Enough with the begging already

[Brah]

Gnarly, dude...

[x9200]

I work as a non-registered volunteer for one of the charity organisations here for the disabled and whenever I try to engage people around here to help out in events or some heavy routine work on ad hoc basis,

"Will our names be listed out in their bulletins or something?"

I never could get it. Does this actually work or this is one gigantic plot where everybody in this world pretend that they don't see the obvious? Personally I avoid buying products where the manufacturer use their "charity" records to advertise it.
Few years ago one of the biggest petrol companies in the region ran a TV add where a poor Indian guy (sobbing, touchy images of him running an old motorbike and finding a shelter from the rain in the petrol station) was taken care of. I stopped buying petrol from them. Does majority do the opposite?

[ecureilx]

Ecureilx, I have clearly touched a particularly raw nerve and for that I apologise. My rant was toward the practice, not you.

not annoyed but you are like a broken record sort of implying charities are scamming and there is no accountability .. in simple words ..

On another note, it hasn't escaped my attention that only the sexy charities get the masses to lift a pinky finger here. Just watch and see how ex-convicts, former drug users, or even AIDS charities get treated around here. Now THOSE I help. The children, you're damn right I don't.

now .. I am starting to think if I am talking to the wall .. are you sure the ex-convicts et al haven't come over to you asking you to buy the Angry Birds Key Chains etc. ? Not that I am against Ex-Convict, but trust me when I say this - unlike students and such, the ex-convicts who collect donation are more aggressive, persuasive and don't take an answer and one too many time scared the hell out of me and my friends ..

You got to go out and smell the air, and see what else happens in Singapore I guess .. than throw tantrum like a 5 years old ..

Are they allowed to collect in another way? Like a fundraising activity atleast they also Learn some fundraising and organizing skills.it seems their approach is not very popular

YMCA and SMU have such projects, YMCA-YouthForCauses (sponsored by Citi) and SMU - part of their learning program, and they are not always focussing on fund raising but also towards creating publicity for selected charities etc. been there, seen that, and done some little mentoring too.

Add to it, Jaycees and Rotary International do adopt charities and do projects, as a form of teaching youth project management and associated skills, like, for example in the Handicaps Association, the Center for Independent Living - a place for newly disabled to become enabled, was fully setup by Rotary International .. and Caritas has pledged to provide ongoing support.

My advice stands: if you don't like to donate, walk away .. nobody is threatening you to donate .. right ?

Or as I said before, you may have the classical look that says "I am free with my wallet, come over for donation .. "

[yuukaze]

As a Singaporean who has previously spent a few Saturday mornings/afternoons holding donation tins back in the day, I'd like to share a few tactics that I noticed many locals using : p

1. Pretend to talk on their mobile phones, then 'hang up' once they've passed

2. Donate a paltry 20c to get the 'sticker of immunity', then point to it when others approach them for donations

3. If in a group, one will donate a certain amount, and obtain said sticker. A few others in the group may also request for a sticker despite not having made a donation. At the next encounter with a student with a tin, all point to the person who has made the donation, who is now wearing the sticker like a badge of honour.

4. Walk really really really fast.



---------


Nowadays I find that there are more children selling tissue paper close to MRT stations in the heartlands - I think this is a far more pressing issue than people trying to solicit donations on the street : /

[nakatago]

As a Singaporean who has previously spent a few Saturday mornings/afternoons holding donation tins back in the day, I'd like to share a few tactics that I noticed many locals using : p

1. Pretend to talk on their mobile phones, then 'hang up' once they've passed

2. Donate a paltry 20c to get the 'sticker of immunity', then point to it when others approach them for donations

3. If in a group, one will donate a certain amount, and obtain said sticker. A few others in the group may also request for a sticker despite not having made a donation. At the next encounter with a student with a tin, all point to the person who has made the donation, who is now wearing the sticker like a badge of honour.

4. Walk really really really fast.

I just smile and stick out my hand indicating, "no." Why result to subterfuge?

[katbh]

What about just giving them something. It usually IS for a good cause. And are you really going to miss the $1 you give? Your are all sounding like tight arses! They are kids collecting for charities....

[sundaymorningstaple]

I'd be out of $40/day just in donations then. Nah. That's a bad way to go. I just say no.

[zzm9980]

It usually IS for a good cause.

And what evidence do you have of that? Quite a few charities are scams meant for enriching their organization more so than the causes they claim to represent. I can't research each group as I encounter them on the street to see if they're worth of my money.

[katbh]

Do you have so little money that you can not give some away. Charities are VERY tightly regulated in Singpapore - even the NKF were made accountable!

[zzm9980]

Do you have so little money that you can not give some away. Charities are VERY tightly regulated in Singpapore - even the NKF were made accountable!

Who are you to determine how I should handle my finances? Whether I make $5k or $30k a month, it's none of your business how I choose to spend it. Maybe I do give it away, but just not to leaches on the street who think they're doing a 'good work', but now apparently it's just so they get a better score in O-levels?

If they're so tightly regulated, why are they allowed to bang on my door and harass me, and then only take money if I agree to a monthly donation by credit card? Sounds like a scam to me.

[JR8]

Do you have so little money that you can not give some away. Charities are VERY tightly regulated in Singpapore - even the NKF were made accountable!

NKF, like Barings, super-tightly regulated - but only after the event.

How much money you might have, should have no bearing on that which you might wish to give away (proportionally).

Hectoring people into supposed 'charity' is in poor taste IMHO...

[sundaymorningstaple]

What do you expect......

Had they been a little more regulated, maybe that Ho from the CHC wouldn't have been able to rent that 25K/mo home in the US while trying to convince people that she could actually sing. Again, like charities, churches only taken to task after the fact.

[JR8]

Well, in as many words...

'Do you have so little money that you can not give some away', is to me crass: As who is to stand as my, or your, judge?

[Strong Eagle]

There are plenty of thieves in the USA.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/13/us/worst- ... ?hpt=hp_t5

[ecureilx]

What about just giving them something. It usually IS for a good cause. And are you really going to miss the $1 you give? Your are all sounding like tight arses! They are kids collecting for charities....

please Exclude me from the whining crowd

Do you have so little money that you can not give some away. Charities are VERY tightly regulated in Singpapore - even the NKF were made accountable!

Actually, for NKF, the whole saga turned out to be much ado about nothing, well, not exactly, but almost there, apart from the loss of public trust. While there was some misuse of funds, like the CEO fixing Gold Plated Taps in his toilet, and taking first class for travel etc., it wasn't to the extent that the public came to believe, that TT Durai robbed Millions. In reality, he left the organisation with a massive amount of reserves, too much reserves that my other volunteer groups were nearly jealous righfully, as most of the money in NKF's coffers would have been split among other needy charities as well, and which was proven right when the Govt split up the non-core elements of NKF

As for those who say all actions and remedies were late, well, if the govt had tightened the rules earlier, it would have been a case of people whining that the govt is stifling VWOs and charities

Same for churches. Even recently, when there was some talk of tightening some controls for Churches, an immediate hoo-ha rises, saying govt is controlling churches ..

Well, tough job being the Commissioner of Charities I guess.

BTW, for those in the know, The Portcullis List includes a Singapore Church as well ..

PS: for those who are insisting charities are scamming, do yourself a favour: go and complain to CPIB or COC !! than throwing wild accusations.