them sending the info. I tell them that defeats the purpose. I've never received anything from charities in the mail. 

[Tree Frog]

Yeah I never donate over the phone either.   I also don't pledge any amount over the phone.  Like others here, I ask them to send me something but I never do get anything in the mail.

 

Of course all charities have costs.  There is no way 100% of the donations goes to the actual work. 

 

Another thing I don't tend to do is go to restaurant  fundraisers.  You know, eat here and 15% goes to the place.   If a charity I want to support has one of those, I usually just donate the amount the dinner would have cost me/my family. 

 

There is a well-known charity I supported for a while which I won't donate to anymore, after "the calendar incident."  They sent me a calendar one year, with a fundraising letter.  A few months later I got a bill for the calendar. I didn't pay it - I hadn't ordered the calendar and don't feel any obligation to pay for unsolicited gifts.  They continued to send me letters asking me to pay for the calendar for a few months.  That was so annoying!

 

This is how they get a lot of elderly to support charities. My MIL has had charities send her money (coins and bills), towels, t-shirts, socks, calendars, etc., so she felt compelled to donate to the charity to cover the cost of the item. She knew it didn't make sense to send them money for something she hadn't requested, but she felt sorry for the poor (insert underprivileged children in any country or women having difficulty supporting themselves, or...) and once the elderly are on one list, inevitably the name is shared/sold to another list. We're not sure how many charities sent her stuff, but my kids always came home with the "goodies." I find it's a dishonest tactic that cost her lots of money and makes DH and I angry. MIL continues to receive items, but they get thrown in the garbage now without her seeing them.

[klmama]

This is how they get a lot of elderly to support charities. My MIL has had charities send her money (coins and bills), towels, t-shirts, socks, calendars, etc., so she felt compelled to donate to the charity to cover the cost of the item. She knew it didn't make sense to send them money for something she hadn't requested, but she felt sorry for the poor (insert underprivileged children in any country or women having difficulty supporting themselves, or...) and once the elderly are on one list, inevitably the name is shared/sold to another list. We're not sure how many charities sent her stuff, but my kids always came home with the "goodies." I find it's a dishonest tactic that cost her lots of money and makes DH and I angry. MIL continues to receive items, but they get thrown in the garbage now without her seeing them.

 

This is the first I've heard of that type of practice. That's really tacky.  Some of the charities that we support send us a calendar as a thank-you for supporting them, but that's after they receive our money, not before. 

[OnTheBrink]

My job will take money out of my check for charities, if I choose to do that. So, I literally "give at the office". It's pretty cool--there's a catalog of all charitable organizations and you can choose by county, or by type of organization, etc. I chose a local animal shelter, a food bank, a women's shelter and St. Jude's. Really, it's a pittance, but it's more than what I'd give left on my own. It's really easy to fill out the form and let the fiscal folks deal with disbursing it.

 

And, since I never answer the phone if I don't know the person, no one's ever going to trick me! Ha! LOL

[KarenNC]

I tell all charity callers I don't make any donations over the phone, but they are welcome to mail me their info. They never take me up on it.

 

I do exactly the same, with the same results.

[IsabelC]

We have a house rule that we never ever donate to phone solicitations of any kind. Mostly we just support our main two charities, and anything extra that is current or topical for the kids, but if a different charity happens to call and I think we might want to contribute, I will search for their website and take it from there.

Edited December 3, 2015 by IsabelC

[Hikin' Mama]

Most of our mail is from charities. A couple of weeks ago there was a day when we got 23 envelopes!

 

At least we get very few phone calls from them. We have an unlisted number, and I also asked my husband to stop having our phone number printed on his checks. He writes the checks to charities, so removing our phone number really cut down on any future contact by phone.

I only get mail from places I've donated to in the past, thankfully.