They've got my details !

You're so right NanK I stopped donating to a few charities because I considered that a) they had spent the equivalent of my donation by constantly sending me letters for repeat donations b) they were preaching to the converted! Surely, they would be better employed trying to entice new people to donate to their cause?

Also, when I discovered how much money is used extravagantly on the administration buildings and high salaries/jollies for the executives - not to mention statues etc for the grounds!! - by some of the larger charities, I decided to only donate to small, local charities where the money is spent on what I consider it should be!

I don't even buy 'charity' Christmas cards any more because for every £3.00 pack the charities often only receive a few pence. I'd rather just donate!

Agree totally - I now mostly support local charities. When my mother had a stroke 10 years ago I contacted the Stroke Association for some information, which was very helpful. I sent them a donation in return and I now regularly receive a magazine and requests for further donations.

We have a standing order for Dogs for the Blind and have had for many years. I tackled an official once about the amount of literature they send out and said I didn't want or need it. He said it was produced so cheaply for them by a company that regard it as there donation to the cause that it did in fact pay for itself in returns. I still put it in the recycling but my husband keeps the photographs of the dogs.

I find it easier to do online, because there is usually a tick box to say you do not want to be contacted by them or by any other companies they might give your details to. I do not find I am inundated by literature I do not want from any charity I have donated to.

About 15 years ago, I ordered something from the Blind Society catalogue, a talking clock for my mother, her sight wasn`t too great, but ever since, I`ve been bombarded with raffle tickets they want me to sell, and Christmas labels they want me to buy, it gets a bit much.

I donated to Oxfam regularly for over 10 years and at Christmas, would buy things from their Christmas list (cows, medical kits, teacher training, fruit trees, buckets with lids, portaloos, school books, goats - the list is endless) but still they would write to me wanting more and more money. In the end, I also stopped donating to them because of that.

I also stopped donating to CRUK for much the same reason.

I now support local charities.

The only charity I have a direct debit with is Crisis (for the homeless) and receive regular newsletters and email updates, but they are informative and not intrusive or badgering.

I give to Oxfam & Water Aid, and the odd sponsorship, via Justgiving, of friends' son/daughter running a marathon; again I get regular emails but you can't blame them for trying!

number, I've had the same experience with WWF, ever since I bought a panda from their catalogue for a new GS. Raffle tickets come every year and they go in the recycling bin.

I know I have said this before, more than once, but I think it's worth repeating. Consider having a Charities Aid Foundation account. You pay in anything from £10 a month, they claim Gift Aid and add it to your account (and take a small contribution for administration and for the NCVO). You can then donate to any charity registered with them by their card or their cheque or online, and in all cases you can choose to do so anonymously. That way the charities don't know who you are and cannot pester you to give more, sign up for Gift Aid, buy raffle tickets or anything else.

It seems that many of those who are involved in a charity cannot understand that not everyone wants to support the same charity all the time, and we might want to vary our giving depending on all sorts of factors.

www.cafonline.org If that goes blue it will be first for me and i will hae joined the 21st century! According to the preview it has!!!

I totally agree. I hate having to put my details in to anything as I know it will lead to a mail box full of junk. You would think a charity would know better than to bombard you with the mail and just accept that you have donated.

I donate to the royal british legion every November. Earlier this year they started to telephone me. Trying to get me to set up a standing order. After about the 5th telephone call I told the person on the other end to leave me alone or I'd never donate again. Her reply was well if you don't ask you don't get. I'v had no telephone calls since but it leaves a sour taste. It has made me stop donating to some charities because I just don't want any hassle. Do they get the information when you 'gift aid'

Yes, Kiora, if you sign up to Gift Aid on a sponsorship form or any donation form, you have to put you full address, including postcode, so that they can claim it from HMRC (or wrest it from George Osborne's hands or however they get it) so they do indeed have your details. See above for Charities Aid, and no, I am not on commission. Now that I think of it though...

minimouse I think if you buy xmas cards from the particular charities own shops instead of supermarkets "charity cards" the charity gets much better value.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2512585/Charity-Christmas-card-scandal-Shops-giving-little-SIX-cent-profits-good-causes.html

A market research survey has found supermarkets have been giving as little as six per cent of Christmas charity card profits to good causes
Their small donation compares meagrely to buying Christmas cards from charities directly, with most ensuring all funds go to the organisation.

Marie Curie Cancer Care however sold cards at £3.99 a pack, with only £1 of the retail price going towards the cost of production. (that is 25%)

Oxfam said that for every Christmas card sold, 44p of every £1 went directly back into the charity. that is (44%)

If you are a tax payer always gift aid it. It makes a huge difference to the charities funds
Durhamjens point about giving online makes great sense sense, all of us GNers can use the internet.

I donate to the Guide Dogs but they kept 'phoning me up requesting I give more. Eventually they stopped when I told them I was a pensioner and may have to review my giving to them completely!

I donated via direct debit to Guide Dogs for over 15 years, inspired by a blind student I taught and his wonderful dog. However, when I retired I had to rationalise my finances and my priority was to continue to support a little girl from Tanzania. I cancelled my direct debit and was duly rung up to ask me to change my mind. I told them I could no longer support the number of charities I had done when I was working and asked them to understand and appreciate this. They still continue to bombard me with junk mail, from raffle tickets to labels to Christmas cards. I'm afraid it all goes straight in the recycling bin.