Dear LPG,

Have you noticed how the television appeals for Charity become more plentiful just before Christmas and Easter?  

I am happy to give a few pence from time to time, but the people who a couple of years ago, would normally have been standing in the shopping centre with their collecting tins, have now been replaced with people who tell you that they cannot accept your cash but who want you to give away your bank details so that they can take regular donations from you by direct debit.  To be quite honest, now days it is hard to tell when they begin to approach you, if they are trying to sell you something like broadband or persuade you to commit to giving to charity.

I am not sure about anyone else but I think there was something about having a few extra pennies in your purse that you could feed into one of those boxes that left you with the warm fuzzy feeling that you had done a little good deed on the day.  However, I don’t feel rich enough to commit to monthly subscriptions and I find it a bit threatening to be writing down my bank account details and personal information in the middle of the street. 

I am happy to give the money that I find spare on the day, but I am not rich enough to know if I will be able to give the same next month and I liked the anonymity of being able to drop money in a box when I have it to give.

I know that there is the argument surrounding the trustworthiness of those now-redundant people who used to collect the cash.   Another off-putting aspect for me is the question like the one highlighted in your news post on October 9^th 2017.  The ongoing question of how much of that cash actually gets to the people in need also continues, but regardless of if you donate by telephone, online, or when stopped in a shopping centre it all seems wrong to me.  I wonder if thoughts like mine are shared by other potential donators and if such thoughts affect the success of what charities collect these days.   

OY, Catford

There is lots of information on this subject.  LPG found just a little for you…

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