What to do about....

What a good idea, Granny23. I too am plagued by being sent cards, wrapping paper, coasters, endless draw tickets. I only wish to support my 3 favourite charities. I can't afford more.
From now on I will take it all to charity shops. (not the draw tickets).

Good heavens! I started this nine years ago! I'm sure there are lots of grans who have joined us since then, so perhaps there's no harm in digging up this old post. Now I have moved, will the charities catch up with me this year?

Actually that's not quite true - like someone else said I do put pens etc in my "charity" bag.

Yes, sadly still relevant.
I have tried several times to stop a particular charity contacting me - including writing to their offices but they are still doing it.
I bin everything from them now and my feelings towards them has changed a lot. I regret ever having made a "one off" donation!

9 year old thread resurrected!
Still relevant?

On a similar issue our local Pound land now asks for 25p donations when paying and as well as being asked you have to press your choice on machine.After seeing the increase in their prices over past few weeks I just point blank refuse.Also charity shops,on buying jumper £8.25 would I like to make it up to next £ as charitable donation I'm sorry but NO.The items are donated to start with and I consider it greedy as I know the salary paid area managers etc are well paid.

Your last point is a good one Granny23 I hadn't thought about that.

I pass on any unsolicited cards, pens, etc. to the next charitable event or thrift shop. I couldn't bear to put them in the bin. Like others above I have my 3 charities which I support. This year I have joined a group of people on facebook who will boycott Children in Need (because of the high salaries paid to their administrators and presenters, the vast overheads and the amount of 'our' money they have sitting in a bank account) and will instead make a donation direct to a Children's Charity. My choice will be Aberlour, the largest children's charity in Scotland but other's will be donating to CHAS, the Children's hospices, or other smaller local charities. Cuts out the middle man and obviates the need to hang around street corners in ludicrous costumes. I refuse to be co-erced into putting money in a bucket in a supermarket so that ASDA or Tesco can claim that THEY have donated £x0000000 to a good cause.

I use some of the plain cards if I want to send a note to someone, but I have about 50 or more birthday cards languishing in a cupboard!
DH always feels guilty and sends off the cheque.
He does so much for one particular charity and supports others with donations that I don't know why he feels guilty.

The Foot and Mouth, as I call them, have been haunting and following me for about 30 years. They always seem to manage to track me down. I don't even like what they send me very much. I use what I do like, usually the gift tags, bin the rest and send a donation about once every 5 years of £5.

On Monday in the post I received half a dozen begging envelopes. I didn't even open them, they went straight in the bin. One at a time is bad enough, 6 in one go made me really angry. I have a charity that I support and that is enough.

I have put the coasters next to the computer for my . They are quite pretty, but not very solid. I won't feel so bad about throwing them out when they are chipped or stained. I kept the cards to write notes to people and I will take another pile of decent cast-offs down to the Red Cross shop to assuage my guilt about using the stuff they send without asking!

I recently received 3 cards/envelopes, small notebook, two coasters and a pen from the Red Cross. I felt guilty about putting these things in the bin as I felt I could/shouid have used them but I had no use for them. Like others, I have my regular charities which I support on a monthly basis. I can't support everything but feel uncomfortable about throwing out the goods - like I'm being wasteful somehow.

I don't know. The Red Cross sends me coasters, cards, labels etc without any prompting from me. I do donate most of what we get rid of to the Red Cross but how do they know?
DH always gets packs of cards, paper etc from the Mouth and Foot painting artists every year and always sends off a cheque (so they keep sending stuff).

The 'gifts' from charities annoy me as well because they are usually useless and I think of how much they spend on them! Ditto the phone calls from people who are being paid to ask you to support a charity. There's another thread about volunteering and it seems that a lot of people who run charities now, doubtless on good salaries, can't be bothered with tiresome volunteers and would rather spend what we give them for the good cause, on paid staff. It also makes me wonder how objective you are about the cause when your livelihood depends on the need continuing.

It annoys me The Red Cross send coasters as well.

I gift aided a donation to a disease related charity after a funeral in lieu of flowers and have had loads of requests for more support ever since. I do not want stuff sent like this.

There are two aid charities I support more regularly and I accept information etc. from them. I get specific requests for donations in times of disaster etc but I do not get "inducements".

I rarely sell raffle tickets for any organisation.

Katyk in my own experience the NSPCC are the worst offenders for ringing every year with a plea for an increased donation. I think in the past I have been a soft touch,but no more, I put the raffle tickets straight in the bin as well.

The moment a charity, even one I support, rings me at home or knocks on my door. I courteously bring the conversation to a rapid end by saying that I object to being telephoned at home by charities, and if it is one I support I say that if it happens again I will donate my money elsewhere.

Why is everyone feeling so guilty about saying no to moral blackmail by charities?

One charity that I support through direct debit used to ring at least twice a year "to update us on the good our money was doing" and then proceed to keep us on the phone for ages trying to get us to increase our monthly donation. I succumbed a couple of times, but usually spent precious time fending off the hard sell. The last time it happened I was so annoyed I told them in no uncertain terms that if they ever rang again I would switch the direct debit to another charity. I would have done too. Fortunately they took notice.

Soutra - it is the RNIB that I buy raffle tickets for twice a year. I always buy them myself as I don't like to bother people. I have been retired for 5 years but still feel obliged to buy them, although I buy fewer now. I also pay them £4 a month and to be honest I felt pressured into doing this (a good expression of yours 'kicking kittens') if I refused. However, they have phoned me several times trying to get me to increase my donation, saying things like 'have you any idea how it must feel not to be able to see'. Well, no I haven't but I am giving what I can afford. I have also paid £10 per month to the NSPCC for many years and in all that time I have never been sent raffle tickets or anything else or had any 'pressure' phone calls.

A very pertinent one J52

I would worry that the Marie Curie envelope would be recognised by the unscrupulous and targeted in the system as it contains money, which could not be traced if it did not arrive.

I have been the victim of several items of 'lost' post, in the past. I would give my money directly via bank or in a collecting box. Just a thought. x

I've just sent the Barnardos stuff back in the prepaid envelope. Like the rest of you, I am fed up with all this stuff and appalled at the waste of money.

I used to be sent raffle tickets to sell in aid of RNIB- great charity- and while I was still at work that was no problem. Then I had a couple of years of buying them all myself and eventually had to tell the nice woman on the phone to stop sending them as a) I had run out of "customers" and b) my own income was considerably reduced. I felt as if I was kicking kittens. I have a couple of standing orders for other charities andwhile I realise that the cost of a coffee a week would be worth donating where do I stop? It bothers me that money is spent on this sort of fund raising but the charities will have buit in "wastage" to their calculations so don't feel too guilty.

I just write 'Return to sender, Unsolicited goods' on the package and put them back in the letter box. I have no sympathy whatsoever for charities, or any other organisation or person, for that matter, that indulges in moral blackmail. If my returning their goods costs them money, they have only themselves to blame for indulging in such underhand tactics. It is despicable.

Whether I donate to other charities or not is completely irrelevant.

I'm out of touch with tax rules, but aren't the costs of sending out all this 'advertising/promotion' stuff set against the tax bill? Therefore they may as well do it and it doesn't matter if it works or not. IYSWIM