robotsunset
I just don't trust the charity organizations most of these places give to. Idk if I wanna give money to a charity that has connections to the things that keep us needing charity
Which is a separate and I agree much needed debate, but I have bad news for you about nearly every charity ever and the donations they take from corporations :D This is an issue for an overhaul of society, not a reason one shouldn’t give to a nonprofit that is otherwise doing good work.
Now, of course you can give to nonprofits that don’t do round-up campaigns, but almost any nonprofit that is big enough to be findable by a stranger takes money from people you probably don’t like. Some of our biggest donors are pharma companies and Trump supporters, but they’re the ones with the money and if we didn’t take their money we couldn’t do any good with it, so there’s not much to do but shrug and put it to good use and follow rigorous ethical guidelines about quid pro quo.
That said, if you have a strong belief against supporting anyone who takes dirty money, which is understandable, then I would suggest the best place for you to donate is to political advocacy groups! There are definitely groups that are working to change society so as to eradicate the need for charity, and I’m sure they’re very hungry for cash.
yourfavoritecitrusfruit
I have a friend who works at panda express, and even though they do ask if people would like to donate to charity, the tips people put in the jar are given to charity from the company rather than given to the cashiers.
Corporations who do this are evil. I’ve been in that position of watching hundreds of dollars of tips go into a basket in front of me and none of the people tipping knowing that none of it was going to the people they were tipping. Fucking hate that. Do you happen to know if that’s their franchise only or all of Panda Express? Because I occasionally get some orange chicken there and if that’s the case on a company-wide level I may stop.
lightshadowverisimilitude
I scrolled through a bit and didn't see this question, so I apologized if it's already been answered - is this the same when it's not "rounded up" but "would you like to donate $1/3/5 to ZYZ"? If you happen to know, I would be curious as well if this applies to the little donation box on the counter (which you don't get a receipt for) or a holiday toy drive at your place of employment. Are they similarly unable to claim that donation?
The “would you like to donate X” falls under the same situation, yes. As for cash donations, that I don’t know, actually. It’s unethical, for sure, for them to do that, but I’m not sure if it’s a) illegal or b) common practice. I usually don’t give to those precisely because there’s no digital footprint, but I would hope the collection box money goes straight to the org (that might be why there’s a lock on it, actually, to allow only a rep from the company to empty it).
actualaster
My problem is it encourages people to donate without researching the cause which is how you get businesses partnering with eugenics-promoting hate groups like A$ and taking roundup donations from customers who go "oh this is easy I'm doing A Good Thing" when they're donating to causes that need to die in a fire
Giving without any research at all can certainly be an issue, and I would take it up with the corporation if they’re encouraging people to support nonprofits that are, shall we say, less than salutatory. But that kind of ties into my dual soapboxes of “You need to do the work to figure out where to give” and “Don’t think too hard about this”. Yes, researching the nonprofit you want to support is good, but only to the extent you would research anything you’re giving your money to. I feel like a lot of people use “no nonprofit is good enough for my money” as an excuse not to give, which in my experience (admittedly anecdotal) is far more widespread than “I can give anywhere indiscriminately.”
electromagnagooperangs
I have to ask. What is the boot a fireman has on the street? I have never seen them do this and I suspect it isn't a literal stinky work boot. Is it a literal work boot?
Yep, it’s a real boot. It’s usually raising funds either for the fire station’s local “benevolent fund” or a medical charity, but basically the firefighter partially suits up and gets a boot and either solicits pedestrians at street corners or gets out in traffic at long-stoplight intersections and holds out the boot. You toss some change or a few dollars in, and that money gets donated to the fund. In this case it’s a reasonably decent place to give cash because the firehouse literally can’t write off the donation, since it’s already a government agency, and there are quite steep penalties for impersonating a firefighter.
But yeah, it’s totally a real boot.
