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So, last night I made a list of the stuff I’ll need to do before doing my cross-country skiing photography trek and the first thing? Buy skis. Apparently I no longer own any. WTF? Victims of one of many moves in my 20s, undoubtedly. Maybe Santa will bring me a set of skis, but luckily, I live very near a community cross-country skiing park that also rents skis by the day, so I’ll just check in with that. Or maybe buy some snowshoes instead. On to Day 15!
Sigh. Back to the donations. Here’s the thing: I don’t have Tupperware parties or Pampered Chef parties or Whatever the Hell parties because I don’t want to ever ply my friends with guilt and peer pressure to buy something that they don’t need. I probably make my friends guilty enough, with my tendency to have very high standards and annoying high maintenance requests, so do I really want to also include some kind of smug place card that says “I’ve donated $10 in your name to X charity of my choice, because I am a good person and you are not, here, have a Cheese Danish!” My Grinch is coming out again, isn’t it? I need another puppy task! Fine: I’m throwing a huge party next month and will create some gift bags to raffle off with the proceeds to go to a local low income food pantry (the party’s theme is “meat,” so this is appropriate). This is the closet I can get to this particular task, because it’s one thing to encourage my friends to walk for Breast Cancer or put up a little banner telling everyone that I support the American Red Cross, but it’s entirely another thing to throw a party and then have a little guilt trip sitting there tableside. A gift bag, however, seems like a cool idea and everyone wins without feeling like they are being politely coerced into donating something. God bless us, every one. —Weetabix 6 CommentsLeave a comment |
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I'll be buying tickets to that raffle!!! can you make it a Chinese Raffle (probably a politically incorrect term) wherein you can buy tickets for the items you most want to win?
I love how this "make me a better person" thing is really bringing out your grouchy side! ;)
My son and his wife have recently made over their neighborhood get-togethers to include a charitable aspect. They're the same old BYOB parties they always had, but the invitations specify that they'll be collecting donations for XYZ. They raised quite a bit of money for the tsunami that way, as I recall. It would be an especially good way to solicit contributions for a local effort or foundation that everyone in attendance would be familiar with.
... So they just keep harping on about how learning to be a better person or learning to like yourself or build your self esteem - in order to do all these things, you hafsta have the fundage.
Riiiiiiiiiiight.
BOUT that.
A lot of non-profits encourage and accommodate groups of volunteers. So instead of whacking social guests over the head with a UNICEF collection can, maybe send out an email saying that you are trying to organize a group to go serve lunch at a soup kitchen, paint a classroom, pick up debris on the beach, decorate the activity room at a homeless drop-in shelter, whatever. With cocktails chez you afterwards. Anyone interested in either or both activities should RSVP. No pressure, and the socializing is not contingent on forced charity.
If I were solicited at a party, I would feel very uncomfortable and pressured to contribute. I have my own charitable giving plan, and I budget for and choose my causes carefully. I like to research the organization's financial oversight policies, and see whether they have any religious or political agendas that run contrary to my views. But I wouldn't want to be the one Scrooge at the party who doesn't put money in the tin for starving kids or endangered giraffes or whatever.
If it's up front that the party is going to be a fundraiser for X, then great! But I wouldn't feel comfortable going to a party and THEN being asked to donate (this can be really uncomfy if you're on a strict budget,lol!). Also, if a donation is going to be made in my name, I would want to make sure it is an organization I would support.