The worst offenders in my eyes are the [...]]]> This posting over at Midlife Beginnings and the giving campaign going on in my office have prompted me to share my thoughts on organized office giving campaigns. While the intentions are good, the way most offices go about conducting charitable giving campaigns offends me to no end.

The worst offenders in my eyes are the United Way campaigns I have seen so far during my working years. I don’t support the United Way for three reasons:

1. United Way supports charities whose missions I simply do not support. Why should my money go to a cause I am opposed to?
2. United Way is pretty much just a middleman. United Way doesn’t really serve any real purpose other than raising money for other charities. Of course, that costs money which goes to pay for overhead and not charitable causes.
3. The tactics United Way encourages companies to use to pry open employees’ wallets.

It is the last of those reasons that really offend me. In every campaign I have seen, United Way encourages use of social pressure to get people to donate. I’ve seen campaigns where leaders would place balloons or signs on employee cubicles of those who had given, in part to single out those who for whatever reason chose not to give. The constant reminders via email and phone calls to give to the campaign. The nerve to tell employees what the United Way thinks they should give, and referring to it as “Your Fair Share”, as if there is some obligation to give money to the United Way. A friend of ours who was a recent graduate with tons of debt asked about donating time instead of money, and was rebuffed and made to feel like she was being stingy for trying to be financial responsible and giving of herself instead of her checkbook.

My feeling is that my charitable giving is none of my employer’s business. When I choose to give, to whom I choose to give, how I choose to give, and what amount I choose to give is my business and no one else’s. I choose to give most of my charitable donations to my church (which I have never had the option to do through office campaigns, United Way or not) and make other donations of cash and household goods to several other organizations. Because I choose not to give through the office says nothing about my generosity, and I consider having someone in my office getting a report saying where I choose to donate a major invasion of my privacy.

I do think there is a place for charity in the workplace, especially for organizing volunteer work. Having a group of people that are used to working together for the good of a company makes a natural fit to have those same people work together for the good of a charity. Even monetary giving campaigns have a place, since unfortunately most people these days are not active in a church and don’t choose to give to religious organizations that perform many of the same humanitarian functions performed by other charitable non-religious organizations. Campaigns in the office are good for giving these people an outlet for charitable giving and introducing them to great charitable organizations. However, when companies pressure employees to give is when these campaigns cross the line.

It may sound stingy, but that’s my two cents.