charities

[em]

all these charities asking for money at the grocery store and other stores check out of all places  and it seems they are everywhere else looking to get a donation for there causes . 

I recall a while back sitting in my apartment with advanced AIDS  . granted this was over twenty years ago. I saw all these AIDS fundraisers going on.  I was behind on my rent and bills eating rice and ramen noodles that was all I could afford and they went right through me . all that kept going through my mind was I am going to be dead soon .

Not once was there a knock at my door from some charity saying we raised money for people with AIDS and we are here to help you . Maybe I needed to reach out to contact them or whatever . I had a social worker that maybe could have told me about these charities but did not ?

It was a long time ago but it makes me  think when they ask for money does it really go to help those they say they are helping ?

I have donated out of guilt and not wanting the people behind me at the register to think I am heartless and do not care about others . but it makes me wonder if those people they say they are going to help are not sitting alone someplace suffering wondering why the world does not care . some charity organizer is out there buying a new suit, car and  beach house  while planing some expensive vacation on the money raised to help those in need while they get nothing . 


I do not know but this haunts me and makes me wonder about people saying one thing and doing something entirely different when no one is looking .


just wanted to see if anyone else thinks this might be

all the best to you

EM

[Jim Allen]

Personally, It depends on the charity.

When they have bag packing events here, if it's a local registered charity that I know, I'll give money.  I'll avoid giving to any international charities or anything not registered though.

[Jim Allen]

Just to add here we have The Charities Regulator, so it's all registered and they have to publish the books yearly and publicly so you can see where the funding is being spent.

Not sure if that is the same in the US?

[leatherman]

Not once was there a knock at my door from some charity saying we raised money for people with AIDS and we are here to help you . Maybe I needed to reach out to contact them or whatever . I had a social worker that maybe could have told me about these charities but did not ?
It was a long time ago but it makes me  think when they ask for money does it really go to help those they say they are helping ?   

I have to say I have chewed on those same sour grapes. After my bouts of aids/PCP and deaths of 2 partners, all I've ever wished for is for someone to bring ME the damned casserole this time. Oh, I'm still too good of a guy and will sometime in the future be burned again for being a good guy but that doesn't mean I have to like all the times people have stepped on me after I helped them. My HIV volunteer/advocacy work has been a 2-edged sword. I helped raised a lot of awareness and funding and engaged in some very fulfilling work; but in my times of need, there wasn't any help. Ce la vie though. I've gotten through a lot worse than being disrespected or untreated by other people. And like you, I often have to wonder the who/where/what/why of how others have gotten assistance.

I have donated out of guilt and not wanting the people behind me at the register to think I am heartless and do not care about others . but it makes me wonder if those people they say they are going to help are not sitting alone someplace suffering wondering why the world does not care . some charity organizer is out there buying a new suit, car and  beach house  while planing some expensive vacation on the money raised to help those in need while they get nothing . 

what donations (money) I have ever given have always been to some local organization that I know. They are always established agencies; not friends, or start-ups, or fly-by-night organizations. And quite frankly, they have almost always been agencies that handle HIV treatment. The only other agency I have ever donated money to has always been my local fire department. I only earn a small SS amount so my donations are small but it is extra to what I pay for the pancake breakfast or bag of popcorn sold at the firefighters' safety-fair booth. I know my small amount means little in the big scheme of things, but I had a house fire a long time ago. Those firefighters saved my home (although greatly damaged) - but most importantly saved my 5 cocker spaniels. Welcome Wagon never knocked on my door; the police never caught any of the people who robbed my houses; but the firefighters DID come to our rescue.

[leatherman]

so it's all registered and they have to publish the books yearly and publicly so you can see where the funding is being spent.

that's good advice - research. before changing states (and doctors, and Ryan White funding, and state Medicaid, and 1000 other things) I researched the financials of the local AIDS service organization for my new location and knew exactly their funding, their payments and how much the director was earning.

A few yrs prior the largest local (Charlotte) ASO had imploded as the director and several management staff were charged with embezzling and other crimes. A huge amount of PLWH in the area were forced to find other providers, and even providers had to find new positions in other agencies or open new practices. The smaller provider I was looking at (just across the state line in SC) had been in business since long before that major provider blowing up, had steady growth, and was financially sound. Then I looked up federally-required Ryan White documents on my potential provider to make sure they were actually delivering quality health care with that financial standing. Having survived all the aids I sure wasn't going to move somewhere where they couldn't treat me properly and keep me alive.

[MarkintheDark]

Oh, that this subject should come up now as I'm facing destitution by the end of the year, if not sooner.

My big name ASO is no help; a foul-tempered, over-caffeinated case manager half my age who regards people like me with contempt, telling me disability is unlikely to even be approved for two years.  So, in desperation, I took my SSR early.  I've kept my head above water, but still fight PTSD (or whatever they're calling it for us LTS), long term clinical depression and anxiety.  I fight fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath.  While they're spending USD300K on an art installation, I'm about to become homeless.  In desperation, I even started a GoFundMe page.

For all the ASO's glowing, self-congratulatory talk and PR, I'm simply one person who, at 64, has survived with this for 27 years and who needs some people to genuinely care for me by taking some of the pressure off.  I wonder if they realize just how far that indulgent $300K art installation would go towards helping one person?

[wardp]

Thank God for the red Cross and the Thai red Cross in particular. If the super rich stopped hiding their billions in the Cayman islands etc the world would need less charities. How much  money does someone really need to live on.? Greed is a terrible affliction. Charities are now big business just look at how much the top guys get paid by some of these charities. It's outrageous.

[lightalltheway]

The main cause is the exposure of the marginalised, side-tracked, less fortunate and needy individuals and/ or minorities. The act of exposing their vulnerability for me is overwhelming most of the time as it commodifies their pain and suffering.

When I look at international agencies that addresses issues related to those sort of stuff, it makes me wonder how each year the attention swift from an area of concern to another. Just like magic. For example: the sustainable development goals SDG1 and SDG5 .. etc.

In developing countries, I knew through a well-off connection, that three quarters of ANY international aid/ help/ donation goes to local state while the rest goes for the main cause. And yes, you see them in their fancy cars and mansions, living a life that is so unreal to be true.

I trained myself to look at things from a stand point theory; when I want to give and/ or help, I surely know somebody who knows someone who is in need. I go directly and I contribute.

Whilst the world now seems to be so complicated more than ever before, people (like you and myself) are more aware of what's going on around them.

Light all the way,
Prince