• fsk@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Those charities have huge overhead. Very little money goes to the actual cause.

  • mcc@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Then they will say it is more efficient to merge the donations with regular revenue and make bulk donations every quarter or something.

  • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    My favorite one is when our utility company asks me to donate to help pay for people’s utilities like they aren’t raking in record amount of cash.

  • Spacecraft@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I hate when they pull this shit at drive through fast food. “Would you like to round up to donate to our charity?”

    Who knows what the person taking my order thinks about this charity, and what they might do to someone’s food who says no.

    • sirkook@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I can assure you that nobody working at the fast food restaurant gives a shit if you donate to charity.

      • Spacecraft@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        How can you assure me of that lol.

        You think nobody at a fast food place is capable of thinking someone is an asshole for declining to donate to charity? And then acting on that?

        • TskUghPfftUhh@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I used to work fast food and retail, both which forced employees to ask customers to donate at the till. We hated doing it. It is awkward for both the customer and the worker. I would get anxiety when donation drive time of year would come round, and I’d feel relief when the customer either just said no or yes, and didn’t yell at me for asking. The cashier REALLY does not care if you donate or not. And the cashier usually does not make your food, it’s usually someone else doing the cooking, and the cooks aren’t paying attention at all to whether you donated or not.

          • danielton@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Same. I got lectured so many times by customers who insisted I was stupid for daring to ask them and acted like I had some sort of personal stake in the charity.

            Then most of these same people would buy a ton of lottery tickets when I was in retail.

          • lightingnerd@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            On the other hand, I have heard people ask that question, answered yes, and then checked my receipt later to find out that I just handed $0.57 to round out the cashier’s drawer.

  • MobileSuitBagera@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Remember kids, they also get to use the money they guilted off of you to reduce their tax liability because they get credit for donating your money!

  • Lifecoach5000@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    And I will never ever give these fools my actual phone number for discounts. Just use any area code w/ 867-5309 to get around this.

    • jackoneill@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Jenny Jenny, who can I turn to? You give me something I can hold on to. I know you think I’m like the others before who saw your name and number on the wall

    • iAmTheTot@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      This is a lie that I had hoped to leave behind on Reddit but lo and behold it’s so pervasive that it transcends social circles.

      Repeat after me: that is not how taxes work.

      They do not get any monetary benefit from your donations, save for arguably good publicity. They do not claim your donations in their taxes. They do not get extra write offs on their taxes.

      Those donations are yours and you could claim them on your taxes, if you were so inclined.

    • keet@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      This. The icing on the cake is that this tax write-off affects the amount of tax dollars available for public assistance in the first place. If you want to help the poor, consider volunteering your time or donating to a legitimate charity.

  • malloc@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    People that give money for those charities are giving those companies free tax write offs.

    You donate $10 or whatever. The company can then claim that $10 as a write off via donation to that charity. Campaign as a whole (either regional or national) collects $1M USD. Corporate accountants write off donation. Tax liability reduced.

    • stankmut@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That’s not how tax write offs work. The only way to claim that money in a write-off would be for the business to also claim it as revenue. That would even out, with no tax savings. Businesses also don’t handle donations that way, they usually serve as a collection agent that just passes your donations on without being able to claim it towards their revenue or their tax write offs. The only person who can write-off their donation is the person who actually made it.

      The reason businesses do it is for marketing. They get to put out a press release saying “They helped donate $10 million to puppies without borders.”

      • cod@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s not how tax write offs work

        Jerry: So we’re gonna make the Post Office pay for my new stereo now?

        Kramer: It’s a write-off for them.

        Jerry: How is it a write-off?

        Kramer: They just write it off.

        Jerry: Write it off what?

        Kramer: Jerry, all these big companies, they write off everything.

        Jerry: You don’t even know what a write-off is.

        Kramer: Do you?

        Jerry: No, I don’t.

        Kramer: But they do. And they’re the ones writing it off.

  • demvoter@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I don’t trust them to actually donate anyway. How would you ever find out? I suspect these are scams to hold the money and get interest off it even if they do ultimately donate it.

    • Slartibartfast@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Not sure if this is 100% accurate, but I heard that how it works is they donate the money first, get the tax write-off and then try to hit people up at the checkouts to refund all the money after the fact. That way they get the tax break for donating the money without actually being out of pocket. I don’t know what happens if people donate more than the amount they spent, but I think I can take a reasonable guess.