Using those address labels from charities

I usually say no, I've known a couple of people who find it hard to say no and don't like shopping because of the sense of pressure to give even if money is tight for them.

bill1231 said:

I will give once in a great while but I really agree that i dont like it

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For a while I would give the extra dollar (or round up to the next dollar, or whatever it was) because it seemed awfully tight fisted to be spending $60 on something but not willing to add $1 to support a good cause. That was before I thought much about whether the "good cause" was actually very good, how much of my dollar went to pay the CEO of the charity and whether the retailer collecting the small change was doing it out of altruism or a desire to get some kind of tax write-off. As I grew to conclude that giving locally makes the most sense I grew more hostile to the "it's only a dollar" brigade.

In the UK it's common to see TV commercials from charities wanting you to call now and set up a payment scheme that's relentlessly focussed on "just two pounds a month, just two pounds a month, just two pounds a month" (two pounds is about $3). The one that annoyed me the most was the Water Aid ad, where in the beginning it showed dark-skinned children in a desaturated but bleak landscape looking hopeless and drinking dirty water from a puddle, and in the end (presumably after receiving my two pounds a month) it showed other dark-skinned children wearing vibrant clothing among grass with everything oversaturated, pumping an abundance of water from a well (so much so they were playing in the water).

Quite aside from wondering how much they spent on the advertising the psychological manipulation put me off supporting them. Presumably the guy who filmed the child drinking dirty water from a puddle didn't care enough to give him a bottle of clean water.

I don't use them because they don't use a capital letter in the third letter of my last name which is how I spell it. I toss them in the trash.

I feel pressured when some guy on the street asks me for 1 or 2 euro. Lol but they are always so happy because noone else gives them. One guy asked 4 euro for a place to sleep, so I gave him. He walked straight to the marijuana shop on the other side of the road. He didn't even pretend to use it for something else. It's handy when you have no cash with you. One woman though, I felt for her, just took my card and got some for her. She needed 10 euro for the bus. Okay I'll get you some. Can you make that 15? Gave her 20. Lol she was so happy, she hugged me. She looked like a woman who helped me out once when I got groceries and couldn't pay them. A woman behind me said: here I'll pay. She just payed 18 euro.

I don't give a cent to big organisations though or big rich churches.