Giving Money Away

[susandennis]

I do not give a lot of money away, but I try to share. I do it because I have been incredibly lucky and incredibly blessed and I know others haven't so it seems fair to help out now and again.

But, I am now rethinking my process. I'm sick and tired of a mailbox full of invitations to charity events that I have zero, none, no interest in. I'm sick of letters begging for more more. I'm sick of brochures and phone calls. I feel like I am being penalized for giving in the first place.

Last year I donated $600 worth of software to a school for homeless kids. That has triggered an avalanche of begging. I gave $1,000 to an ADS hospice and that has gotten me invited to every function in town and a ton of junk mail. A couple of years ago I gave $1200 to an outfit called Dress for Success which outfits women looking for work and helps them with job interviews and stuff. Those people became stalkers. I quit giving money to public radio and TV ages ago because I couldn't stand their all out assaults multiple times a year.

There are three giving situations which do not trigger torture.

1. The closest Goodwill is less than a mile from here. Their hours are very generous. You drive up, give them the stuff they thank you and hand you a receipt and you never ever ever hear from them until the next time you drive up.
2. We have a newspaper here put out and sold by homeless people. They sell it quietly and nicely on the street. It costs a dollar. I generally always buy a copy when I see someone selling it and I usually pay them $5.00 for the copy.
3. My wonderful teddy bear recipients (a crisis shelter for women and children). All I ever get from them are wonderful thank you notes and generous tax receipts.

I'd like to be able to give to a wide variety of different kinds of places that clearly need the cash. I'm not even all that wedded to the tax write off. And I do truly understand that they must have fund raising machines to stay in business so it's really a mobious strip, a vicious cycle. And it pisses me off. I just went down to get my mail and had 9... NINE... different pieces of mail asking me for money. It's a waste of money and it's aggravating.