SimonWing
Saturday 2nd February 2013 3:21pm [Edited]
574 posts
2 things that have made me resent large charities:
1 - The adverts already mentioned. Aggressive narrators, almost getting angry at you for having a home of your own etc. If he's narrating it for free, I'd give him some lee-way, but I doubt it somehow. Plus the graphic images that I frankly don't want to see uninvited when I'm at the dinner table etc.
2 - Chuggers. Students on commission-salaries, who work for a "marketing agency". In many cases, they do a different charity every day, and try and harass and guilt-trip you to sign up, so they can have a bit of weekend beer money.
I don't think these charities are rotten to the core, or anything. Although I imagine a few upper-middle-management types could probably have their fingers in the biscuit tin occasionally.
However, it seems they have allowed themselves to be run by the type of bullish dickwads who run and market regular companies, and thus use the same aggressive, deceitful, cynical and increasingly-desperate methods to gain 'business' that the regular companies do.
I know so many people who are sick to death of charities now, and any initial increase in donations that the Chugger Revolution might have initially gained, is now being wiped-out by public cynicism. It's just short-termism.
Anyway, when I was in London, I got to know a homeless guy near Waterloo East station. Really interesting guy, who never asked for a penny. I used to drop him a quid whenever I passed (which was most days).
That's charity for me. Giving a little bit that has a small-enough target to make a difference. Giving money to "AIDS in Africa" is spreading it so thinly that it evaporates.
Careful not to choose a smack-head though.