One overwhelmed donor asks for an end to excessive solicitations

The season of giving is upon us, and my mailbox is even fuller than usual. Since systematically canceling catalogs, that particular flood has receded. But it has been replaced by mail from charitable organizations that crests around the holiday season.

Some of this mail comes from charities I have already contributed to this year.

But invariably their acknowledgments of a donation include a new appeal, making me feel as if my donation was insufficient. Many of these mailings come with ample documentation, in full Technicolor on glossy paper, heart-rending pictures and lengthy statistics, contributing to the tons of paper that use up trees and burden recycling centers. A number of them also contain “free” gifts, like labels, cards, calendars or gift wrap, further eating into whatever contributions have been made to support their work. Instead of making me feel like making an additional donation, this waste seriously dampens, rather than stimulates my charitable impulses toward an organization.

In earlier days, when there were fewer solicitations, I used to return letters containing such gifts to the sender in an attempt to save them money, and hoping to get my message across at the same time. It never stopped them. Now, not wanting to contribute to further waste, I have started to use these things, telling myself that I have already paid for them, but fuming the whole time.

I have also found that it is useless to firmly tell an organization that they should consider my check my once-yearly contribution, by including a message with it. Though a human hand must open the envelope, the mailing lists are computer-generated and obviously don’t get personalized to account for such requests. The check is cashed, and the appeals keep coming — and keep getting thrown out.

Organizations with similar goals must also sell the list of their donors to likeminded ones. Donate to one environmental protection group, and you will find out how many of them there are with similar agendas — all worthy of support, all almost immediately inundating you with never-ending appeals. And this holds true for any cause one might support. They are joined by urgent appeals from ever more far-flung organizations that have somehow heard that here is a munificent person with a tender heart. None of them seems to register the fact that no contribution has ever been made to them by this particular recipient. Undaunted they waste their money on mailings — month after month, sometimes over years.

Charitable organizations have no way of knowing how deep the pockets of a donor are, but they must surely realize that none of us ordinary citizens has unlimited resources. How much easier it would be if we could allocate available funds once a year to those organizations we select as most meaningful to each of us, then send them their piece of the pie at whatever time of the year they prefer, and be done with it. It would save them a lot of money and us donors a lot of aggravation, and it would be better for the environment to boot.

Sometimes, there are unusual circumstances that stretch an organization to its limits and beyond. Increasingly, these are natural disasters, robbing people around the world of their homes and livelihoods. And this year, there is the pandemic, adding more misery that needs to be alleviated. I trust that anyone who can afford it will open their hearts and give to their utmost ability, even to the point of making personal sacrifices, in support of those on the front line of service to the victims. But such additional donations, too, should not be wasted on more computer-generated mailings. They should go directly to those who need them.