I am not going to identify the organization referred to in the post below. They are a good and important organization, and I do not want them to be harmed inadvertently by anything written here. They will therefore remain anonymous.

I received a phone call yesterday from someone soliciting donations for an organization. This is an organization I have supported in the past, and continue to support.

Many organizations have similar names, and play on that to solicit donations from supporters of other organizations with similar names, playing on the confusion based in the similarity of names. I have heard of this happening, and aside form my general dislike of donating over the phone and not really knowing with whom you are actually talking, the frequency in which I have heard of such situations (wrong orgs collecting your money intended for different org), I just about never donate over the phone.

So this person calls asking for a donation. I support the organization, so I told her that I support them and will give a donation to a volunteer. She has on record that I support them, so she knows she can either send someone to me to get a check or send an envelope or however else it would work out. I told her I do not donate over the phone and would give my donation to a volunteer. She said thank you and that ended our conversation.

This morning she called me back. She spoke very harshly that I should donate through her over the phone. She started bad-mouthing the volunteers saying that it has happened in the past that volunteers have forgotten to pass donations along to the main office, and other things about how the volunteers should not be collecting money (even though they are regularly used in that capacity). She said I have donated in the past so I have nothing to worry about and I should not give to the volunteers.

I was shocked that she called me like this. Aside from her tone that she was using when speaking to a [potential] donor that was a very big turn-off, I thought it very inappropriate for her to be bad-mouthing the volunteers of the organization she is working, and collecting, for. Heck - if the volunteers are such bad people, why would I want to donate money to them at all???

The thing is that I know the organization and I still want to make my meager donation to them despite her bad attitude and inappropriate comments.

I told her that I very much dislike her calling me like this, especially after I said I do not donate over the phone, and insisting I donate over the phone. Furthermore, I find it completely inappropriate for her to be bad-mouthing the volunteers, who I have found to be extremely dedicated to the organization. I told her I dislike what she is doing and i will no longer talk to her about this. Then I hung up.

The organization is really good and important. I think this person is an idiot, but I will continue to donate despite her.