I am inundated with charity requests. Dogs without houses, puppies from mills, refugees from Ukraine, hungry children, families escaping abuse, farm animal welfare, freedom for laboratory animals, abandoned cats, and, my favorite (really is), abused donkeys. There’s tons more, too. All of them incredibly worthwhile. I dare any feeling person (obviously, that eliminates Republican Congressional representatives) to designate any of those recipients as unworthy of money and effort. They are all wonderful charitable efforts. That’s kind of the problem.

The inexorable rise of the Internet and the increasing importance that computers, phones, and social media play in our lives have altered the manner and methods of charity solicitations. Requests for charitable support are now ubiquitous. And they are linked. The more you give – the more you will be hounded. Not just from the organizations or even the category to which you donated, but all charities will pretty quickly have your information and will be contacting you – by email, text, Pony Express mail, or your social media addresses. You are on a list and those lists are sold and shared.

So, what is the problem? These organizations need money to proceed with their admirable work. Solicitations are how they get that funding. I realize those facts. The problem, as I see it, is two fold. Primarily, weaponized charity requests over time tend to make the public feel overwhelmed and gradually tend to ignore all solicitations, even from organizations to which they have historically contributed. The second major problem of the current situation is that the feeling of good will that normally results from charitable giving has been taken away or, at least, rendered short-lived.

Maybe this will make more sense with an example. For many years, I have contributed to a couple who offer a refuge to abandoned and abused donkeys. I love this charity. They take in these poor animals, care for them, get them healthy, and then adopt them out to families that they have vetted. They do this for hundreds of animals every year. They change these animals lives. I get a lot of email and regular mailings from this charity with updates on the operation and requests for assistance. I think they’re great, so after many years of sending checks when I remembered, I set up quarterly contributions directly from my account. Good move on so many levels. But…, I still get all of the mailings (I think even more) only now I can’t even respond with a check. I’m giving more and feeling worse. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work. I gave to feed Ukrainian refugees when Putin first attacked and, within a week, I had more than 40 requests from different charitable organizations helping in Ukraine. I couldn’t contribute to them and ended up feeling pretty terrible.

I am not complaining. I’m really not. I just don’t think this level of solicitation from so many charities is in their best interest in the long term. This cannot be sustainable. The simple fact is that the more you give and the more often you give, the more you are going to be awash in requests. Sooner or later what are most people going to do? They are going to cut back on their donations. That is just human nature. If something is irritating and you can do something to stop the irritation, you do it.

I’ll continue to give. The donkeys will get my money quarterly, the dog shelter monthly, hungry children, victims of fire and floods, my cat cluster will be fed and housed, all the good reasons to help out. I’m lucky. I can give more to charity because all that I save by not giving a penny to organized religion (that always feels good). I hope you all keep giving. There are some great organizations our there doing great work that need support. Please give.

I don’t think the current system for charity solicitations is sustainable long term. I’m sure I am not the only one getting tired of the barrage. So, I’m going to watch and see what happens. Watch and unsubscribe.