Charities, Fake Charities…

The Filthy Smoker, posting over at The Devil’s Kitchen deconstructs a post by Rob Permeable on the subject of fakecharities.org.

I see no point in going over what FS has to say – suffice to point out that he is perfectly correct in what he does say. I did want to pick up on something Rob Permeable says (in among the logical fallacies):

What I’d also add is – in my experience – “most people” (I know, scientific, eh?) simply would not be prompted give to charity were it not for the likes of advertising campaigns, celebrity-led endorsements, and yes even ‘chuggers’ spreading awareness of the fantastic work that the third sector does that the public largely doesn’t know about or essentially care very much about in the course of their daily lives. I’m talking apathy here, guys.

As someone who is incredibly selective about where I donate my money, let me make it absolutely clear; I do not give to organisations that take my tax money and then use it to lobby government. They deserve the moniker “fake”. I do not, ever, under any circumstances whatsoever, support organisations that think it acceptable practise to use chuggers. The practice is deeply reprehensible and I will boycott any “charity” that uses them. I also tend to avoid those large charities that pay fat salaries to their CEOs. I also vehemently avoid those organisations that use the television to vilify parents (NSPCC). Indeed, I will not give money to any charity that thinks it acceptable practice to play politics. Nor do I give as a consequence of “yetanotherthon” whereby tedious, talentless celebs give their “valuable” time for free and expect me to spank my credit card for whatever is deemed the worthy cause de jour. Indeed, my reaction to such vomit inducing displays of tacky tat is that if it is so goddamned important, why are they not emptying their wallets? Wallets that are rather more fat than mine? I never, never, ever, give to charities fronted by celebrities.

That leaves very few, I’m afraid. The RNLI is one of the few genuine charities, another is Cerebra. Either way, I doubt I am alone in my reaction, so Rob is correct in his underlying assumption that he is not being scientific and the prompts he cites do not work on me and never will. That I do not give to these organisations has nothing to do with apathy and everything to do with repugnance at the manner in which they conduct themselves.

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Update: It seems that Rob Permeable has deleted his blog, so the original article is no longer available. The cached version is here.