Hi Iḿ Louise. Someone sent me a message on social media that I ´should donate to their charity´ as a way of giving back. After looking them up and finding them to be reputable, I decided to give it a go. The process was very confusing and involved me having to set up some kind of account when I just wanted to make a one off donation.
Iḿ now getting bombarded with messages about how i ´promised´ (which I didn´t!) to donate and why I hadn´t done so.
I believe that charity comes from the heart of the giver, and should not be pursued for monetary gain especially from a seemingly christian organisation.
Does anyone have any advice how I can handle this? (I´m asking God for help too)
That’s the only problem with online giving. You get a lot of automated messages, asking for more. Just like in the old days before the internet, when I gave to an organization, my mailbox was full of letters asking for more money. And not just from the charity I donated to, I think they probably sold my info to other charities. I felt like they were spending my donation on postage and fancy letters, just to ask for more! Anyways, I got off track, just look for an unsubscribe link in the email if you want them to stop. If that doesn’t work, direct all future emails from that address to junk mail.
Ignore the messages. Block them, label them junk, etc. You may be able to unsubscribe then just wait it out.
Search for the charities you believe in. I like a couple that provide Bibles in foreign lands to struggling or underground Christian churches. I also donate to a group that supports martyrs for the faith. And I donate to one that feeds children.
Even those YOU pick and choose may sell your address to other similar organizations so do not be surprised. I get a dozen or more requests in the mail per week and half as many per day via email. Just got to live with it and carry on.
I believe most of my donations are handled via PayPal.
You are taking quite a risk selecting your charities from social media. Most are scams. When in doubt, check out https://www.charitynavigator.org/. Charity Navigator will give you the scoop on the charity. As you have discovered, once you donate, you will be pestered by the organization to keep on giving and then they will sell your information and you will be contacted by other “charities.” Good luck!
Internet is full of scams be cautious. A Godly organization shouldn’t force people to donate. There many people hiding in those organizations but when they are after money. But put it in prayer God will direct you where to donate. There so many peoplewho need help out here and me and my family not my real family(mostly single mothers and children ) need that help to establish small business for the women so that they can take care of there children. When you start a business that woman wont be begging forever. Children need scholastic materials girls have no under clothes and pads during their period so many other things but us we don’t know where to get that help since we don’t have connections or internet.
I handle charitable giving the same way I handle things like auto mechanics or home repair; I do not go with someone who approaches me. I decide what is important to me and I go find their way of receiving donations. You said:
After looking them up and finding them to be reputable, I decided to give it a go. The process was very confusing and involved me having to set up some kind of account when I just wanted to make a one off donation.
It sounds like what may have happened was that a scammer used the NAME of a reputable charity, but then set up a website that took the money to THEIR accounts, not the charity. They were counting on the name of the reputable charity to get your heart strings.
Most (I would say just about all) reputable charities offer options to make it easy to donate (after all, if you get frurstrated by the process, you might not donate!
Speaking for myself, aside from tithing to my church, my two favorite charities support both national and local ministries; Convoy of Hope is the charitable arm of the Assemblies of God denomination. They have a team that responds to natural disasters but they also bring relief into low income communities with food distributions, health services and even hair cuts!
Operation Love Ministries is a local (Anderson Indiana) multi-service agency which has a food pantry, utility assistance, a clothing “store” where people can come and shop for clothing for them or their family members. And starting this year, with the donation of a small partial of land, they are growing a community garden to provide FRESH vegetables to the community!