Two weeks ago there was an item on the news about a London resident who had been cheated by
a con artist selling tickets for a make-believe children’s charity. Last week there was a warning by
police about a request for donations to the Children’s Services Christmas Fund – again a scam.
There was also a story about a man on trial for taking photos of desperately sick children off the Internet, without permission, and using them to make posters placed on fake charity donation boxes.
This time of year, incidents like these are all too common. Most people are fi lled with the spirit of
giving, and behave with extra kindness and generosity.
Even those who usually brush off requests for donations tend to drop their guard a bit at this
time of year and take the opportunity to help a charity by picking up a couple of draw tickets to slip into someone’s Christmas stocking. Not only are people in the mood to give, they are a little more vulnerable than usual, too. Everyone is busy this time of year, and bombarded with images of what the holidays should be like – merry and filled with fun, friends and family gathered from afar, boughs of holly on the mantle and everything bathed in the glow of cinnamon-scented candlelight. A lot of us find ourselves wishing for a break from the blatant commercialism and a return to the true meaning of Christmas.
Then comes the knock at the door, and the cheerful person with a story that tugs at the heartstrings
offers us a chance to be part of the holiday magic.
Our $20, or $50, or $100 donation helped make Christmas a little brighter for a sick child. How wonderful. Until we discovered the tickets for the draw had no lottery licence number on them,
meaning they were fake. We learned the charity in question does not exist, or does not solicit funds
via phone calls. And we might even have learned that when we left the room to get the nice man
selling the tickets a drink of water, he emptied our wallet. So much for the holiday spirit. All it got us
this round was a quick and hard lesson on how con artists work. Bah, humbug.
The sad part is a lot of real charities depend on our generosity at this time of year – not just to ensure
everyone has a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings and gifts under the tree, but to continue
the wonderful work they do all year long. This is the time of year when they depend on getting those
donations in the names of relatives who have everything,
those contributions in memory of loved ones no longer with us.
The fact some nefarious individuals try to grab some of those generous donations for themselves is no reason to stop giving. It is a reason to think before we open our doors, wallets and hearts. It is easy enough to check to make sure a charity is real, and the person collecting for it is authorized to do so.
We also should fi nd out how much is actually going to the cause we want to support. There are bonafide charities that use paid canvassers, and some devote an unbelievably high percentage of
money to administration and fundraising. Many charities gladly provide information on the percentage that goes to help people, research or whatever, and if our favourite charity does not, we might want to rethink making that donation. Checking the facts and planning our charitable gifts before we write the cheques does not make us Grinches. All it does is ensure the money we give goes where we want it to. Every $20 the con artist snags is $20 less going to help the sick child or needy family.
Forking over a charitable donation on impulse may give us a warm and fuzzy feeling we are doing good, but we can do a lot more good with our money if we leave the con artists out of the equation.
Make it your New Year’s resolution to start the year off right – put together your 2012 donation list, and check it twice. You not only puts thieves out of business, you guarantee local charities like hospitals and churches are not forgotten.
To you and yours -
All the best in the New Year