Comments on: Free Stuff From Charities: It’s All a Mind Game

By: S

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:41:52 +0000

You know, it’s people exactly like you lot that make it so damn hard for charities to even break even.

You should be ashamed of yourselves.

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 02:28:33 +0000

I know! These charitys sometimes take 95% of the money and use it for “paying the workers” or “funds/bills” ETC and any excuse they think of! There big scammers…

Dont forget the local hobo who asks for money and goes straight to the licor store!

By: Obbop

Obbop — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 04:24:57 +0000

Hooray!!! Boot camp done with. Orders in hand, I enter San Diego’s Lindberg Airport to catch a flight home for a couple weeks leave before heading for my ship.

Being from the San Francisco Bay Area I was aware of the Hare Krishna folks. When several of them approached me I stood and listened, enjoying the interaction with something not related to the military.

No way were they going to ‘brainwash’ me, however. It was just an enjoyable diversion for me while waiting for the plane.

Be aware this was 1975 and there were plenty of World War 2 and Korean war Alpha Males out and about.

After I had listened to the Krishna crew for a few minutes I looked up…. and, standing there, around 20 feet away, were 8 or 9 grown males, standing, staring, with frowns on their faces.

Hee hee…. they were my “guardian angels”!!!!! Those guys saw a young guy, obviously fresh out of boot camp, and they were ready to go to war to protect me, if need be.

The looks upon their faces told the story. I would not want those guys angry with me…they looked and were serious!!!!

Not wanting to hold those “angels” up I said good bye to the nice Krishna dudes, nodded at the guys guarding me, and went on my way.

I noticed the most serious of my guards, the one with scowl and with muscular arms crossed over his barrel chest. He nodded back at me. It’s a guy thing I could interpret… he was ready to “go to war” to protect me from what he considered could be a threat.

Those Krishnas were lucky they did not grab me and try to isolate me as a potential “brainwashable” adherent. That one guy alone likely had the ability to devastate those Krishnas!!! Let alone the half-dozen or so others ready to assist.

Kinda’ gave a guy a warm fuzzy feeling back before “warm fuzzy feeling” was in the lexicon.

Oh, charities….. Starvation Army for me. I believe they keep the waste to a minimum.

Feeling charitable?

On those bitter cold days with the wind chill temperatures in the single digits or lower, offer to buy the Starvation Army bell ringer a coffee or a hot chocolate. Golly, those folks are so grateful when you return with a cup of hot liquid for them to wrap their paws around.

By: the baglady

the baglady — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 21:26:32 +0000

Can’t agree more with this post. My husband stopped donating to a charity after I said to him, “you know they’re using all your money to send you junkmail”. He realized that was true and then the charity still kept on sending junk.

By: Lynnae @ Being Frugal

Lynnae @ Being Frugal — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 23:16:33 +0000

I completely agree with dr.xnlb. It irks me when charities use money to send “free gifts” to potential donors. If I give to a charity, I want to know that my money is going to the cause….not to producing address labels.

By: Madison

Madison — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:26:05 +0000

I like to assume that if I use the mailing address labels that I am doing free advertising for them if they put their logo on it. My donation is that I will use their labels.

By: dr.xnlb

dr.xnlb — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:19:23 +0000

I think we’d all be better served if Charities got better at pitching their causes than guilting someone into supporting them with “free” stuff.

“Free” stuff costs money to make.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:50:38 +0000

Here in Detroit, they have tactics like this on our streets. Homeless people will come up and claim they are from a “veterans charity” They will hand you a little flag and as you walk away, they will yell “hey, why don’t you donate some money?”

By: FinanceIsPersonal.com

FinanceIsPersonal.com — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:40:56 +0000

I give away quite a bit of money, but only to a couple of charities that I have researched quite heavily and definitely feel m money’s going to good use. I say no to random solicitations in public and in the mail.

By: The Saving Freak

The Saving Freak — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:51:17 +0000

I do not respond to anything a charity sends me in the mail. I prefer to research them to make sure most of the money I am giving is actually going to charity and not to administrative fees. Salvation Army gets most of our non-church charitable giving.