Charity Affirmation Thread

[Dr. C]

In the past decade, I’ve seen a very disturbing rise in campaigns to boycott religious charities like Operation Christmas Child, the Salvation Army, etc. because of how they handle LGBT issues.

My bias being a Christian aside, I am LGBT and I will say, oh yeah the church has a lot to answer for and if you don’t want to give them your money to stand in solidarity with me, it’s an appreciated gesture but it’s not going to impact the church nearly as much as it will negatively impact the impoverished and the less fortunate. I don’t want such an unnecessary casualty in the campaign for my human rights.

Charity boycott campaigns hurt the ones the charity is for moreso than the charity itself. That’s the part that disturbs me moreso than “Hey you’re attacking my faith!” Campaigning against good causes is, in my opinion, a destructive behavior for so many reasons on this front. Also, it spreads hate and bad will during a season of peace on Eartha Nd good will towards men [and women].

So now it’s time to put your money where your mouth is so to speak. At this point, flip the script and let’s make a negative into a positive. Instead of indulging anger and bitterness and indirectly hating on the poor, let’s talk giving rather than boycotting.

Instead of campaigning against a charity, let’s campaign for a plethora of charities. Share your favorite secular charity and if you feel so inclined, do some fundraising by posting a screen cap of your own donations.

Theres a lot of people that aren’t going to have a good holiday season. Let’s focus on making their lives better. 

The charity I wish to share with you is The Partners for Workplace Inclusion.

They help people with disabilities and mental health disorders find employment and career options . The more money they are given, the more job shadow placements where you get to work at a place unpaid for a few weeks To see what it is like, job hunting workshops and so much more.

Yeah it’s not really a “Christmas charity” but as someone with bipolar and high functioning autism, I cannot deny the difference this organization has made in my life  and if you’re going to give a total stranger a Christmas present, the gift of employment and opportunity is a pretty sweet gig.

 

[EricaofRenais]

I am not sure if this counts as a charity, but I and my family always donate money and I have done walks for (though there was no walk this year) JDRF which stands for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  They are the leading nonprofit trying to cure type one diabetes.  They also try to provide support to type ones that need it.  this cause is my number one wish in life because now that I am older the thought of other little kids (I have had type one since I was 3) being told they have to take shots every day or die, makes me even sadder about type one still existing then I was already.

I am going to mention about Amazon smile which you can set up so that every time you order something from Amazon they will donate some of that purchase to the charity you pick.  This is what I use when I order online.

[Dragoncat]

I've heard the Salvation Army is kind of terrible.

https://archive.attn.com/stories/17044/why-woman-says-you-shouldnt-donate-salvation-army

This is just one experience but it makes me wary.

Also, don't give to the ASPCA or the HSUS, they spend more on advertising than they do on helping animals. Give to local animal shelters instead. Donate food and time if you can.

Many big charities don't actually help what they claim to, it seems. If you want to help the needy in your community, donate directly to smaller local charities. I am not sure how many is "many", not trying to make a blanket statement here. I guess the best bet is to research the charity. And use sources that aren't affiliated with it. Ask the groups they say they help.

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

I encourage people to post alternatives to Autism Speaks here, too. I have not heard many positive things on them, last I checked.

[Silver-Haired Maiden]

I am in the unfortunate position of wanting to give but being broke. So I take advantage of the charity our church participates in, Operation Christmas Child. I know it's not secular but I really like that one and our tiny congregation (about 40 people) managed to pack 504 shoeboxes this year! 🙂

[Dr. C]

16 minutes ago, Silver-Haired Maiden said:

I am in the unfortunate position of wanting to give but being broke. So I take advantage of the charity our church participates in, Operation Christmas Child. I know it's not secular but I really like that one and our tiny congregation (about 40 people) managed to pack 504 shoeboxes this year! 🙂

It’s all about the charity at the end of the day! Lovely to hear you chime in!

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

I think a good idea for churches may even be promoting these secular charities. Why should the two be apart?

[Dr. C]

On 12/3/2019 at 8:01 AM, EricaofRenais said:

I am not sure if this counts as a charity, but I and my family always donate money and I have done walks for (though there was no walk this year) JDRF which stands for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  They are the leading nonprofit trying to cure type one diabetes.  They also try to provide support to type ones that need it.  this cause is my number one wish in life because now that I am older the thought of other little kids (I have had type one since I was 3) being told they have to take shots every day or die, makes me even sadder about type one still existing then I was already.

I am going to mention about Amazon smile which you can set up so that every time you order something from Amazon they will donate some of that purchase to the charity you pick.  This is what I use when I order online.

First of all, awareness walks are ABSOLUTELY charity so good for you for doing it.

I would highly recommend Celebrity Apprentice Season 3 if you’re diabetic because Bret Michaels  gets a lot of spotlights woth respect to diabetes awareness.

Second of all I had no idea Amazon did that. So it’s pretty cool! Thanks for the info!

On 12/3/2019 at 9:29 AM, Dragoncat said:

I've heard the Salvation Army is kind of terrible.

https://archive.attn.com/stories/17044/why-woman-says-you-shouldnt-donate-salvation-army

This is just one experience but it makes me wary.

Also, don't give to the ASPCA or the HSUS, they spend more on advertising than they do on helping animals. Give to local animal shelters instead. Donate food and time if you can.

Many big charities don't actually help what they claim to, it seems. If you want to help the needy in your community, donate directly to smaller local charities. I am not sure how many is "many", not trying to make a blanket statement here. I guess the best bet is to research the charity. And use sources that aren't affiliated with it. Ask the groups they say they help.

My political science professor coined the term “noble cause syndrome”.

People who run charities run the risk of developing a moral superiority complex believing they can do no wrong because the cause they strive towards is good.

Many employees of charities have complained about the expectations of being treated well for working in non profit have experienced the opposite. This is largely because large charities can become hardened to criticism because “but we can do no wrong! We are the good guys!”

So yeah, donating to local charities definitely has its pros but it depends on your personal goals and scope as well.

Local small charities don’t have the man power to go international for example but the downside to manpower is more employees that need to be paid. 

I think it’s important to remember and consider this when you make your donations that it’s not so much one being more effective than the other but being effective in different ways.

At the end of the day, people are going to make mistakes and I do feel like cutting a bit of slack is needed to save the forest for a few ugly trees.

I will say to clarify context however, I haven’t read the article you posted just yet so I will have more to say on that matter specifically when I get to it but Wednesday nights are terrible for me to get any kind of reading done.

On 12/3/2019 at 10:35 AM, Azure, Roundabouted Out said:

I think a good idea for churches may even be promoting these secular charities. Why should the two be apart?

I think charities working in solidarity is absolutely the best case scenario but mistrust abounds and makes the ideal very difficult.

People’s individual values often get in the way of collective goals in the most tragic ways possible but I do agree with you that working together is the best solution.

[Dragoncat]

9 hours ago, Dr. C said:

People who run charities run the risk of developing a moral superiority complex believing they can do no wrong because the cause they strive towards is good.

This makes sense.

9 hours ago, Dr. C said:

I will say to clarify context however, I haven’t read the article you posted just yet so I will have more to say on that matter specifically when I get to it but Wednesday nights are terrible for me to get any kind of reading done.

It's the experience a trans woman who got services from Salvation Army got, and what she saw happening, in the Portland shelter. An attempted silence was made on her and somebody edited her original tweets to make them sound like an attack on Salvation Army, which are not in that article because she cannot find them.

Now maybe it's just Portland and the big cities, but what happened here is wrong and sad. You can read the article when you can.

[Shoblongoo]

I'm always skeptical of charities where I don't have personal first-hand dealings with who's running them and knowledge of how they operate.

Because otherwise you never really know what they're using the money that you give them for, how much of it is actually going to the causes that they purport to champion, and how much of it is just the people operating the 'charity' running an embezzlement scam +  using your charitable donations to fund their own decadent lifestyles. (And from what I can gather this is a particularly big problem with faith-based charities, that exploit the goodwill and the generosity of the faithul. All those televangelists and mega-preachers flying around in private jets didn't get rich by donating their collection plates to the poor and the hungry)
______

Gonna take a moment here to promote Lions Club International as a great charity that I use to be personally involved in, and where I actually use to work for an attorney that was on their Board of Governors.

A lot of people have never even hard of these guys, because they aren't big self-promoters and they don't do a ton of advertising or social media outreach.

But they have 1.4 million members, spread across 48,000 clubs  in over 200 countries.  (So wherever in the World you're reading this--you can probably find them near you)

They've been around for over 100 years. They do great work. They've got good people and genuine humanitarians at-the-top.

And its a service organization. So you can 'donate' by just going to your local club and volunteering your time to work on one of their community service projects, even if you don't have any money.

Here's a link to their website for people who want to learn more:  

https://www.lionsclubs.org/en

Donate. Join. Meet new people.

It really is a fantastic organization. 

Edited December 5, 2019 by Shoblongoo

[Dragoncat]

1 hour ago, Shoblongoo said:

Gonna take a moment here to promote Lions Club International as a great charity that I use to be personally involved in, and where I actually use to work for an attorney that was on their Board of Governors.

A lot of people have never even hard of these guys, because they aren't big self-promoters and they don't do a ton of advertising or social media outreach.

I've heard of them! Seems like not being big self promoters is a good sign. Money is used to advertise. So it means that their donations go where they say they go.

[eclipse]

On 12/4/2019 at 5:17 PM, Dr. C said:

People who run charities run the risk of developing a moral superiority complex believing they can do no wrong because the cause they strive towards is good.

So do people who soapbox too much.  Or do a myriad of other things, which may or may not be related to charity.

Cut these kinds of generalizations out.  They don't promote discussion.  Nor do they make you a better person.

[Dr. C]

@Shoblongoo

I have met several televangelists and have ties with people who know them pretty intimately.

They legitimately believe in their prosperity gospel and I can appreciate the qualms and skepticism people have with them but they, regardless of the veracity of their message, believe it genuinely they certainly do and charlatans at the very least they are not. It is not their intent to scam people 

As for the Lion’s Club, sounds pretty awesome and was a very educational read! Thank you very much!

12 hours ago, eclipse said:

So do people who soapbox too much.  Or do a myriad of other things, which may or may not be related to charity.

Cut these kinds of generalizations out.  They don't promote discussion.  Nor do they make you a better person.

Its not my intention to insinuate that working for a charity gives you a moral superiority complex.

Groupthink is the concept I am trying to describe. It’s a general psychological behavior pattern humans display. I don’t think I am a better person. As a human I am also susceptible to this. 

We all make mistakes and here is why is what I’m trying to say.

@Dragoncat

Read the article you linked.

Im going to be honest, the article was a bit hard to follow because of the format but yeah clearly the SA is in the wrong here.

As long as imperfect people are running organizations, imperfections will emerge.

I’ve also seen the good they can do. That doesn’t excuse this by no means but it’s worth mentioning that not everyone with this organization is like that. 

It’d be ideal if every charity did everything right all the time but all we can do is our best. 

At the end of the day, my main concern is the maximum spread of holiday cheer!