Soap Box Day Today

[Diane Amberg]

  Good idea! I don't think Janet will mind one bit. I'm glad your new van is a good fit. We finally had to buy something for Al last summer, as our old Dodge Caravan was on its last wheels, and I couldn't figure out how to do CPR on it. We took his electric scooter around to the dealers to see what could be fitted with the hoist to swing it up into the back. We finally settled on a Honda CRV which looks small, but worked great for us. The dealer was extremely helpful. I said that CRV must stand for "cute recreational vehicle."

[Diane Amberg]

   Now I am going to spout off ( well, more than usual) Today I got yet ANOTHER plea from the March of Dimes for a donation. I did send a donation months ago and that's it. We have gotten 3 now in July. I don't need any more address labels!!! Surely every cent I sent has been used up in sending me monthly requests. I know how it works, because I did our annual fire company and ambulance fund drives for 25 years. One of my selling points was that we would mail just once, and no phone calls. We did very well and often got notes back thanking us for doing it that way. A good fund raiser never spends more than 10% of the funds, producing the fund drive. I keep asking to be taken off the lists of charities I don't support, so they won't waste their time with me, but nothing works.  I get PILES of requests. Talk about paper to recycle! I have about 15 I do support, like the Masonic charities and the ones I know  manage their money very well, but oh my!

[kdfrawg]

After having been on the Board of Directors for the Kansas City region of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society for a long time, I finally resigned over the issue of how the money was spent, after being unable to fix the problem. The percentage of overhead to revenue kept going up; the national organization became less and less responsive; the mailings became fancier and more expensive, they became more frequent, and 90% of the staff in the office was dedicated to marketing rather than service.

That sort of thing really annoys me.

[Teresa]

Damn it!
I have so much so much work to do ..and my project is started.. but so far it is just sitting there on my computer looking at me.
But I have to comment on this one. 

I got a call yesterday form the Republican committee, which is fine..and I patiently answered their questions about Fred Thompson for president...and told them  how much I loath Hillery Clinton..
Then they ask for a donation of a small amount of 100.00.
Well, That amount to me right now is HUGE. Might not be to some but to me I would love to have an extra 100. But ... I told them I was sorry, but I couldn't donate at this  time. But, we DO  give about 70.00 a month in free advertising in our ad-servers etc devoted to Fred Thompson, through Down Range TV , our NRA affiliates, and through our other websites that we own. 
Instead of saying ok, thanks for what you are doing...She ask if I could give 50.00.
I told her no not at this time..
She said, If I send you an envelope, could you put $10 dollars in it and donate that?
I told her that giving free advertising ( for which we charge and get paid for) WAS making a donation.

THEN she finally thanked me and hung up!

Jeese.... 
You know that only a teeny bit goes to what ever it is supposed to go for.. the rest is wasted.

[Diane Amberg]

 Teresa, did you think to tell her not to call back?  If you don't, some one may call again in a few weeks, figuring if you don't give this time, perhaps you will the next. The professional fund raisers have a list of comebacks for everything you might say. We always had a house rule of no donations of any kind over the phone, period. It helped weed out the phonies.   

[MarineMom]

My daughter was always getting calls from people raising money for cerebral palsy and telling them not to call was not working so finally one time she responded by saying "cool!! can you give me $500.00? Jess needs new leg braces and we have to go to St. Louis for his appt" The response was we collect it not give it so she told them that all the money she had for CP was going to her son so if they were not giving money to please don't bother her any more and it worked that was 2 years ago and she never has heard from them since.

[Jo McDonald]

Often times I have told them that at this time I am very busy and if you will give me your telephone number, I will call you back.  NEVER have they given me a number to call--- that tells me they are not the true committee that they say they are.
I have my phone listed with DO NOT CALL and if I get a call,  I mention that and they immediately hang up.

[Diane Amberg]

 We are on the do not call list too, but some will say that since I have donated in the past, they can call. I tell them if they ever call again, I won't respond in any way written or otherwise. That pretty much stops the majority of the calls, but the mailings just keep on coming.

[Wilma]

Haven't heard about anybody's pet soap box topic lately and I am as much at fault as anyone.  I have been trying to find a topic, but am not having much luck.  Not that I am happy with everything the way it is, it is just that the things I am unhappy with can't be fixed.  The most popular topic lately, on another thread, has been illegal immigrants.  This will probably remain a pet topic for some time to come.

Still haven't found a topic, so if you are so inclined, jump in with something.  Let's air it and see how other people feel about it.

[Diane Amberg]

 I'm still mad at the March of Dimes. I got another solicitation yesterday! That's 6 in 6 weeks. I wrote a strong letter but nothing worked.