Awhile back my company started communicating that they had partnered with a certain major charity (I won't name them but if you think of big charities, this particular group is one of the biggest) and sent out a memo to all departments saying how awesome <big charity> was and how we should be so incredibly thrilled to have the opportunity to pitch in and help them out!
A couple of weeks after that, posters began appearing in employee only areas around the building. The top half is the logo of the Charity and the bottom half is (once again) all about how awesome they are and how we should feel so inspired to donate to them.
It also mentions that if we donate to them we get...wait for it....A FREE T-SHIRT
A couple of weeks later, more posters showed up next to the old ones, this time they gave a numbers breakdown of how little it would cost us to donate to <big charity>. Basically, they are looking for employees to contribute one hour of pay per check to <big charity>. Of course at the bottom of these new posters, it says:
Donate now! It will cost you ONLY $XX.XX for the whole year!
As if that weren't enough, when I wandered into the break room for a few minutes this morning they now have a 55 inch TV set up playing a commercial for <big charity> on an endless loop and in front of it forms to sign up for the payroll deduction.
This bothers me for two reasons.
1) I do not like <big charity>. They have been involved in some controversies and there's much speculation about how much of their donations actually go to the causes they collect for vs. how much goes to marketing/overhead/paying the big wigs/etc.
2) I understand the company is really big on this, but the ever increasing pressure to donate is getting annoying. Of course they can't FORCE us to donate, but they certainly do a good job of shoving it in our face every day at work with all the ads around the property.
I DO donate to charity, but I donate to smaller groups and to places where I KNOW that what I provide will do good. I recently donated 20 pounds of food to my Church food bank. I am MUCH happier doing things like that than throwing my money into the apparent vortex that is <big charity>.
A couple of weeks after that, posters began appearing in employee only areas around the building. The top half is the logo of the Charity and the bottom half is (once again) all about how awesome they are and how we should feel so inspired to donate to them.
It also mentions that if we donate to them we get...wait for it....A FREE T-SHIRT
A couple of weeks later, more posters showed up next to the old ones, this time they gave a numbers breakdown of how little it would cost us to donate to <big charity>. Basically, they are looking for employees to contribute one hour of pay per check to <big charity>. Of course at the bottom of these new posters, it says:
Donate now! It will cost you ONLY $XX.XX for the whole year!
As if that weren't enough, when I wandered into the break room for a few minutes this morning they now have a 55 inch TV set up playing a commercial for <big charity> on an endless loop and in front of it forms to sign up for the payroll deduction.
This bothers me for two reasons.
1) I do not like <big charity>. They have been involved in some controversies and there's much speculation about how much of their donations actually go to the causes they collect for vs. how much goes to marketing/overhead/paying the big wigs/etc.
2) I understand the company is really big on this, but the ever increasing pressure to donate is getting annoying. Of course they can't FORCE us to donate, but they certainly do a good job of shoving it in our face every day at work with all the ads around the property.
I DO donate to charity, but I donate to smaller groups and to places where I KNOW that what I provide will do good. I recently donated 20 pounds of food to my Church food bank. I am MUCH happier doing things like that than throwing my money into the apparent vortex that is <big charity>.
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