It's that time again.
Time for the company to do their yearly United Way Drive. A silly
PR stunt that many companies participate in each year. From what I gather
it works like this, they send each employee a little card that enables you to
donate a percentage or a fixed amount to the United Way or through the United
Way to your designated Cause. But what it's really an effort on the
companies part to be able to say that their company had 100% participation in a
charity drive. They accomplish this by stressing to everyone that you have
to turn your card back in even if you mark it ZERO. One of the managers
let it slip a few years ago that they get the participation points, not for the
amount donated but, for the percentage of cards returned. So a company
could have 100% participation with ZERO donations. That is just silly.
Beyond that why would I want to donate to my selected charity through the
United Way anyhow?
Lets Think about this.... Say I support the Tuskless Walrus Fund and
donate to them through the United Way. first from the info that I can
gather the United Way will Take somewhere between 8 and 15 percent of what I
donate for admin fees. so the walruses are already down to say 90 cents on
the dollar. Then once the Tuskless Walrus Fund actually gets the
money they will have admin fees also, lets say that they are low at only 5%. Now
the folks in the field helping those poor walruses are now only getting 85.5
cents on the dollar. This is great right? Those walruses got
the dental help that they needed and only lost 14.5 percent of my
donation.
What if I sent the donation directly to the Tuskless Walrus
Fund though. Then they would get 95% of my donation and a
few more would be able to get those imitation tusk implants they so
badly need.
As Geico says "We Cut Out The Middle Man!"
So am I saying that the United Way is bad? NO, it
sure makes it easy to donate to charity. And I'm sure many Charities depend on
money coming through them but, before you sign that card and let them take a percentage of
your income maybe you should consider getting off your lazy bum and taking
the time to walk into your chosen charity's office or find their address or
website and make a donation there. That way you can ensure that
the maximum amount of your donation will go to help.
But alas I know for many it's not about helping
their Tuskless Walruses, it's about taking the easiest way out while still
being able to brag that they donated X amount to charity for the year or
Kissing your bosses bum.
Think about those poor Tuskless Walruses............
(Note: To my knowledge the Tuskless Walrus fund exist only in my
imagination)