Donating to Charities
I’ve never been big on donating money to charities, but I’ve never really given it much thought. It was more the annoyance of having someone knock on my door and then make demands about how I donate money to their charity.
For example, one night around 9pm a man knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to donate to a charity that preserves rain forests and so on. I’m a bit of a greenie, so I was ready to give him some money but he refused the cash. “We are looking for a donation that we take monthly – as a regular thing”. I explained to him that I was travelling next year and had no idea what my financial situation would be like, but I would be happy to donate as a once-off thing. He refused again and gave me same story about the “monthly commitment”. It was pretty obvious that he was getting a cut of the monthly commitment, and as a result wasn’t interested in my genuine donation. He left empty handed and I walked back inside frustrated with the world.
Ever since a friend asked me to donate to a charity quite some time ago, I’ve given it some thought, and to be honest I ask myself “what is the point”.
For instance, charities supporting cancer research are just misguided, and wasting money on research for a wonder drug, when clearly the solution is a good diet and a healthy lifestyle. Doctors receive essentially no training on nutrition, despite it being the most important thing in our lives, and good nutrition being the most plausible way to “beat” cancer.
I plan to pick some well thought out charities that I believe strongly in, and donate to them only. I think it’s a better way of going about making donations.