Do you give more when you check out or choose a SlimJim instead?

Practically never donate. If anything, I’ll put my change in the ‘need a penny/take a penny’ jar hat a lot of stores have.

I’m just dubious that any charity money actually ends up with he charity.

It takes more than a small piece of paper for me to buy into some random donation box I see.

I tend to avoid the “would you like to donate a dollar” causes at the check out and prefer to buy the Cub or Girls scout cookies out in front of the store. Our store does collect donations to the local tri cities charities which include the local food pantry and women’s shelters and I always give at least $20.00 to them. I donate the the Salvation Army. And this year is going to be the first year I will award an annual $500.00 college scholarship to my son’s high school in the name of my older son who has graduated and let a very special near and dear teacher pick the student as this teacher went way above and beyond his pay scale to help both my son’s excel in school and become better more confident young men. When my younger son graduates a year from now I will offer another annual scholarship in his name as well. I do a lot more but these are near and dear to me.

Rarely, on occasion I will drop change into a pet donation container if it looks like a cute dog or cat, screw people. lol
I always reply to the ” would you like to donate a dollar to blah, blah, blah, ” with ” would you like to donate a dollar to my retirement fund.” Nobody has even taken me up on that so far. haha
Actually, I forgot, I DID donate a dollar at Taco bell recently, just a random thing and I got a ” free” taco coupon.

That was clever, give a dollar get a “free” Taco. lol

There’s a local animal shelter that I donate to whenever I see their boxes. That’s about it.

I keep my change. I keep it until my jar gets full, then take it to the change collection machine and get a Starbucks or Amazon gift card.

I rarely donate at check out. I will put cash into jars for animal shelters and stuff like that. At work, where there are frequently fundraisers for charities and programs, I will participate that way.

I often research on the site “Charity Navigator” (Google for address) and see what they pay the CEO and stuff like that. When the CEO makes zillions, it turns me off. Girl Scouts is one where the CEO makes almost half a mil per year, which is a definite turn off.

We get harassed on the street to donate to Save the Children or Sjømannskirke (Sea men’s church). I don’t give to either. Busy saving my own kid and I don’t support religious endeavors, especially those by privileged travelers. I help my friends out when I can and I’ll make a purchase where the funds go to a special charity fund raiser, but I don’t toss money around into jars I have no idea about.

I never deposit change in those containers. It’s just too random. If I’m going to help someone out, it will be a considered choice on a site like Kiva.

@jca

I agree with the sentiment, though I’ve never viewed the Girl Scouts as a charity. And the only type of fundraising I ever see from them are the cookies. As far as the cookies go, I definitely don’t view those as a charity donation, but rather a simple exchange of goods like any other purchase I make.

@Darth_Algar: I don’t really view them as a charity either but I found that when you’re in the Girl Scouts, (parent of a Girl Scout), they’re constantly looking for donations. Sell sell sell (which means donate whichever way you can), etc. So they may not been seen as a charity, but they’re always with their hand out, so for me, I lump them in with the others that have their hands out.

@jca The Scouts are not a charity they are a non-profit organization. That said I spent 9 years in the Cub Scouts with my 2 sons and 5 years in the Boy Scouts. If the scouts did not fund raise the cost of the scouting program would fall back in the parents lap and the beauty of the Scouting programs is kids from poor families can participate with little money needed out of pocket. We only fund raised one time of the year and raised the money needed for the entire Troops annual budget. The fund raising responsibility also gave the boys a bit of ownership over their being in scouts. Truly a great program for kids who most have a ton of fun during their time in scouts.

@Cruiser: Scouts are great. I’m not saying they’re not. Girl Scouts sell stuff 3 times per year (at least around here, they do). Just my observation that when it comes to me giving to anything, be it a charity or any organization, I look at the amount spent on administrative costs, including salary of the CEO. When I see CEO gets a few hundred thousand, it makes me feel less generous when it comes to giving.

@jca Since I am no longer involved with the scouts and they come aknocking I just write a check for $20.00 and tell them to keep the cookies as that way they get the whole $20.00 as opposed to the $5.00 they would otherwise get to keep.

In my daughter’s troop, there are “suggested” amounts to sell. I write a check for about $120 to buy cookies, and that’s just for one of the three different fund drives.

@jca For our Troop they had an opt out option that required the parents to write a check for $250.00 to cover the cost of being in that troop. $20.00 per month for all that they did IMO is well worth that investment. When my sons left Scouting they did so with cash in hand as they always sold more than was required a portion of which stayed in their ‘scout account’ and also helped pay for summer camp.