Charity Solicitations

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I am curious to hear the group's take on this. Recently, I received a solicitation from a well known Catholic Charitable Organization for their new Mastercard. Use it, and a small percentage of every purchase goes to this organization. How do you feel about this type of solicitation?

Pax et Bonum.

-- Thomas (tcdzomba@catholic.org), April 22, 2004

Answers

I guess I am asking because I am not too comfortable with this type of solicitation. I am not sure I can say exactly why, except that this rubs me the wrong way. A terrible explanation, admittedly.

Pax et Bonum.

-- Thomas (tcdzomba@catholic.org), April 22, 2004.


I don't think that encouraging usury is the best way to go about raising funds for a Catholic charity.

-- Brian Crane (brian.crane@cranemills.com), April 22, 2004.

If you're going to charge "stuff" anyway, why not let a piece go to something good. (As opposed to where ever it would go anyway.)

I can understand your concern, and I tend to obsess about everything. This could certainly be something I could see myself worring about, but for some reason, this doesn't bother me. I imagine they (the Church, or Catholic Charities etc.) are to get a pecentage of the "fee" that is charged anyway. You might want to investigate exactly where the $ is going.

-- JimFurst (furst@flash.net), April 22, 2004.


Hi Thomas to me personally its appalling, I realise people make their own choices but credit cards encourage(sometimes very desperate)people to live beyond their means and can destroy families and lives with often cripling rates of interest.For a Catholic "charity" to get involved in this extortion is beyond belief to me. ARe you able to name this so called "charitable" organisation?

-- kiwi (csisherwood@hotmail.com), April 22, 2004.

I don't like it, but for two reasons. 1) having credit encourages people to buy more, period, whether they pay it off every month, or carry a balance. 2) anytime the credit card companies devise a new plan to let some organization get a piece of the action, well, guess what, all other prices go up, and it gets very difficult, if not impossible, to get cash discounts for anything these days. The merchants raise prices for all.

And, as others have pointed out, where is the money going? I get so tired of ongoing fundraisers. I guess it's a "painless" way to donate, but people should think before they donate, no matter who is asking for money. Where's it going, how many people are getting paid, why are they getting paid this much above minimum wage (and don't give me any nonsense about "living wage"), etc.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), April 23, 2004.



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