[taneq]

Every charity I've been stopped by in the past decade has done this. Donate $20 cash right now? Nope, we can't do that... but we can sign you up for monthly ongoing payments of $200, or even just $25 if that's all you can spare.

[paulgb]

Even when I make a one-time donation online to some charities, a lot of them seem to spend that donation sending me mailers asking me to donate again. I wish I could donate with a "don't add me to your list" option.

[mooreds]

You can do that with a money order. Of course you can't do that online.

I chatted once with a friend in the non profit space about a service that let people donate online anonymously to charities. She didn't think the idea was a good one because, just like for businesses, there's a lot of value in knowing who your donors (customers in the business scenario) are for non profits. They get additional income from selling lists, they want to reach out and build a relationship (especially recurring donations).

It makes sense to me from an organizational standpoint, but I too wish there was an easy way to do one off donations.

As a counterpoint, I read somewhere that Bill Gates advice about donating was to focus on one to three charities and really get involved and knowledgeable about the space, rather than drop $20 on 10 random charities. It helps both the charities you pick (focus, more money, longer term commitment) and the ones you don't (they don't spend money trying to get you to donate further when you aren't really committed).

[taneq]

> there's a lot of value in knowing who your donors (customers in the business scenario) are for non profits

Well, of course, but the things they use that knowledge for are bad for me.

> They get additional income from selling lists

OK, then they're already my enemy.

> they want to reach out and build a relationship (especially recurring donations)

Ah, there's a word for people who try to build a relationship with you in order to repeatedly get money off you: "Scammers."