Non-religious charity options

[happystuff]

Alzheimer's Disease Research, St Jude, Doctors without Borders, Operation Smile, a local rescue mission, a kidney transplant circle organization (forget the name), and my temple. They all have touched family in one way or another.

[catherine]

Secular places I donate to are Friends of Dog Mountain, NRDC, Friends of the Earth, Deep Green Resistance, and our local arts center.

hana, I have donated to World Central Kitchen--a wonderful cause for sure.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I don't know a way to donate without getting forever and ever on someone's snail mail list etc. (and maybe email, phone etc. but email is easily fixed with unsubscribe). If there is a way, I don't know it. So it's just not worth it to me. This may not be very nice, but remember they choose to run charities this way, as harassment campaigns, rather than something you just donate to once or many times and forget it.

[iris lilies]

I don't know a way to donate without getting forever and ever on someone's snail mail list etc. (and maybe email, phone etc. but email is easily fixed with unsubscribe). If there is a way, I don't know it. So it's just not worth it to me. This may not be very nice, but remember they choose to run charities this way, as harassment campaigns, rather than something you just donate to once or many times and forget it.

Generally, it seems to me that the big organizations are the ones having the ongoing dunning communications. The little organizations are lucky if they have enough organizational skill to maintain their 501 C3 status. If they send me a thank you acknowledgment, I think they’re doing well.

Several of the places I donate do send me regular communications because I am a “member “. this pertains to two parks, an historic house, etc.

I do like the regular digital communication from the elephant sanctuary in Tennessee, because they give footage links to film footage of what the elephants are doing. Even though the elephants are doing pretty much the same thing all the time, I still like to see them now and then, especially our local girl Flora.

Also, ANM, The organizations I can think of with sophisticated communication packages give the option of digital only.

related to this, I am trying to get off the call list of the Red Cross for giving platelets. I’ve already investigated giving platelets, and I cannot do it, my veins are not physically appropriate for that. I’ve asked them twice to take me off the list. If they call me a third time, I’m going to raise some hell and threaten to stop giving whole blood.

[Rogar]

I don't know a way to donate without getting forever and ever on someone's snail mail list etc. (and maybe email, phone etc. but email is easily fixed with unsubscribe). If there is a way, I don't know it. So it's just not worth it to me. This may not be very nice, but remember they choose to run charities this way, as harassment campaigns, rather than something you just donate to once or many times and forget it.

Not all non-profits are created equal in this respect. Part of the issue is that it's hard to tell which will deliver the various annoying promotions. NPR has not been too bad. Maybe an unsubscribe to a couple of email streams or a phone call to stop snail mail. Junk mail from my alma mater has been moderate and a phone call about once a year. I stopped sending them money a few years ago, but still get things. The Nature Conservancy has been minimal. I once gave to a regional environment groups and am fairly certain it triggered every bleeding heart environmental group sending junk mail in the northern hemisphere. I get a lot of junk from the NRDC, but consider it a worthy organization. When things get especially annoying I've made phone calls to the source, which seems to usually work. I understand how it can be a deterrent and any more try to limit the organizations I give money to.

[iris lilies]

Not all non-profits are created equal in this respect. Part of the issue is that it's hard to tell which will deliver the various annoying promotions. NPR has not been too bad. Maybe an unsubscribe to a couple of email streams or a phone call to stop snail mail. Junk mail from my alma mater has been moderate and a phone call about once a year. I stopped sending them money a few years ago, but still get things. The Nature Conservancy has been minimal. I once gave to a regional environment groups and am fairly certain it triggered every bleeding heart environmental group sending junk mail in the northern hemisphere. I get a lot of junk from the NRDC, but consider it a worthy organization. When things get especially annoying I've made phone calls to the source, which seems to usually work. I understand how it can be a deterrent and any more try to limit the organizations I give money to.

Back in the day when I gave to NPR, back before the Schiller scandals, I found their mailings and dunning letters quite annoying. Now the entire station annoys me as there was yet another scandal, this one local, that just pissed me off. But there are certainly times that I listen to NPR.

And just this week I got something in the mail from Planned Parenthood and I haven’t given to them in over a decade.

I also remember that I gave the caller from Planned Parenthood very specific messaging they could use with me that would be effective, but they never used it. I wonder how long it will be until AI gives these giant organizations the tools to be very, very very targeted in their fundraising ploys instead of reading from a script.

[Rogar]

I suppose if a person didn't want the publications or tax deductions most places could arrange for an anonymous donation.

Recently, NPR has dropped off my donation list in favor of a small community station that actually plays good music without the long drone of news and commentary. I get an email or snail mail about once or twice a year from them. My donation to public television is well worth it for the Passport features.

[Tybee]

That's been freeing, to settle on my two or three educational charities and focus on them for a while. Maybe not forever, but for now. So it's in my plan, and I don't have to worry about mailings--the one school sends me really nice thank you notes and my employer just notes it on my paycheck and once a year thanks us employees who do the auto-withdrawal, but no big deal. They are both in my new charitable donor fund so when I die, they will all get a third. It won't be much, probably, but it will be a surprise to two of the schools and that is fun to think about!