Donating anonymously?

[CathyA]

I have quit donating to environmental organizations because they start sending me constant mailings and requests for more money. The resources they use up just to send me these mailings probably costs more than any donation I have made to them. How would I donate anonymously?
Thanks.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I don't know for sure, possibly some prepaid credit card that is anonymous, not sure how else. I hear you though I won't donate either. When I go visit a nature preserve I've stuffed a bunch of 20s in the donation box so that's how I donate anonymously! (seem to real deal as well, buying up land, advocating for national park etc. status for the land they've bought etc.). But otherwise donate to a charity and get on a mailing list, ugh no.....

[Float On]

I'm so done too. My husband has a luggage fetish (well, that's what I call it) and all those mailings with donations for a free gift of a messenger bag or backpack, etc. agh!!!!!
I try to get to the mailbox first and destroy in tiny pieces any of those mailings.

[lac]

When I'm in your situation, I sometimes return a request for donations with the note "I can no longer donate to your organization because I see all my donations are being used to send me more requests for donations". I stopped donating to the organizations that pummel me with donation requests.

[bae]

I direct many of my donations through our local community foundation, to give me a cut-out.

[JaneV2.0]

I notice a few years ago many Paypal clients were really pushing for a way to donate anonymously; apparently nothing ever came of that. A pity.

[jp1]

I'm a big fan of organizations that recognize this and provide an opt out of paper mailings. However, I'm equally annoyed by organizations that send a bazillion emails. At work the other day I finally opted out of a professional organization's emails when I literally had 5 emails in a row in my inbox, all from them. I like to travel (or more accurately I hate to travel but enjoy being other places) but really, I'm not going to go to this organization's receptions in Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle all in one week.

[rosarugosa]

I primarily donate though my employer's program, which matches us 50% with no upward limit, and we have a choice whether or not to make our info known to the recipient organizations. These are all people-focused charities. Outside of that, I give to a couple of small local organizations that don't have the resources to send me a bunch of mail (Melrose Humane Society and Friends of Lynn Woods).

[Miss Cellane]

You can always go to the bank and get a cashier's check, which will not have your name on it. Then send the check to the charity.

[JaneV2.0]

I give to several animal charities (Seattle Humane, Portland Humane, Fences for Fido), and I enjoy getting periodic progress reports. As long as their mailings include pictures of sweet rescues and or heart-tugging stories, they can keep 'em coming. The rest of the entities I donate to, not so much. And don't get me started on the ones that call...

[sweetana3]

Jane, my rule is if you call, you get nothing, zero,zip. We had to explain that to the alumni association.

[Float On]

There is one I wish I'd get some mailings from but maybe I haven't hit the minimum threshold. I only give small amounts to "balance out" when I accidentally get a military discount due to my last name. Its an organization that trains dogs for military vets with PTSD. I wouldn't mind reading some puppy training stories or recipient stories. All I ever get from them is the end of the year statement, never anything begging for money.

[creaker]

I ended up terminating my relationship with Doctors without Borders - the agency they used got downright aggressive in trying to get further donations. Like multiple calls every week at off hours.

[SteveinMN]

Jane, my rule is if you call, you get nothing, zero,zip. We had to explain that to the alumni association.
My alumni association has been calling me lately. Every. Single. Day. for the last two-plus weeks. They never leave a message. It's stunning, really. I do donate but really dislike the well-meaning-but-truly-unconcerned attempts at chit-chat before the "ask." I may have to communicate a similar message to the AA. It's easy enough to mute the phone but I'd just as soon not be interrupted with that at all.....


I ended up terminating my relationship with Doctors without Borders - the agency they used got downright aggressive in trying to get further donations. Like multiple calls every week at off hours.
Same here. I think I donated to them after the Haiti disaster and I finally had to tell them to just stop. It bothered me that they're spending so much money and energy on such frequent mailings and emails.

I call it "the firehose of requests". Kind of like the firehose that comes when you give a company your email address as part of an on-line order. No, I'm sorry, Internet Seller Of Stuff, I just don't need to buy shoes or power tools or computer stuff as often as you send me emails. And if the email stream is all-or-nothing, I will chose nothing every time.