TV advertisements in particular. Every fifteen minutes the ads are packed with "this mother seal won't be able to survive and feed her young". Then it will be an ad asking for £3 a month (or what ever you can afford) to help save an endangered snow leopard. That's fine, I am not questioning the merit, there are so many many good causes. It's just the frequency. Also some of these ads about donkey cruelty upset me a bit, they might upset a lot of people too, it's distressing.
Over years I have donated monthly all the time to RNLI, NAS, NSPCC and only stopped because of money being cut back. I love all animals and so find these ads a bit distressing and I would have absolutely no money left if I gave to all the charities I would like to.
So I am not asking you to send me £3 a month (or whatever you can afford), just two questions.
1. Do you donate to charities?
2. Do you think that all these save the animal campaigns are shown on tv too much?
Post by Berry McPaper-cuts on Mar 8, 2015 16:12:50 GMT
I only ever donate when I have heard about them through the personal experience of a friend e.g. Recently a friend's family had experience of a stillbirth and I donated to the Charity that supports the parents in the special hospital suite. I don't watch the adverts at all.
I donate monthly to three charities close to my heart. Breast cancer, a children's charity and then to Shelter. Several years ago I was one step away from losing my home. I didn't know where to turn but managed to secure the money at the last minute, Shelter do some amazing work with ordinary people in similar situations. I was talked into Shelter by one of this fund raisers in the street which everyone says is a daft idea but she was really interesting and I learnt a lot. If my contribution helps someone in the situation I was in then I'm happy to do so.
Interestingly the real bugga for pushing me to up my contribution is the NSPCC and the one that has never asked is Shelter.
At some point I will take on another ... an animal charity but right now three is enough.
When Baby Tink started to earn serious money I asked him to choose a charity to support on a monthly basis. He's gone for a children's charity. But he also does pro boon work for a small local charity.
We contribute to several charities on a regular basis, including sponsoring a Phillipino child, Dogs Trust, Guide Dogs, Sense (deaf/blind children), Macmillan nurses, and some military charities. We get regular updates on the Guide Dogs progress, and our sponsor dog at Dogs Trust. At Christmas, Mr Cog gives his heating allowance to charity, including Shelter. We stopped sponsoring a child through Action Aid because they kept pestering us to up our sponsorship.
I once subscribed to one of the give £2 a month appeals, I stopped when they continually bombarded me with calls trying to make me increase it.
That did it for me, I do give occasionally but never watch the adverts due to the fact that everything even slightly sad makes me cry
Same here Y. £3 a month to Save The Children & like you I was bombarded with phone calls. I laid it out square - "You ring me once more & I will cancel my subscription." They did. I did.
I donate regularly to cancer charities, I send one off donation for disasters like the tsunami and I support the local air ambulance, Salvation Army and N.S.P.C.C. by filling their charity bags. I am currently sponsoring a meerkat, but that was a present.
I think the TV ads are basically emotional blackmail. The language is very emotive and the images very distressing and I think that is wrong. It feels like they are trying to bully me into giving. I realise that there isn't a huge amount of money to go around and they are competing for every penny, but I think they could find a better way to do it. I will not give to a charity that uses unacceptable tactics to try and get my cash. I don't give to street collectors who rattle a tin in my face either.
Up until recently we could barely afford to feed ourselves, let alone anyone else but if I had a bit of change I would put it in an appropriate tin. For the moment we are ok (but it is fragile!) so I don't want to commit to a monthly amount but will make a one-off donation as and when. I can't give to everything but will always give to diabetes (my mum was diabetic), cancer (because you never know) and children's charities when I can. I tend to avoid animal charities. I love animals, and abhor the mistreatment of them, but a human life, especially a child, will always take priority for me.
I never watch the TV ads, they upset me and I really can't afford to donate any more than I already do. Love Underdogs is my latest addition as they do such good work and don't take a penny of the donations for themselves. I find the small charities do so much more with their donations.
I do donate to charities that are close to my heart.
When my daughter was just two years old she was diagnosed with ALL, (leukemia).
She had been misdiagnosed and as a result of the delay her chemotherapy was intense. We spent countless hours, days, weeks...months in the Oncology clinic at the local Children's Hospital and saw many heart wrenching things.
Chemotherapy is brutal and quite barbaric, it attacks everything not just cancer cells. As a result the immune system is compromised and there is also a constant need to replenish blood an platelets. My baby girl spent countless hours with a bag of blood on a pole beside her. I had not thought of it until then, how important donating blood is so I vowed to return to the blood supply what I could, and I do.
As luck would have it I am O- which is a blood that everyone can use, it is in high demand. I donate every 6 weeks.
When friends and family asked me what they could do for my girl, I asked them to donate blood. And I continue to encourage people to do so.
So in answer to the the original question, yes I do donate money to a few registered cancer charities but mostly I give my time and my blood.