I get a fundraising call from California Professional Firefighters

[CreekDog]

they told me that 20% of my donation would actually go to the organization.

in addition to being a phenomenal waste of a donation dollar (or 80 cents of one), this kind of fundraising leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth about the organization using these means.

if any organization ever wants a dollar from me, don't do this.


(i understand that 100% of my donation going to the cause is not realistic, but once it gets under 80%, i start looking for causes that can effectively use the most of my donation dollars. certainly 5%, 20%, 30% of my donation going to the cause does not meet that threshold --there are better avenues in those cases)

[EFerrari]

1. I gave to those kinds of calls for years because like an idiot, I thought

I was being called by a firefighter's or police organization.

If you really want to contribute to them or their projects, their unions are usually listed on the local community website, and there are links at the union site for donating. :crazy:

[mucifer]

2. be careful. there are a lot of phone scams out there.

How can you be sure they really are the firefighters?

[BlooInBloo]

3. I once got a similar call - I told them "thanks - I'm writing a check directly to them now"....

It was a lie - I actually had to look up who specifically to make the check out to - but you get the idea.

[Cleita]

4. These are mostly scams. I gave once to a police professional organization,

who promised to send newsletters on what they were doing with the money. Guess what no newsletter, ever. Then I asked a policeman neighbor about them and he said he never heard of them.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

5. 20% ? That's generous from what I've heard.

I once new a guy who solicited those donations. He told me it was closer to 5%.

He also told me they always had a cop on the payroll willing to pick up donations while wearing his uniform. For a kick-back of course.

[TuxedoKat]

6. I check out reviews of charities

on www.charitynavigator.org

It rates the charities on how well they manage their money. There are other charity reviewing search engines as well.

Also, I never donate over the phone -- too much of a hassle to find a cc and read the #'s. I tell them I will only donate at their website, if I decide to donate after checking them out.

[Warpy]

7. Great site

I had to dig to find all that stuff when I started being able to donate 3 years ago.

Now it's all done for you.