HoundsGood: Chronicles of a Virtual Volunteer

Recently, I gave some tips to keep in mind when considering where your charity dollars are going to go to.

Tips for Giving in 2008

One of the tips was being leery of phone solicitation. Many times, the call you receive is legitimate. However, what is not legitimate is that it is usually a third party calling you who will only give the named charity a small percentage of the funds.

Last night, we received a phone call from a gentleman soliciting for the local Firefighter’s Fund. We handle such calls in the same manner, by being polite to the caller and telling them that we have another charity we give to, or that we prefer to give to the charity in person, depending on who is calling us. Usually, that is enough to get off the phone if we sense that the individual is a third party. If the person is legitimately a local volunteer, they are usually delighted that we would like to donate in another way and we often do.

However, this call went a little differently. When the caller pushed, we told them that we would stop by at the booth they were having at the local street fair, and to thank you for reminding us, and to have a great evening.  This seemed to upset him, and he ridiculed me,”You can’t afford just FIFTEEN dollars?”

I asked him how much actually went to the Firefighters and the caller said “Eighteen percent.” So with a hefty 82% commission, the Firefighter’s Fund will receive $2.70 of our donation.

People should be allowed to work, I am not denying him the right to his job.   Some may think taking a percentage off the top is something they would pay for the convenience of being called, and to acknowledge the effort of the company who will probably be collecting a large amount of money for the charity when you add it all up.  However, I know many would be upset to find out that “little bit of the top” is more like “a little bit off the bottom” for the charity.

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