[Seadog]

(12-15-2017 05:19 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  

I used to like Kiva (microfinance, not donations) until they admitted the following facts:

A) The borrower profiles on their websites are fictional and/or promotional - the money you lend doesn't actually go to the borrower as described, but to an NGO that then distributes it to random recipients.
B) Favored groups are featured and shown first in their borrower listings - refugees, women, minorities, etc.

Microfinance could have been a respectable and useful tool for helping out people, but they simply had to ruin it with this marketing bullshit.

Don't get me started with Kiva. When I first heard of it, I thought it was a great idea, but being my nature, looked more into it. The story they sell is you lend money, interest free, and it goes to people who need it to start a better life. Help them help themselves and all that.

What actually happens is they partner with local banks, who charge their regular, usurary 30-100% interest on a small loan to the poor folks, and you merely guarantee it. In essence, you lend interest free money to third world banks, so they can charge their typical rates to loans they wouldn't otherwise make. The biggest winner here seems to be the banks.

Therein lay the problem with charity. Charity at its essence is a spigot of free money, and when that appears a lot of people can invent a lot of reasons why they should get a cut.

Up until about 7-8 years ago I didn't realize the people bothering me on street corners soliciting for charities were working and being paid. I naively assumed that if you're out there asking me to sacrifice my money, you're being at least as charitable as you're asking me to be. Knowing this made my cynic ears perk up, and whenever I see a request for donations at a profit oriented place like Wal-Mart, I'm always presuming they're mainly doing it for a cut. "Wait. You want to help people who lost legs from land mines? Or do you actually just want to help yourselves?"

[realologist]

If you actually care about being charitable donate your time, be a positive influence and provide leadership to people that need it. That's why I'm a big believer in sports and coaching youth sports. You can be a HUGE positive influence on a kid's life where they may not get it elsewhere.

If you donate your money in a way that directly goes to where you want it to. Don't tell people about how charitable you are either because you care about the attention more than the actual charity.

[Stonk]

Your opinion.

Remember those donations are saving millions of starving kids in Africa and war-torn Middle East.

I gladly give the little I can knowing well that I'm doing something worthwhile.

[Mercenary]

(12-15-2017 12:11 PM)Stonk Wrote:  

Your opinion.

Remember those donations are saving millions of starving kids in Africa and war-torn Middle East.

I gladly give the little I can knowing well that I'm doing something worthwhile.

[uncledick]

(12-15-2017 12:11 PM)Stonk Wrote:  

Your opinion.

Remember those donations are saving millions of starving kids in Africa and war-torn Middle East.

I gladly give the little I can knowing well that I'm doing something worthwhile.

Holy hell lol, this is a braindead response that only the most faggoty of SSWs could muster. I can't wait for our glorious unoriginal future of manlet cyborgs and their david brock approved dialogue choices.

Or its satirical, in that case, good show sir.

[sterling_archer]

In Croatia, the most common example of charity are the following:

1. An older woman goes in a coffee bar and approaches either all tables or most of them. She places something cheap looking on tables and when she goes to do the second round she again stops at each table and asks if you want to buy this stuff which she put earlier. You give her about 5 kunas which is a bit under 1$ and you keep this thing or you reject her. This type is not bothering too much because she doesn't speak at most times.

2. Deaf older woman. Deaf woman holds generic looking written card in front of herself and approaches tables. It says on the card that if you want to support...(insert some NGO name for mute people)... you should give her about 10 kunas which is a 1,5$ or so. If you wave your hand she goes away. In case you give her money, she gives you something back which is again cheap looking plastic trinket.

3. I saved the best for last. Your friendly neighborhood gypsy. Lying or sitting on the cold ground, carrying a baby in hands, if a woman or a walking stick if a man. He/she accepts any sum. They are generally avoided by people. This last example is not really NGO but the function is the same.

P.S.
Example 1 approached me yesterday.

[Rotten]

Especially DO NOT GIVE MONEY to a Charity in a will.

The Charities will hound your estate and demand a full accounting of all of your estate's assets. They will run up huge legal and accounting bills. Your other beneficiarys (for example your family) will end up paying these bills, and will have to wait for extensive and slow legal proceedings before they get any of their money.

If you want to give money to a charity when you die, then you should set up your own charitable trust with instructions on where the money is to be spent. But keep the charities out of your will.

[The Beast1]

I swear when I did my trip around Europe, I was having all of these loons trying to get me to sign my name to some petition for some crap. I don't know if they also wanted money, but I just shooed them away each time.

[Rotten]

Many of the big charities are awful. They get highjacked by SJWs. The charity world attracts SJWs like flies because there's no metrics for accountability.

Other big charities are just slush funds for rich people. Zuckerberg's charity is going to be inflicting unwanted Tikkun Olam on an unwilling populace for several lifetimes, while ensuring his offspring permanent employment and political power.

Imagine donating to breast cancer research, and end up funding politicians who support abortion.

Imagine donating to MADD, seeing them quickly win their battle on drunk driving laws far beyond what is necessary, and then spending your money on liberal causes that have nothing to do with the purpose of the group.

Of "Big Charities," the best one is the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army was founded by religious fanatics who religiously believe in helping the poor. The charitable activities of the Salvation Army are entirely secular, but the religious aspect of the people who work there keeps the SJWs out... for now. Ray Kroc (founder of McDonalds) donated his fortune to the Salvation Army, so the charity is additionally resistant to a donor demanded mission change (as happened to the Sierra club, when a pro immigrant donor wanted the group to abandon conservationism for Global warming in exchange for $50 million).

Of course, your charitable $$ is best spent on people who you actually know and trust to spend your money.

[bullet]

I'm in advertising and actually used to do some work for NGO advertising. Not going into details too much because of privacy concerns (I have my own business), but their tactics are quite horrible. Their most important target group is elderly people who aren't that clear thinking anymore, and they do basically anything to suck money out of them.

[Easy_C]

(12-15-2017 12:48 AM)TheFinalEpic Wrote:  

I'll play devil's advocate, as there is one place I donate every year. There's an air ambulance that runs completely off of donation here in Canada. They have directly saved the lives of many people, and without them, I may not be walking today.

Yeah, but that's the kind of cause I wholeheartedly support: they're focused entirely on offering a tangible service, not on any vague starving African children bullshit or on making the world a better place.


Think about charitable donations like you're a venture capitalist: before forking over you're cash you want to know how much they need, what the money is being used for, and what the impact of that spending is going to be.

If the organization in question won't or can't disclose that then move on.

[Stonk]

@Uncledick.

Call it whatever you like, it's something that resonates deeply with me.

[rottenapple]

Finding out which charities actually do a good job and make a difference in the field is really not that hard. It won't take more than a couple of clicks and some research to find out about how transparent they are and how efficient they have been in their work. Sure there are plenty who try to deceit people or have their own interest in mind first, but there are also plenty who have been excellent in their work.

I know, because I see it with my own eyes in the shitty countries I visit and I have professional experience in dealing with NGO's (I am not in one myself and don't profit in any way from them). So the generalizations is this thread are pretty ignorant, although I do agree that any charity can be done with organizations on a local basis or even directly to poor people in your area. But everyone can decide on their own, if they want to give and in what way. It can also make perfect sense to say that people in Haiti for instance after the earthquake have more use for the money than the local women outside the supermarket who probably has gotten more opportunities to get out of poverty. You also don't make a big buy randomly from any store so giving to an NGO is not different in that sense. Do your research if it is something you want to do. Government could also do a lot more to regulate the sector and to make it 'cleaner' in a way.

[Stirfry]

Here’s how to handle it...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f4CizzE-zZo

[Mercenary]

I'm sure 95% of these charities & NGOs exist just so the rich can legally launder their money without paying taxes.

In most countries charities & NGOs are exempt from paying most (or all) taxes.

[blck]

(12-18-2017 03:13 AM)Mercenary Wrote:  

I'm sure 95% of these charities & NGOs exist just so the rich can legally launder their money without paying taxes.

In most countries charities & NGOs are exempt from paying most (or all) taxes.

The idea might not be far from the truth... This infographic need to cite its source but I can relate from what I've read in the newspapers.

[Repo]

That infograph is super misleading and I can trust that whoever made it doesn't know what their talking about, even if some of these charities are borderline scams.

Trying to tie President pay to how legit a charity is doesn't make sense. Good luck trying to find someone who can competently run a huge organization with a 100k salary or whatever arbitrary amount that someone who doesn't know what their talking about thinks the president of a nonprofit should make.

Yes, some are scams, no not all are.

[Kona]

^^ Funny. The people working at Goodwill in Hawaii are doing court ordered community service. My friend told me.

Aloha!

[Conscious Pirate]

Link this thread to the one about pathological altruism.

Fuck these do-gooder types. It’s all virtue signalling & guilt sponsorship.

My recent housemate is a perfect example. A piece of shit, delta who takes no responsibility for his own actions. And why would he? He works for the Red Cross. His work email signature is a jpeg saying “the power of humanity”.

When I enquired about his 9-5 he tells me of all the brown people his staff are helping (the same brown people who have all spent time on Manus or Nauru & once "helped" by the Red Cross have caused my hourly rate to plummet). How many staff do you have? I asked. There’s something like 30 in his office he co-manages with a woman. His work life is spent sorting out disputes between female coworkers, endless conferences & training days & trying to move up the corporate ladder in an organisation that calls themselves an NGO & non-profit.

His work buddy, a charismatic & good looking Swede (who is banging single mums) thought nothing of being flown to Paris from Aus to interview for a job he was unqualified for because it was good experience for “the next opportunity”. All on the company dime.

These people are fraudulent in every aspect of their existence & I make sure they know I know it.

[doc holliday]

(01-06-2018 06:27 PM)Repo Wrote:  

That infograph is super misleading and I can trust that whoever made it doesn't know what their talking about, even if some of these charities are borderline scams.

Trying to tie President pay to how legit a charity is doesn't make sense. Good luck trying to find someone who can competently run a huge organization with a 100k salary or whatever arbitrary amount that someone who doesn't know what their talking about thinks the president of a nonprofit should make.

Yes, some are scams, no not all are.

Do you think any of those charities are run in any competent sort of way by those oh so talented CEOs? All those charities are notorious for paying out pennies on the dollar towards the actual cause in question. Plus the point of a charity is for the people participating to donate their time and money to a worthy cause, not to collect an obscene salary under the guise of altruism. The worst part is how they totally misrepresent themselves to the general public in order to collect donations and operate a slush fund.

[doc holliday]

delete, double post

[Repo]

Judging the percent of money that goes towards the cause is fair, but a salary of 1 million for a huge organization isn't really that obscene. The best person to run an organization and the person who will do it super cheap because he is altruistic are usually never the same person. I'm sure some of them do a great job and others don't.

[Repo]

Also the profits from the goods goodwill sells are used to fund job training programs. But sure lets just say their making a profit so they sound all evil and capitalistic when their supposed to make me feel all warm and fuzzy

[HermeticAlly]

I only give to Christian charities that are financially transparent and primarily evangelistic in nature. The big organizations are manipulative scum.

[MKDAWUSS]

The Charity-Industrial Complex.


Of course, when you point this out, you get called everything under the sun.