Fund-Raising Phone Calls
 

One of my favorite questions to ask - provided I even answered the phone at all -

"How much of this goes to administrative costs?"

Surprising how many hang-ups I get after asking this. :hunf: :p

Good for you! A friend told me last week she has been answering unwanted phone calls by speaking in Russian, repeatedly. The caller usually ends up saying, Ok, I'm going to take you off the call list" and hanging up. :)

every where i go people are asking me to donate to the flood victims. Not gotten any phone calls, yet.

we give locally generously and happily.

if you really want to know how your favorite rates check them here
https://www.charitynavigator.org/

I never give to charities who call or come to my door. There are too many scammers out there. I just hang up if it's a phone call and the "no solicitors" sign at the door usually discourages the others.

Awesome, I love your style!

I ask the same question as Bearisgray.

I'm with you, bear. No one can match UMCOR - United Methodist Committee on Relief. 100 % of donated money goes where it is intended.
I get a lot of 'help the veteran' mail. It's hard to ignore those because of my family members' involvement, but, again, it's the administrative costs that stop me. I only have one on active duty currently - a GS in Afghanistan.

I won't donate over the phone or door to door either. Our money goes through the church too since we are both retired. A lot of people don't want to donate to the larger names because of the administrative costs but those are professional fund raising people that go after the big corporate donors that insist on being wined and dined. And so they do have their place but they don't get my money either. (I don't have the clothes to attend their galas either - so not a big loss to me.)

Actually, I like to speak German to these people. They usually give up and take my name off their list.

Good idea to keep in mind! We have caller ID at home, so I can answer only what/when I want to. The cabin doesn't have CID, so I'll start using your idea!

Amen to this!! I am apparently ON THE LIST as 95% of the mail I get is begging letters, as Charles Dickens called them. I looked up one on CN and it had zero stars - first time I ever saw that. And I am very proud that the place I volunteer not only has 4 stars but a 100% rating!!

I never give to phone or door callers. I also give thru our church. I'm all for giving to a worthy cause but it will be my choice to whom and how I give.

Bear, are you getting them on a cell or landline? I haven't gotten any..... yet!

I called the district office of a big thrift store here that says it gives money to VietNam vets. The district office refused to tell me the percent of what they give. I did check on the site that KalamaQuilts gave but Savers and Value Village are not listed. When a company refuses to give me an amount or percentage, then that means they are hiding something. I am thinking the percentage is something like 0.0025.

when working in Banking in Houston i gave to the united fund and my money went to Faith Adoption home. When i moved to Colorado the home kept sending me mail. they always wanted to give me a t-shirt or something for money. i contacted them and said to skip the goodies for me, just take my funds. i hate to think I'm really buying a t-shirt i do not need.

I used to get ones wanting me to send underprivileged children to the circus. Always told them I couldn't afford to take my own kids so I wasn't paying to send someone else's

I keep getting calls that say "This is your final courtesy call to renew your auto warranty"..they spoof all the small towns around me, also some local ID & phone numbers. They rattle on and I wait for them to say "Press 1 to speak to the agent". So I REALLY want to do this! I press #1 and the call is terminated. Now tell me how they can benefit from that?! IDIOTS!

LOL I did that, too! Then I was mad all over again that I gave them MY time!!!

I just followed your link and they wanted me to donate to charity navigator. How's that for wanting donations?

Great minds think alike! I repeat the few Polish phrases I know until they hang up

Just make sure you never say the word "yes". A lot of these scammers are recording your voice, and then they can use it (legally!) to say that you approved a purchase! I had one of them call yesterday, and he said he was from my local utility office.He already knew my name and address (and obviously, my phone number) and he kept trying to get me to use the word yes. I could tell by the way he phrased his questions.I kept saying NO in a very gruff voice, even when he said the weather was nice! He got frustrated with me and hung up on me! Then I call blocked him on my phone. Happy ending.

One thing that has bothered me is that I get a lot of calls from "St Jude Children's Hospital" asking for money. I already donate a monthly amount to them so I know these calls are not legit. I hope that these types of calls are not affecting the donations made to this wonderful organization.

They provide a great service at no cost to us. I consider that worth a donation. They have expenses too, and you see no ads on their website.

Wonder answering ideas! I almost wish I would get some calls. :)

Mermaid,

I get the "warranty" calls from time to time. Our cars are all way past the warranty phase, so my guess is that these are just another scam - they get your name, your address, your CC info, etc.

You get to call the CC company to let them know that your info was stolen and there are purchases on your card that you didn't make.

These 'offers' occasionally come via the US mail, too, but not from the dealer who sold you the car. The only way to answer those mails is to tear them up and toss them in the garbage.

My response is always, a quick, "I'm not interested. Good bye."

They start with "how are you today?" DH immediately says. "You don't give a fig About my health, now get to the point". When they collect themselves and begin to babble on, he hangs up. I learned to never, ever, sign up for prizes at an event. I got calls and offers from a Cruise Line way too often after that. Only after I became quite angry over the phone did it halt.

If I stayed at all the resorts I supposedly have I'd be a world traveler by now. Total nonsense.

I may answer sometime but usually it has a "if u do not want this call please hit button # so & so and we'll take u off list" if I do answer ph
If I see an unknown #..I usually won't answer, thy can leave a message.
I have acted deaf b4 and the thing is.....I am part deaf!! Lol