It is with great hesitation that I criticize a charitable organization publicly. However, after spending the past several YEARS trying to have my information removed from Oxfam’s mailing list, I must vent. With the kindest of intentions, I unsuspectingly bought a set of their holiday cards, 12 years ago, and have been subsequently subscribed to the official “Mailing List from HELL.”
No matter how often I protest their incessant mailings and repeatedly request removal from their list, yet another solicitation arrives, like today’s. This is exactly the irresponsible kind of behavior that utterly discourages charitable donations. I have moved clear across the United States and their mailings persist. I have phoned them. I have mailed them. No matter what, they don’t seem to give a damn about my wishes and insist on sending more unwanted mail.
Over the weekend I spoke to a friend who noted that she has so many mailing labels from charities and political organizations that she could wallpaper an entire wall with them. She gave to one animal rights organization who in turn shared her information with several others. Now she is inundated with mail from them all and feels overwhelmed. When I mentioned that I was considering sending money to one org, she warned me about the onslaught of unwanted and undesired mail that would be the inevitable consequence of my behavior. Why do charities and non-profits share a private donor’s information without consent in the first place?
In the wake of the Haitian earthquake, the overly aggressive and utterly inconsiderate actions of organizations like Oxfam only dissuade people from donating. You’re much safer anonymously chucking your change into those collection jars at Starbuck’s, so that you can’t be hounded eternally. I am now honestly considering, just sending cash in envelopes with no return address and hoping for the best.
That being said, giving is important. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to allocate 3% of my grossly monthly income to various causes. Since 2007 most of my giving has fortunately gone to U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, who thankfully, have never hit me up for another cent. They seem to understand and appreciate that I’m doing what I can, and I have fun shopping for items for them and making up the packages. Also, I gave to Heifer International at Xmas 2008. They have a place on their online form, if I recall correctly, where you can opt out of mailings. Unlike Oxfam, they have TOTALLY respected my wishes, so I would absolutely consider donating to them again, and in fact highly recommend them to the charity weary. It’s orgs like Oxfam who ruin it for orgs who respectfully and responsibly treat their donors. Let’s not even get into the unconscionable waste tens of thousands of trees and hundreds of pounds of pollution pumped into the air with the fuel used to deliver their unwanted solicitations. For the record, I am just as harsh on businesses who send unwanted catalogs. I never thought I’d say that I regret giving, but today’s envelope is the last straw with Oxfam. It’s time to apply do not mail/call laws to non-profits. I doubt this post will stop Oxfam’s mail. But if it steers even one person to a more responsible organization, then it’s worth posting.
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