annual CSFD at work

[KellyHabersham]

It's that time of year again for us, with the big United Way campaign and push for donations from city employees. I have no issues with helping those who are less fortunate, and many of the fund-raising activities by the various departments are fun/creative,


- employees don't have to donate, but "have" to say whether or not they are making a pledge. (I apologize if I didn't explain that well)

- pay and benefits have been cut over the previous two budget cycles, so I don't feel the city should be asking employees to donate money for fund drives....especially since the goal amounts go up every year.

- because of pay and cuts in hours, I'm almost to where I would have to sign up for Medicaid rather than "regular" health insurance......which I am not happy with.

[TheRoo]

They do that at the bank I work at. There is a big push for United Way donations, although there's not as much pressure to donate as there used to be. Donating to charity can be a wonderful thing, but I hate the pressure to donate to someone's particular cause. There are a million of them out there, and the majority of them are worthy causes, but I only have a limited amount of time and money to give.

Personally, I give a few bucks a week to our local Special Olympics chapter, because I know a lot of the people who participate, and I can see a real difference that my donations make in people's lives. However, I always feel very uncomfortable asking people for donations. I don't know about their financial situation, and I don't want to put added pressure on that.

All of my coworkers know of my support for Special Olympics. One of them even approached me asking how to participate in a fundraiser. We ended up jumping into a pool of 34 degree water for it, and it was a great time. As for the rest of my coworkers, I know some of the causes that they support, but I won't negatively judge someone for not supporting my charity of choice (or any for that matter). That would be especially true if we were experiencing cuts in hours, while living costs keep going up.

[jedimaster91]

A couple months ago, the hospital hosted a month-long fundraiser for the American Heart Association and different departments rotated sponsoring different events to raise money. There were also those little hearts to buy for $1. The goal was something ridiculous like $10,000. By then end, everyone was sick of it. Every day there was something going on they were trying to get us to spend money on. $5 lunches that ran out of food by the time some people were able to get down there. Ice cream socials that basically resold generic ice cream bars from the cafeteria. My department got pegged for not one, but two bake sales. And then management hounded us to buy the little hearts. Because a good chunk of our business is cardiology and it just wouldn't look good if we didn't participate. I dutifully baked two cakes (one for each bake sale) and bought a couple things from the first bake sale since I was having a chocolate craving, but that was it. You want me to donate my hard earned dollars to whatever cause, start paying me more dollars. I've got bills to pay.

[s_stabeler]

To be honest, when an employee is required to donate to something like this- either outright, or de facto- I consider it inherently abusive. Why? because the company is requiring you to spend your own money on something that benefits the business alone. (the business gets to brag about how much their employees donated, while the employees get to worry about their ability to pay the bills. And I'll bet getting a receipt so you can claim the deduction would be like pulling teeth, as well)

[KellyHabersham]

To be honest, when an employee is required to donate to something like this- either outright, or de facto- I consider it inherently abusive. Why? because the company is requiring you to spend your own money on something that benefits the business alone. (the business gets to brag about how much their employees donated, while the employees get to worry about their ability to pay the bills. And I'll bet getting a receipt so you can claim the deduction would be like pulling teeth, as well)

Might be just the way United Way is set up in my state, but I think you can claim deductions, if it's through the "pledge/donation form". (not sure about anything donated through fund-raising activities)

[s_stabeler]

that's something, at least, but I still dislike it when companies mandate charitable giving to a charity of the company's choice. (My preference is for companies to donate out of company money, and for them to offer ways for employees to donate to a charity fo said employee's choice without making a big deal out of it. (like, for example, I am aware of a scheme called "payroll giving" or, "give-as-you-earn" which puts money aside each payroll that goes to a charity you decide on. THAT is a good way to implement it- relatively anonymous, so there is no pressure on employees to donate,the money comes out pre-tax, so employees don't have to worry about claiming tax relief and the employee can choose what charity their money goes to. (for example, I scuba dive, so I might be inclined to donate to the RNLI (or the local Air ambulance- both are about the most useful charities in the UK for a scuba diver, not counting BSAC branches themselves)

[HYHYBT]

Setting aside issues of who gets credit, making a big deal about it gets more people tonparticipate, and to give more each, than if it were a quieter thing you had to ask about. Also, having everyonecpick their own charity makes it vastly more complicated unless the company just gets out entirely. Which gets rid of the whole encouraging-people-to-give aspect, and, again, means they mostly won't.

[cindybubbles]

This reminds me of the charity pizza sale that the United Way does at the subway stations in the TTC every Wednesday in October:

"Just $1 for a slice of pizza! Help support the United Way!"

I did participate maybe one or two times. At least I got some pizza out of it.

[KellyHabersham]

Admittedly, I was thinking about participating in the silent auction we had at my library branch, but had other stuff going on and forgot to actually put in a bid.