Ever had a charity bill you for a donation?

[marko]

Speaking of which, is it possible that this is a fraudster mimicking a legitimate charity? Unlikely, perhaps, because they hit on the same charity name as you contributed to, but my paranoid side has always wondered about dumpster divers getting info.

Back in the day, subscription invoices would come into my office for trade magazines with a "renewal' charge. We never had subscribed.

I suppose the scam was that my admin would assume it legit and just get it paid.

 

[braumeister]

Speaking of which, is it possible that this is a fraudster mimicking a legitimate charity?

In this case at least, it's entirely legitimate.
From their Form 990, their entire annual budget is only around a million, so you would think my $500 would be meaningful to them. If not for that emailed "invoice" they would have received another five this year, but they sure lost out with this maneuver.

 

[rk911]

I got an email recently from a charity we have donated to, and attached to it was an Invoice showing the Amount Due as the amount we gave them last year, and a Due Date of 30 days from now. The text said they "hope I will remain part of their community" but their hopes have now been dashed.

I can't imagine how they thought such a tacky approach would work, but it sure turned me off. Ordinarily I would have given them a similar amount this year, but this made me strike them off my list.

I did reply to the email, telling them what I thought, so maybe they will get the message.

totally agree. we donate to a number of charities and while we've never seen that very tasteless request for an additional donation we are inundated with "annual reports" and other forms of begging on a daily basis.

The Salvation Army came pretty close to losing our support when we received one of their frequent mailings. they promised to stop the periodic begging IF we agreed to an automatic monthly donation of a certain minimum. that fired me up so i wrote a letter unleashing my inner demons (but no profanity) and declaring they had lost our support forever and a day. a couple of days later, after I cooled off, I realized it was not fair to penalize the recipients of the SA's good works because of a very poor decision made by one person. i did not mail the letter and we remained donors to this day.

 

[Beldar]

We've never received a "bill" from the charities we support, only constant reminders throughout the year to "help" again.

I do suspect they sell donor information to other "charities" as for some strange reason we received solicitations from countless others.

I've also noticed Fidelity "shares" my information as they misspelled my name uniquely. That misspelled name has recently appeared on other mailings from organizations I've had no contact with.

_B

 

[scrabbler1]

I agree, an "ask" from a charity dressed up as a bill is very tacky, if not worse (as others have pointed out).

I get "asks" in the mail, usually from legit charities I have a long history of donating to. One of them solicits only by mail. The other one, my alma mater, would call me every year and I'd have to waste my time telling them "no" when they'd start at some ridiculously high amount (a tactic, I learned, is SOP) before working their way down. I'd interrupt them to tell the caller, "Just send me a form in the mail and I'll fill it out and send back a check." The caller sometimes became pushy when I balked at giving them my CC number over the phone, offering to have me talk to a supervisor. I then began blocking their phone number, so they have to mail me the form at the start, my desired outcome.

 

[scrabbler1]

We've never received a "bill" from the charities we support, only constant reminders throughout the year to "help" again.

I do suspect they sell donor information to other "charities" as for some strange reason we received solicitations from countless others.

I've also noticed Fidelity "shares" my information as they misspelled my name uniquely. That misspelled name has recently appeared on other mailings from organizations I've had no contact with.

_B

When I lived at my previous address back in the 1980s, the street name in my address included the word, "Jamaica". But my local bank had a typo in it, spelling it, "Janaica". I still got my mail from them, but I sometimes got junk mail from others with that misspelled street name. I then knew the origin of my address in that junk mail - my bank.

 

[Koolau]

Yes, a very legitimate charity that we have supported for years.
And our donations were made through our DAF, so it was also vetted by Fidelity.

Just a very strange way of reaching out for more money. I'll report back here if they respond to my email.

We won't hold our breath. We've begged, pleaded, threatened a few of our charities NOT to send us pleas every month. We want to give once a year - One and Done!

One of the letters was so effective that the charity added our name from our letter to their mailing list. Something was different about the name we used (added or left out middle initial or changed the way we said "apartment number" or some such.) So now we get TWO pleas per month from them.

Also a legitimate charity, and well vetted, but because of the cheap 3rd class mailing permits, there is no incentive to pull one person's name from the mass mailings. Also, every name they get they can sell to someone else. We began getting pleas with the "new" name (or apartment number) from several other charities shortly after our letter - some we already supported. YMMV

 

[ncbill]

Yes, but it wasn't what I'd consider a legitimate charity.

Dad would get called at his business and one time agreed to a pledge over the phone.

When I examined their mailing it turned out to be one of those "sound-alike" places where the organization's name was similar to a famous charity.

I looked them up on one of those charity evaluator websites and they spent something like 95% on administration, 5% on actual charity work.

So I refused to pay no matter how many increasingly aggressively-worded mailings they sent.

 

[braumeister]

BTW, I don't "pledge." (If I'm going to donate, I donate, but I don't pledge.)

Same here. And I've read that a fairly high percentage of those pledges are never fulfilled. It seems to be just another fundraising technique that works often enough to be continued.

 

[splitwdw]

I've never received an email from most organizations I donate to, only 2 local organizations have my email address. If you look at most of the mailings from charities like Alzheimer's and St Judes they say you have been a "member" or "donor" since a certain year. I believe the Alzheimer one looks like an invoice. These are also charities that I donated to one time from family and friends obituaries asking that you donate in lieu of flowers. My husband made a telephone "pledge" just before he passed to one of those police scams. They have been calling and leaving messages asking for his "pledge". The one time I answered the phone and told them he had passed and would not be sending his "pledge" I was told I should be honoring his passing by sending in his "pledge". This fake police charity is the only one that seems to use the pledge wording.

 

[athena53]

Dad would get called at his business and one time agreed to a pledge over the phone.

When I examined their mailing it turned out to be one of those "sound-alike" places where the organization's name was similar to a famous charity.

I looked them up on one of those charity evaluator websites and they spent something like 95% on administration, 5% on actual charity work.

There are some fund-raising firms that promise to raise $X,000 for the "charity". Anything else they raise after that goes to the fund-raising firm so they keep calling.

On pledges: I used to support a domestic violence shelter- a friend was the Executive Director. At one of the annual luncheons I pledged $5K to be split into 5 annual installments. A couple of years later I made another pledge- same $$ and timing. In the meantime, the Executive Director was booted out and they brought in someone younger and glossier and the fund-raising events became golf outings and Kentucky Derby-watching parties (we're in KC but I guess everyone got all dressed up and watched it on TV together).

At one point after my friend left I lost track of when the first pledge ended and e-mailed them to ask. No response. No invoice for the remaining amounts, either.

I decided that other charities needed my money more.

 

[Keim]

Same here. And I've read that a fairly high percentage of those pledges are never fulfilled. It seems to be just another fundraising technique that works often enough to be continued.

Probably 90% of pledges made to my little NPO are honored.

 

[timbervest]

I used to get multiple mailings soliciting money from organizations some of which I had just donated to. It was like "thank you for your donation -- would you like to donate again?". And some I never gave to but obviously my name and address was sold to. These would come daily in the mail -- some times duplicates with different variations on my name.

Decided several years ago to set up a Donor Advised Fund (one for tax reasons and two to facilitate giving to organizations I want to support). This allows me to take the tax deduction up front and then time my donations when I want to. The check goes out from Fidelity with just my fund title but no address on it.

Solicitation mails have virtually disappeared as they are not getting any response directly from me. Over the past three years, the amount of solicitation mail I receive has dropped by 99%.

Any that do come in the mail go directly in the trash. Problem solved.

 

[Andre1969]

Years ago, the a police officer spoke about those scam police/fire dept "charities", at a Citizens' group meeting. He said that no reputable police officer or organization would ever do cold calls, and if you get one, it's something that the police would never see a penny of.

Well, the next time one of them called my uncle, and started their spiel, he repeated back what the police officer had said. I can't repeat here, what the guy said to my uncle, because it probably violates certain terms and conditions of the family-friendly nature of this site

I know calling them a "telemarketer" gets them mad pretty fast, too.

 

[braumeister]

I long ago started telling callers "I don't donate over the phone. Just send me something in the mail and I'll consider it."

They will sometimes respond by asking for my address, to which I say "Get it the same way you got my phone number." CLICK

 

[scrabbler1]

I don't like the "double-dipping" my alma mater tries to do to me to get me to donate more than once a year to alternate charities within the university. I can understand them trying to do this, it just gets annoying after a while. I just throw additional solicitations in the trash.

 

[Sunset]

....... the relentless ongoing solicitations I receive from them. For over 20 years, without fail, I have made a yearly contribution, because I thought it was a worthy cause. But then they inundate me with mail throughout the year, and it is getting worse. To me, it seems that they are wasting a lot of my money on solicitation costs, .....

+1
I feel they are wasting my contributions by mailing me every month.
Too bad they can't just mail me once a year.

 

[braumeister]

DW used to w*rk for a nonprofit org and they maintained what they called a "pander list". That was for people who had asked not to be solicited since they would make an annual donation anyway. Getting put on the list wasn't easy, probably a matter of becoming known as a generous donor, but they often got thanks from those folks who appreciated the small favor.

For me, I just use anonymous donations from my Fido DAF for nearly all my donations these days.

 

[jldavid47]

I long ago started telling callers "I don't donate over the phone. Just send me something in the mail and I'll consider.

I’ve been doing the same thing for years. I just tell them I have a policy that I never donate to any organization that calls me and hang up.

One exception. A couple of years ago I got a call from one charity that we had generously supported for years. They had never called before to solicit a donation. I politely told them that I don’t respond to phone solicitations and I would give them a pass this time. Just don’t call me and we’ll keep donating when we can. They have never called us again and we keep donating.

 

[braumeister]

Well, nearly a week since I shared my opinion with them and still no response. So I have to assume they just don't appreciate being told how to do their fundraising. Pity, but their loss. At least I hadn't made my annual donation yet so I can put the money to work elsewhere.

 

[RunningBum]

For me, I just use anonymous donations from my Fido DAF for nearly all my donations these days.

Same here. I like for the local fire & rescue squad to know that I've given, so I give my name (but not my address). That is an option with a DAF. Not that they are going to give me better or worse treatment but I do know the head guy and a few others and it can't hurt.

I have also used my DAF to head off solicitations. I tell them I only make donations through my DAF, and they can mail me their info if they want to be considered. I also might mention that I'll research them through the DAF tools. This would head off any of those "police association" groups that keep like 85% of the money donated.

 

[jollystomper]

I don't like the "double-dipping" my alma mater tries to do to me to get me to donate more than once a year to alternate charities within the university. I can understand them trying to do this, it just gets annoying after a while. I just throw additional solicitations in the trash.

One of my nieces played basketball at a Division I University. Her team was doing a fundraiser, and we contributed to it. Suddenly you would think that we became alumni. Emails a a couple of times a week ("As part of our family, we know our needs are important to you..."). Once a quarter we would get phone calls from students for some type of school-related fund drive. As much as we kept telling them "no more", unsubscribing from emails, etc. It took us about 2 years to end the solicitations.

 

[athena53]

I do suspect they sell donor information to other "charities" as for some strange reason we received solicitations from countless others.

I think that's true mostly for charities with smaller average donations. If you're sending them money in $1,000 chunks, they're less likely to sell that information for $1 or $2 per person (my wild guess) when it might result in your diverting far more than that to other charities. It's why I try to focus my non-anonymous giving to a few organizations, for larger amounts.

 

[Koolau]

For both my mom and my MIL, I eventually began returning the "pleas" with a note that the addressee was deceased. It took a while, but I cut way down on the junk mail for each of them. It may have been illegal for all I know. Neither was in any shape to manage decisions such as giving to charities. At least I had power of attorney by then for my mom. I hope any statute of limitations has long since expired.

 

[gayl]

I long ago started telling callers "I don't donate over the phone. Just send me something in the mail and I'll consider it."



They will sometimes respond by asking for my address, to which I say "Get it the same way you got my phone number." CLICK

[emoji23]
I only used to donate to 4 places and inform them that if they list me as a sponsor (it's 4 digits annually) I'll find another place for my donations .... just list me as anonymous. Well one failed to listen so now I donate to 3.