The spirit of giving

I feel so torn.  Last year I donated to America’s Second Harvest (now Feeding America) because at the time Kraft was doubling everyone’s donations.  I thought it was awesome, and I firmly believe in donating even when times are tough, so this was a good way to make the most of my money.  But god damn am I sick of all the junk mail I’ve gotten as a result.  I get at least three “send us money!” letters a week.

The Hippy doesn’t understand why it upsets me so much…  Well, for starters, I’m offended that America’s Second Harvest not only asks for money from people, but then turns around and sells their information to get more money.  Secondly, the charities that bought my information could be spending that money on the people/animals/plants they are trying to help.  Thirdly, I now have to waste extra time shredding up all that junk mail.

Alas, charitywatch.org gives Feeding America an A.  I mean, I’m not upset about that or anything.  I’m sure the work they do is great.  It just means you can’t really trust that rating for everything.  I’m sure they don’t take that into account when they make their rating.  The best thing to do, perhaps, is make sure you read the FAQs on the charity website.

Next time, I’m donating to Heifer International.  I decided to link that directly to the page where they say they won’t sell your information.  It’s a charity I’ve always been fond of, so I really should have just donated to them in the first place.  It’ll be food shelf donations (of actual food, not money) from now on to help hunger.

For the record, you REALLY have to dig on Feeding America’s website to find the part where they say they’ll sell your information.  Only they use the term “share.”  We’re all taught that sharing is good, right?