Charity donations

I'm not really a Scrooge and give to selected charities as and when I can.
At the moment though, I have really got a thing about the latest Salvation Army campaign.
The SA is a charity I always give to when I see street collections and door to door collections.

Now they have TV adverts asking for £19 and today I had a Christmas card from them asking for £9, £19 or £28 (I think it was, I've thrown it away now!)
I really dislike being dictated to about how much I should give. I give what I can afford, when I can afford it.
Also, take into consideration the printing of the card and the postage and that is a fair amount they could have saved.

How does everyone else feel about this?

My nana used to give to british heart foundation each xmas but now they ask for money and send her raffle tickets to sell and send her leaflets and magazines all year so she has stopped giving to them.

I also got a card from them this morning. I'm afraid it went straight in the bin.

What really gets me is that these charities send out all of these random pleas for money - how much does that cost. The worse is the TV adverts as I know they cost hundreds of thousands for a 30 sec ad. Surely that money could be better spent.

I agree, really annoys me when things come through the door, nobody can support them all and I will choose which ones I want to support

Hi Jen sadly I think some charities have been persuaded by the hype given out by PR companies which say if you spend this amount on a particular campaign it will bring in x percentage of revenue.

I don't have very much disposable income since I retired and every penny is spent with care. I also share that which I have with care and don't like people dictating what I should give .If they do this they risk receiving nothing at all.

I don't care what gets shoved through my door, the ones that irritate me are the ones that telephone and pester people to set up direct debits for donations or the ones that hassle people on the way into supermarkets. (Funny enough, the charity that rings me the most is the RSPCA, and it will be a cold day in hell before I give anything to them).

When I worked full time, I donated to two charities by standing order. Now I don't, I continue to support those same two charities as and when I can. I really do not like being made to feel bad for declining to put something in a tin being shaken in my face outside Tesco.

Thats another one, I had raffle tickets from the Lifeboat last week. It's emotional blackmail.

That is just how I feel Jenny

If I supported them all, it would be me needing the Salvation Army

Exactly it should all be up to us. When you retire you have to take care of every penny you have.

I agree, the phone is quite often put down on these people.
Makes me feel very rude at times

I'm sooooo with you on this one Jenny, it gets right up my nose when they tell ME how much I can give them So they get nuffink!

I have recently subscribed to the Sussex Air Ambulance which I think is a very good cause (I could well need them one day too the way things are going with me out alone in those woods!) It's £4 a month yes, they told me it was the £4, but I don't mind that, because I get included in this lottery they include in the subscription so I stand a chance of winning £1K each month, which can't be a bad thing.

I will always give to the homeless, each and every dog rescue, and the blind too when I see people with their tins, but I walk away, when they tell me, they don't want any money, they want me to sign up for some monthly thing, it's just not on, whereas I would be happy to give them a fiver every time I see the collection tin out and about.

I've seen that advert and I think it's extremely rude to be asking for a set amount,especially when most people are feeling the cost of the cuts and the cost of living rising.

The worst one I dealt with was Macmillian Cancer,I was literally forced into agreeing a DD payment so I could get this woman off my doorstep,I then cancelled it with the bank.
We also had RSPCA door knocking after a donation,I told him that we simply couldn't afford to support anymore charities,I detest them so they won't get anything from us.

We do occasionally get charities ring if they don't take no for an answer then I put the phone down and block the number,we did this with Macmillian,every week they rang for a couple of months.