Only 23% of British Columbian make donations

[q0192837465]

Shame on us, in our Christmas comfort
In B.C., only about 23 per cent make donations

Ethan Baron
The Province


Wednesday, December 16, 2009



CREDIT: Gerry Kahrmann, The Province
Salvation Army kettle hangs neglected Tuesday in a busy Vancouver shopping mall.

You see them on city sidewalks, young men and women with binders in their hands, urging passersby to donate money to Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International. Now, with the season of giving upon us, a new report has revealed how tough a job these people have getting British Columbians to part with their money.

Though a trip to any jam-packed mall will show that we're not too bad at buying presents for our loved ones, just-released research by the conservative Fraser Institute reveals that the buck pretty much stops there.

Barely one in five residents of B.C. gives money to charity, the institute says, basing its conclusions on income-tax data from the Canada Revenue Agency. This prosperous province, where only about 23 per cent of tax filers document charitable contributions, even falls below the Canadian average of 24 per cent.

And British Columbians, with the rest of Canadians, lag behind Americans in giving to charity. About 27 per cent of our neighbours to the south give to charitable causes, the institute's analysis of U.S. Internal Revenue Service figures shows.

Most of us in B.C., and in the rest of the country, have it pretty good. We can buy healthy food, and plenty of it. We can walk into a medical clinic or hospital and get treated for virtually anything that ails us. We can turn on the tap and drink clean, treated water.

Not so for billions of the rest of the people with whom we share this planet, even though many live in countries where natural resources and labour are transformed into profit by Canadian companies, boosting our standard of living while leaving impoverished citizens with little or nothing.

Our cellphones, laptops and computer games contain coltan, a blood-mineral that drives war and epidemic rape in the country that produces the majority of the ore-- the Democratic Republic of Congo, where fighting and conflict-related famine and disease have killed five million people, nearly as many as the Holocaust.

We eat fruit grown on multinational companies' South American plantations, while peasant farmers scratch out a miserable living from tiny, infertile plots.

Our clothes, and our children's toys, come from sweatshops in India, Bangladesh and China. Our cars run on petroleum that propels war and suffering in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. And we all live on land that once produced livelihoods for native people, whom we have let fall into grotesque poverty.

Of course, we pay high taxes in Canada, and it can be tempting to hang on to the rest of our money because we're already giving a hefty share to government. But we still enjoy a remarkably high standard of living, derived in large part from the abysmal living standards of the world's poor, both afar and at home.

On Robson Street, I found Mia Internicola standing under a dripping awning, holding a Save the Children binder as dozens of shoppers passed by from one high-end shop to another. Internicola, 29, says she gets maybe four or five donations a day, but when someone does give, she's amazed at how much they care.

"There are a lot of good people out there, who are doing the best they can," she says.

Are you doing the best you can?

It's sad. I know I haven't donated a dime in years. Maybe it's time to change.

[PiuYi]

i hate articles like this that purposely try to guilt trip people
damn slant editors, just deliver the news straight up

[spoon.ek9]

i've donated before, and honestly what turns me off is the absolute lack of appreciation or even a simple thank you. but, then again donating *isn't* about the person you hand it off to.

[taylor192]

Not so for billions of the rest of the people with whom we share this planet, even though many live in countries where natural resources and labour are transformed into profit by Canadian companies, boosting our standard of living while leaving impoverished citizens with little or nothing.

Our cellphones, laptops and computer games contain coltan, a blood-mineral that drives war and epidemic rape in the country that produces the majority of the ore-- the Democratic Republic of Congo, where fighting and conflict-related famine and disease have killed five million people, nearly as many as the Holocaust.

We eat fruit grown on multinational companies' South American plantations, while peasant farmers scratch out a miserable living from tiny, infertile plots.

Our clothes, and our children's toys, come from sweatshops in India, Bangladesh and China. Our cars run on petroleum that propels war and suffering in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. And we all live on land that once produced livelihoods for native people, whom we have let fall into grotesque poverty.

Our standard of living would be much lower if we did not take advantage of other country's poor standard of living.

If we had to pay the true cost of all our services (ie pay 3rd world countries 1st world wages) we would have to severely cut our standard of living.

This is why if you have a "hippy" friend that complains about poor people, yet they own a cell phone, laptop, TV - tell them they are hypocrites.

[orange7]

There needs to be some changes in those charity organizations before I start to donate again. Also, Vancouver needs to lower some of its prices otherwise those donation is meaningless

[Qmx323]

Originally Posted by spoon.ek9

i've donated before, and honestly what turns me off is the absolute lack of appreciation or even a simple thank you. but, then again donating is about the person you hand it off to.

thats cuz the money ur giving ain't going to the guy standing there with bells in his hands, why would they care, probably just volunteers

[jackmeister]

IMO the worst are those that call you and harrass/guilt trip you.

One time I donated to the firefighters burn fund via telephone call and I havent stopped receiving calls from various organizations ever since. Those fuckers keep sharing info.

How do I know? I purposely gave them the wrong address, and they keep repeating it each time.

[q0192837465]

Originally Posted by Qmx323

thats cuz the money ur giving ain't going to the guy standing there with bells in his hands, why would they care, probably just volunteers

That's true. There's absolutely no incentives in going the extra mile. Most of the volunteers just want to accrue their hours for wutever they'r pursuing. They couldnt care less where that money is going. Sure there r some who genuinely care, but they'r few & far between.

Originally Posted by jackmeister

IMO the worst are those that call you and harrass/guilt trip you.

One time I donated to the firefighters burn fund via telephone call and I havent stopped receiving calls from various organizations ever since. Those fuckers keep sharing info.

How do I know? I purposely gave them the wrong address, and they keep repeating it each time.

Lol, speaking of which, they guilt trip my mom to make donations all the time. 1 of them said even said that if u dun donate, they will draw up a "bad client list" and if something is to happen, their "service" will not be as prompt. And the fucked up part is that they ask for donations all the fucking time. Like every month or 2 months. One day I just said fuck it & ripped up my mom's cheque

[skyxx]

There's too many different causes to donate to, plus I'm not even sure if all of our money(only 20% has to be donated) is going towards the cause. Nonetheless I still donate.

[twitchyzero]

Originally Posted by jackmeister

IMO the worst are those that call you and harrass/guilt trip you.

One time I donated to the firefighters burn fund via telephone call and I havent stopped receiving calls from various organizations ever since..

just say no thanks, please take me off the list.

how hard is that?

[skyxx]

^ How many are you suppose to tell? All of them which is like a billion different causes.

[orange7]

Originally Posted by Qmx323

thats cuz the money ur giving ain't going to the guy standing there with bells in his hands, why would they care, probably just volunteers

that is what you think.

[shenmecar]

Originally Posted by orange7

that is what you think.

How do you know they pocket the money?

[orange7]

Originally Posted by shenmecar

How do you know they pocket the money?

I don't, but how do you know they don't use a bit of the money on a party for themselves?

[spoon.ek9]

Originally Posted by Qmx323

thats cuz the money ur giving ain't going to the guy standing there with bells in his hands, why would they care, probably just volunteers

i pointed that out in my original post, fixed the typo

[!SG]

hmm, didnt see many of you that posted in here complaining at the RS Cares event we held. Many volunteered their time for both days...

[tool001]

they make donation and then go to food bank to get it all back and more...

PS. they dont share ur info,,, they sell it... they make $ of every name they give to other org.

[q0192837465]

Originally Posted by tool001

they make donation and then go to food bank to get it all back and more...

PS. they dont share ur info,,, they sell it... they make $ of every name they give to other org.

These contact lists are like GMO food. Once ur name is up there, there's no going back.

[hotjoint]

my "donation" money is going to the hike in downtown parking

[johny]

donating just promotes people to sit on their asses. if homeless people on the street never made a dime. they would no longer be there, and would be forced to actully get a job.

[murd0c]

I honestly don't donate money, I personally don't like to because where does the money go too? I have heard a number of storys about how only 30% of the donations go to the cause the rest pay employees rent etc MADD being one of them!!!

What I do donate is if I see a homeless guy out side a mcdonalds I will get him a combo. Old winter clothes I will go to amsterdam cafe get cook and hand the stuff out to the homless people who need it. I just don't trust charity's there are way too many scams out these days especially this time of year.

[Hondaracer]

23% sounds pretty good to me

[dachinesedude]

i donate clothes all the time, does that count?

[asian_XL]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

23% sounds pretty good to me

I'm sure it will be under 10% outside north america

[lol]

ewwwww who's the guilt tripping tree hugging hippy who wrote this article? holy fuck. I think 23% of the population is pretty good. I think the average joe isn't going to donate money because he is probably living paycheque to paycheque and can't afford to donate his hard earned money. Even though he has amazing luxuries such as a pre paid fido phone and a 89 toyota tercel which causes rape and slave labour in other countries.