Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by iwanttocomment 563 days ago
Donating money has become incredibly painful. With the exception of extremely local independent charities, any amount less than a few hundred dollars will be quickly used up by mail campaigns, staff calls, endless harassment.

If there's a local cause, please, donate. If a friend experiences fire or medical issues, help them out. A local group helping people out or trying to run a local business in the face of adversity? Do it. But professional charities? I'm sorry to say that it's a waste.

1 comments

Exactly this.

As a matter of personal practice, I donate a percentage of my gross income to charitable causes. Through experience, I have developed a number of rules about this.

One of them is that I don't donate to large charitable organizations or any organizations that solicit donations from me. I get more bang for the buck by sticking with smaller organizations that are often overlooked by others. The big guys don't need my money, the little guys do, and the little guys make a more obvious impact in my community.

Also, I have yet to have a smaller charitable organization violate their promise to keep my donation and identity a secret.