I’m not donating this year to charities that spent my money asking me for more money
Last year, I gave donations to a number of charities, and this year I’m donating again to all of the same nonprofit organizations except for two: the Alzheimer’s Association and the Alameda County Community Food Bank.
My decision NOT to donate to these organizations is based on the volume and apparent cost of their continuing mailings to me, asking for more donations. Quite simply, it appears that they’ve spent about as much money as I donated to them, on printing and postage (for US Postal Service mail) asking for more donations.
Several other organizations (SFMOMA, KALW and KQED) sent me more mail than I’d like, but not so much that I felt that my donations were wasted (both KALW and KQED reduced the mail volume, after I asked them to).
And like many Americans, I’m adding some additional charities to my list, to help defend against expected abuses by the new administration in 2017.
This year, I have donated, or will donate, to these organizations:
- DonorsChoose.org (mostly for classrooms in or near Hayward, California)
- American Cancer Society
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)
- Creative Commons
- The Nature Conservancy
- Sierra Club
- KQED
- KALW
and more!
On December 12, 20016, I sent modest donations these additional non-profit organizations:
- KPFA Radio
- KCSM
- American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
- NAACP
- NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- Lambda Legal
- Mexican-American Legal Defense & Educ Fund (MALDEF)
- National Immigration Law Center
- Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
- International Refugee Assistance Project
- Planned Parenthood
And thanks to a nice bonus for the first quarter, I’ve again donated to each of these organizations this month.
I’ve recently noticed that I can make charitable donations through ActBlue, so this summer and again this month, I’ve donated to:
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Community Justice Exchange/Tides Center
Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)
Lambda Legal
Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund (MALDEF)
NARAL Pro-Choice America
National Immigration Law Center (NILC)
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Planned Parenthood Action Fund
RAICES
Sierra Club
Wikimedia Foundation
Adding “No Postal Mail Please” to the address does NOT work. I now get lots of mail that includes that line….