I had two canvassers come to my door to try to get me to adopt a child in Africa. They opened by showing a picture of a starving child and asking me if I cried when I saw their ads showing starving children. They just about fell off my steps when I told them, "No. Blatant emotional manipulation doesn't work for me". I asked them how much of the money donated actually got to those starving children, they didn't know. I asked them if they had ever been over to Africa to help those children, they said no. They were paid canvassers. That means money you give to those charities goes to hire them, not to help the starving children.
I find church groups do the best job in actually helping impoverished people. They send their own people, so the contact is direct, not hands length. They also don't make it their career to suck money from people to pay themselves. Too many charitable organizations, too few dollars.
The government has just extended the deadline for donations to Pakistan's flood victims, they will match our donations dollar for dollar. At the same time, we hear that Haiti has only cleared around 8% of the damage. Where have our dollars gone? Maybe Michelle Jean should look into that...but I doubt she will, it's all about optics. PETA says they are protecting animals, and then we find out they actually kill more cats and dogs than your local animal shelter.
Too many charities, who are way too pushy, too disconnected from the very people they are trying to help. I think a lot of people have just stopped giving money to any charity because they don't trust any of them anymore. It's sad to think that those kids starving in Africa are not getting any money, because the actual organizations who are supposed to help them are so top heavy with money grabbers, the money gets funneled to them not the kids.
I give money to charities, as I'm sure you all do, but, I make sure that the money goes directly to those who need it, and not the administrators. I hope you do the same.
