JLP at All Financial Matters asked his readers how they handle cold calls from charities. Is there a way to handle these kinds of calls gracefully when there's no interest in giving to the charity? JLP asks: “How do you say no to legitimate calls for help without feeling guilty?”
I'm not anti-charity and we do support several, and we give generously to our church. But at the same time, I have no problem just hanging up without a word as soon as I realize it's a charity. Absolutely none whatsoever. That sounds cold — and for all I know it might be — but here are the three main reasons:
- The charities don't take the hint. You'd think after hanging up on them two dozen times that it would be pretty clear that I don't want to donate. Nope. This doesn't enter the equation because …
- The charities don't have to take the hint. Even if I tell them I don't ever want to give and that they're wasting their time calling me, charities are exempt from the laws governing the National Do Not Call Registry. I cannot stop them from calling. From the Business FAQ page on DoNotCall.org:
- Charities will continue to ask for money. Most charities worth supporting have legitimate reasons to ask for money, but when's the last time you heard a fundraising drive end early because they raised enough money? The charities that we support always, always continue to offer us opportunities to give more.
The National Do Not Call Registry does not limit calls by political organizations, charities, or telephone surveyors.
The few charities that call us at home again and again — the “usual suspects” — are ones that we've never had any interest in supporting. In most cases the charities we support don't call us. That's why I don't feel the slightest twinge of guilt hanging up on the ones who do. The calling rules are set up in their favor, but I can still control the length of the call.
I couldn't agree more.
I'll add one thing – when you hang up on a telemarketer (charity or not) you are actually doing them a favor by not wasting their time – they can move on to the next call right away.
Mike
For me, a quick "not interested, thanks" as soon as they start talking works and is passably polite. The people who let the poor sods continue their spiel aren't being pleasant, they're wasting two people's time.
I don't have too many charities call me, because I only have a cell phone; however, the ones that do (usually because I gave them a donation in the past) are quite persistent, as you say. As soon as I can get a word in edgewise, I politely tell them I'm not interested at this time. (If it's my alma mater, I tell them I'm not giving money until I'm done paying off my student loans.)
I do actually know of one organization that ends their fundraising drive(s) as soon as they meet their goal: one of the Boston NPR stations, WGBH, started doing that about a year ago. They now advertise ahead of time that they will begin the fund drive on a certain date and end it as soon as they meet their goal – it seems to get people to give more and earlier, since they know their contribution will cut time off the fundraising.
I usually tell them that I'm on the national Do Not Call list and wait for them to "remind" me that they're exempt. That's when I tell them that in my eyes, they just another unwanted telemarketer and insist on being put on their do not call list and "remind" them that since they didn't respect my wish to not be called, they will never see a dime from me so calling again would be pointless.
I give everything I'm able to give at church, where I know exactly how and where my dollars are spent.
Hey guys – let's not be rude here – it never hurt anyone to just smile ( yes, you can hear a smile on the phone) and say "good luck with your endeavours, but I am really not interested as I already donate to several charities" – then you can hang up…………….what goes around my friend……….
I have seen all kinds of fundraising – from magazines to other things that I buy to make the neighbor kids feel happy. How about coffee – something I can really use;)
This has been very bothersome for me. Why can’t our representatives who are supposed to reflect our interests change the DNC law instead of hiding behind “the law doesn’t allow us to do anything?” I have been getting calls and solicitations daily for my mother, who died over a year ago and even my father who died 35 years ago. These organizations have no sense of responsibility and feel they can invaded the privacy of people’s homes because their lobbyists make sure we can’t get to them. There is no reason to exempt charities and the “free speech” argument is spurious. Should someone be able to knock on your door to harangue you because of “free speech”? All they care about is money. I try to ask them how they got my number and why they think a complete stranger would give money to them and they finally hang up.
You really don’t even know if they are real or a scam I just hang up
because you just don’t know
Lenny, good point. It really is hard to know. It’s wise not to give money over the phone if you didn’t place the call, in any case.