Check that charity before you donate

By PATTIE MIHALIK

newsgirlcomcast.net

Decades ago when I started writing this newspaper column, publisher Fred Masenheimer made the decision to run the column in the form of a letter to a friend.

We started the column each week with the salutation: Dear friend.

I liked it because that's the way I prefer to write as if I were writing a letter to a close friend.

Over the years the format got changed several times and the friendly salutation was dropped. But I still write it as if I were writing to a friend.

Actually, I am. Many readers, especially those who send frequent emails, feel like a friend to me. I even promised to have lunch with some readers if I get to their area.

This week, the column I want to write is not quite friendly. If I could, I would address this column to all the charities out there that solicit funds.

This is what I would say to them:

Don't look for me to return your dime. I peeled it off the solicitation you sent me and threw away your letter asking me to return the dime along with a contribution.

I make it a point never to give to charities that don't need my money. And if you are sending dimes to everyone on your mailing list, you are wasting money.

I never give one cent, much less a dime, to charities that waste money.

I don't know, maybe that approach works with some folks. But I can't understand how receiving a dime in the mail would induce anyone to donate more money to the charity.

Let me say this upfront. I believe we are put on this earth to help others. I believe in helping the needy and in giving as much as I can to worthy charities.

But my definition of worthy doesn't include any nonprofit that pays people to call me. To me that means they would take my contribution and use it to pay telemarketers to call more people.

Not a very good use of charitable bucks, is it?

I get at least several telemarketing calls on behalf of charities every single week. I tell them all the same thing:

I do not accept telemarketing calls.

I do not give to any charity that pays people to call me asking for money.

Last week I had an interesting experience when I almost donated to a children's charity. The male telemarketer was one of the smoothest I've heard.

He asked if I was willing to donate $10 to some children's charity, then went on to tell me how much good that $10 would do.

I said yes. I told him to mail me the information and I would put my check in the mail right away.

That's when the call took a strange turn. He kept insisting that I give him my credit card number right now. Smelling a rat, I hung up.

That same charity called me back four more times, asking that I use my credit card to donate to the charity. I finally said I knew this was a fraudulent call and I was going to report it right away. They hung up and never called back.

My friends said they probably would have fallen for the scam and given the money because "it was only $10 and it would help children."

The possibility of being scammed is one more reason to add to the list of reasons I don't give to telephone solicitations. And I would never give my credit card information over the phone to an unsolicited caller.

Another prevalent scam comes from the so-called state police or sheriff's associations. If you get a call like that, hang up and call your local state police or sheriff's office.

I did. Both said they never solicit money on the telephone.

We have to be diligent with our charity donations. We have to make sure it goes where we think it will and that it helps a needy charity.

I do that by mostly giving to local charities or to national and international charities I have researched.

Everyone has his or her own favorite cause. Mine is feeding the hungry.

I do that by supporting our local food banks and by giving to known organizations that do this. I also like to support our local homeless coalition because I am familiar with their good works and their success stories.

Today I had the pleasure of getting to know another worthwhile organization when I went to do a story on a local woman suffering from late-stage cancer. It was there that I met firefighters volunteering with Pink Heals, an organization that helps those dealing with serious disease.

I appreciate their strong stance of supporting only organizations that make sure all fundraising money stays in the community.

They will not send their pink firetrucks and pink-clad volunteers to help any organization that sends its money back to a national office or pays big executive salaries. There are two local Pink Heals chapters, the Slate Belt chapter and the Lehigh Valley one.

Look them up. They deserve support.

There are so many worthwhile causes that need our help. Open your hearts and your wallets to those that appeal to you.

But just make sure every dollar you give does what you want it to do.