great that you're encouraging people to donate, HB. but, just as every other thing in this world, please investigate and verify the legitimacy of the organization you're donating to. sadly this world breeds so many fucked up assholes that a huge amount of donated money goes to something they never inteneded nor wanted to go to.
the red cross example above is very true and very applicable to this. sparky mentioned united way and she is spot on. there was a huge investigation into that and heads rolled but a lot was covered up and not ******. if you donate to the united way, you may as well go up to guy driving a porche or lexus and hand him a twenty dollar bill saying, hey here's twenty bucks towards your next big screen tv purchase, the overhead expenses for the united way are phenomonally horrific.
as far as calling someone a punk or selfish for not donating, in some cases that is very true and in some other cases its way off the mark. for instance at our local grocer they had a breast cancer donation thing going and would ask if you wanted to make a donation when cashing out. i told them no and the woman rolled her eyes. i asked her what she knew about the charitable outfit cos i never heard of them. she knew nothing. i told her my GF is a pro bono lawyer who donates her time to non-profit groups. i myself have voluntered for three major non-profit groups (UNICEF, Habitat for Humanity, and Red Cross) i give around 15% of my income to charities, i hand pick them and investigate each one. through all that one thing i've learned: you're a shmuck if you don't investigate the charity youre donating to.
i challenged her and said if she can gaurantee me that at least half of the dollar i dontate actually goes to the victims of breast cancer i would donate a dollar for every single person standing in a check out line in that store. she couldnt gaurantee me that. i got home, asked my gf about them when she got home and she immediately lit up. seems the group the cashier was pushing on me has avoided numerous tax filings and watchdog groups. i told the manager and they moved to a more legitimate charity group.
so, before you roll your eyes at someone realize this: they may have a very legitimate reason to not participate. your actions of condemning them actually feeds the fire of resistance rather than put out the fire. blanket statements should only be used when speaking of a piece of fabric that usually covers a person when they are cold.
UNICEF in my mind is the most reputable. Though they have high over head, a lot of that over head has to be used towards appeasing govt assholes who like to stand in the way of thier country receiving aid until they get their un-fair share.
Haiti was a broken govt before the earthquake, and trust me its broken after the quake as well. My sophomore year in college i voluntered with a group to help put utitilities in a village. i fucking *** you not, we had to fucking bribe the authorities to purchase supplies and necessities to do our work. fucking unreal. this was in haiti. a lot of people are contributing money to Yele right now through fund raisers, telethons, twitter, etc... if you're one of the people doing that, then congratulations, you just helped one of the VP's put a down payment on that beach house in Hawaii.
INVESTIGATE the group. say that about a million times till it sinks in.
I'm not saying dont every donate, quite the opposite, actually. I'm saying donate effectively. If Mr Smith donates 10 dollars to a group he has no clue about and Mr Jones donates 5 dollars to a group he has investigated, i can gaurantee you that Mr Jones 5 dollars has done more to thelp the hapless than Mr Smiths 10 dollars, yet we as society will applaud Mr Smith and frown on Mr Jones for being cheap.
Sorry to put a negative spin on things but i know that there are FreeOnes members who do want to donate and I hope and care that they do it correctly, and not frivolously just to get some warm fuzzies and move on. as for me and my GF, yes we are donating extra, directly to a specific section of a charitible group where we have a friend working. we feel confident that at least a portion of that donation will go towards Haiti. for those who have donated, can you say the same thing?
those who donated to the red cross after the tragic tsunami event 4 or 5 years ago, did you know that over a billion of those donations are still in limbo?
to those of you who do donate then great job, but dont wait for a calamity to happen. donate weekly, monthly, locally or globally. donate wisely, and think twice before thumping your chest. following in your footsteps is the response you should be looking for. not applause. not alienation. just a concerted effort to make the world a better place.
some people can read this post and say i'm an asshole and not very empathetic but i am the exact opposite and sincerely want to see a charitible action done with optimum effectiveness. the united way fiasco back in the late 80's actually contributed to a two year reduction in charitible offerings. so please do it correctly with just a little effort, your dollar goes further.
Damn, what a lengthy post. I either sound like Jesus or a shady Televangelist. :rofl: Anyway, there's maybe two or three people who will read this post in its entirety and to those two or three people i have to say....wow, you must be really bored
