Charities versus panhandling

I’ve had my years of being broke and massively in debt. But, thanks to some combination of luck, hard work and persistence, I’m happy to be financially stable today and able to make a certain amount of charitable contributions the last few years.

And no one who knows me will be surprised to find I handle my charitable contributions in a fairly regular and anal-retentive fashion. Every December (the end of the tax year) I look at my total income for the year and decide how much I can afford to give. Then I spend some time researching various organizations and causes that are near and dear to my heart, investigating how much of the money goes to paying staff salaries and overhead. After making final selections, I write the checks, mail them off and save a note in my tax folder for the coming year. Easy.

What seems to inevitably follow over the coming year is that I get bombarded with snailmail on the order of two a week. “We appreciated your contribution to our hospital. Now we’ve lost our lease and need an another $220,000 from our contributors to get a new location.” “We’re using your contribution to fight those rascals in congress, but have you seen this latest bill in committee? We need your help now more than ever.” “Thank you for donating so generously to the Humane Society in December. Now give us more money or we’ll shoot this dog.” I can’t help but feel resentful as I get repeatedly panhandled by these groups throughout the following year. It’s like I once bought a beer for a guy in a bar and now every time he sees me I get hit up again.

Next year, every check I send will be accompanied by the following letter:

Please find enclosed a check for $XXX, my charitable contribution to your organization for 2003.

Please note: if I get a single solicitation for additional contributions over the next 11 months, this will be the last check you’ll ever get from me.

Regards,

What do you think? Am I becoming a curmudgeon in my old age?