Why do charites only want money?
Submitted by admin on May 4, 2009 – 6:17 pm10 Comments
Anita D asked:
There are other things 2 give like toys and blankets that r hardly used. Other than salvation Army, why can’t I donate clothes to shelters, & if that is the case why can’t I find anything about who excepts them? When the Tsunami hit, red cross was asking 4 money 4 blankets, all the blankets people have in their house they could be donating and then RC could use money 4 other items. It is situtation like this, I really don’t understand. It seems that they want money to get what they want and there is so much stuff out in the US that people buy don’t use and then throw away. I really don’t get it.
It is far easier to transport money. Money is also more versatile and doesn’t require storage.
Because money doesn’t need to be shipped like objects, not until they buy things with them. Giving someone 10 dollars is probably going to do better than giving them you old blanklet which is worth almost nothing.
By accepting money they can purchase items that people usually don’t think to donate. RC staff also travel to various locations during emergencies as with all agencies of this type I am sure that they set aside a small portion of donations to make sure that those donated items reach the intended locations.
I’m not sure where you live, but there are places that collect items for local disaster victims, I belong to freecycle.com and you join for your local area, and there is always someone collecting stuff for people who need it like fire victims etc. Your local Red Cross probably has a list of people or places looking for items.
i dont know about other countries but in india it is better to give cash as gifts as it will be more useful… sadly in india people usually tend to dispose off the old and useless items that they want to throw away!!! this is NOT charity! whatever is donated should be USEFUL to them. i have seen people give away torn clothes and medicines whose expiry dates were long over during the Gujarat earthquakes…. so for this reason all organizations prefer money.
because it doesn’t require warehousing and a staff
I have been with Red Cross for over 15 years as a volunteer. It is much cheaper to buy in the country country rather than storing and transporting to another country. Red Cross does not have storage facilites for donated items. Normally money is given to clients to aid in their recovery rather than goods.
The shipping cost to send all those blankets to the countries affected is way too high. They take the money and buy the blankets in the countries affected, thereby not only helping the people in the shelters but also helping to support a possibly faltered economy.
I work in a local church thrift store and you wouldn’t believe some of the dirty,torn and stained items we receive that people give us! For every good person like you, ten others just use us as free garbage disposal! We ask for gently used items but some think the poor should be “happy” to get anything. Also don’t always think of those overseas, there are plenty of depressed areas in the US like here in rural Kentucky!
Not were I donate. I donate to two children’s hospices, as well as the Pencil Project and they take anything and everything. Not just money.