Heart of Stone
Shortly after we moved in here I got a phone call from someone soliciting money on behalf of Navy veterans. I agreed to donate twenty-five dollars, since my dad is a Navy veteran and has spent some time overseas before. Apparently that was a bad idea, because despite the fact that each time they call they tell me "we only bug you once a year" it feels like a lot more often than that. Even though they seem to call only once a year for each different cause, I get a new phone call every few weeks for something different. It's obviously some kind of call center, but they don't have very good internal communication. They're very pushy and can't understand why I won't pledge the small amount of twenty-five dollars for their charity. I would, except that if I gave that much every time they called I would go broke fast. Plus I prefer to spend more time thinking about where I'm going to give my money and I'm unlikely to donate to someone on the spur of the moment like that.
Today was definitely the worst so far. It was for the "children's cancer fund" and the lady kept reminding me to "think of the babies". She said more than once "these kids are dying before they even get a chance to live". Uh, thanks. I have a cousin who died of cancer. I know it's a horrible disease. When I declined for the third time she responded: "OK, but think of those sweet babies who are dying and pray for them. You have a nice day." Kind of hard to do that with a giant mountain of guilt sitting on me.
Today was definitely the worst so far. It was for the "children's cancer fund" and the lady kept reminding me to "think of the babies". She said more than once "these kids are dying before they even get a chance to live". Uh, thanks. I have a cousin who died of cancer. I know it's a horrible disease. When I declined for the third time she responded: "OK, but think of those sweet babies who are dying and pray for them. You have a nice day." Kind of hard to do that with a giant mountain of guilt sitting on me.
Comments
The "save the children who have ___ disease" always tugs at the heart strings. Of course I want to help them. However, I have no guarantee that charity X is really going to give my money to the poor kids. My millionaire boss decided to stop contributing to several charities and to start consolidating his contributions to one company he knew would use the money well. That way we could tell everyone else to beat it.
If they start pushing, I end up saying something mean, like,
"I hate cancer patients."
"As long as you can tell me that money won't go to paying Dick Cheney's speaking fee."
"I'm flat broke and we can't feed our kids."
I'm sorry, I don't have the patience for being hit up on the phone.
http://www.ftc.gov/donotcall
As a kid, they'd call and ask for my parents. That's when I'd fake sob and say, "My daddy's dead!!"
That was wrong. Fun, but really wrong.
Remember that you donate to a church fund that distributes funds to many worthy and valuable causes without needing to fund the guilt-spreaders. It helps.
I understand how hard it can be to raise money for a good cause, but the appeals to pathos are much more manipulative than I'm comfortable with.