What do you think about this fundraiser? Tell me I'm wrong.

cnc

Tue, Jun 21 2016, 11:58 am

ROFL wrote:

I just looked at the charidy page. They are raising money to help the teachers pay for their family simchas so they can concentrate on being wonderful rebbe in and teachers without worry I have heard lovely things about the school Do they not pay their staff well enough that they gave to worry about this?

Rebbeim jobs in general are not known to be very lucrative.

amother

Coral

Tue, Jun 21 2016, 1:26 pm

If it is the same yeshiva in FR that called my house twice last night, texted me twice yesterday, and had two CHILDREN call my cell phone this morning, then I think they're going about it the wrong way.

I finally decided to ask the second child to get an adult on the phone, to whom I explained that I have children in other yeshivas and cannot donate to their campaign. I asked them to delete my number from their database.

I suspect they take the local phone books and call everyone with a Jewish last name. Otherwise, I have no idea how they got my numbers. To have children make the phone calls? Outrageous. And to contact me six times? Obnoxious.

I'm sorry if I've offended anyone who sends their sons to this yeshiva. I'm sure it's a fine institution. But I'm livid. Their methods are too aggressive.

BrachaBatya

Tue, Jun 21 2016, 1:49 pm

amother wrote:

WOW. That is incredibly chutzpahdik - totally inappropriate tactics. I'd be angry, too!

amother

Periwinkle

Tue, Jun 21 2016, 2:35 pm

I don't know if the above post is exaggerating but I can say that they called my dh cell and our house phone 1 time each. We did get many emails and text mssgs. No way were there 6 calls. And who cares if it was a high school bocher who made the call?

zaq

Tue, Jun 21 2016, 9:19 pm

I won't add to the debate over whether these "call before midnight tonight" ploys are honest and appropriate or not. I will say only that if people gave tzedaka with the zeal and speed that the mitzvah deserves, tzedakas would not feel the need to employ this and other revolting tactics like repeated phone calls, multiple mailings and Chinese auctions featuring disgustingly lavish prizes.

amother

Olive

Tue, Jun 21 2016, 11:52 pm

amother wrote:

They should be in school. Learning so they don't resort to collecting.

Another school did the same type of charidy campaign and they called us several times. Even after a donation was given. It was 2 hours later- don't think you are tricking me to donate again.

amother

Slateblue

Wed, Jun 22 2016, 12:12 am

My kids' school had something similar recently. If we would just raise $X this week, a donor has pledged to match it. Honestly, at first it rubbed me the wrong way too. I already paid my tuitions. In full. The fact that the school was over-budget, not my fault, not my problem. And if someone was so wealthy to match these big bucks, why not just fork it over and leave all of us who are struggling alone? But the fact is that the school needs the money, I want it to continue to be open and be a good school with good educators and just because some person with money is willing to fund the school, why should they unless they see the families too are invested in it's success? It's really not so scheme-y when you really think about it. Nobody is tricking you and running of with your donation.

m in Israel

Wed, Jun 22 2016, 3:49 am

amother wrote:

They should be in school. Learning so they hint rebirth to collecting.

Another school did the same type of charidy campaign and they called us several times. Even after a donation was given. It was 2 hours later- don't think you are tricking me to donate again.

I once got called multiple times from an organization for a similar type of campaign. But it never occurred to me to think they were trying to "trick" me into donating again! They're not stupid enough to risk antagonizing people in the hope that one or two people have such poor memories that they don't remember donating an hour ago! I think what happens simply is that the organizations prepare for this 24 hour "marathon" by compiling as many lists of potential donors as they can, and sometimes there is overlap on the lists that they don't catch so you end up being there twice. For example they might have a list of all the parents in the school and all the members of the local shul and all the names of previous donors. They run it through the computer to consolidate and remove repeats, but your name was spelled differently on the two lists. Or one has your house number and one has your cell so it didn't pick up that you were the same person. Or one list has your name and one list has your husband's name. There are tons of ways repeat listings can slip through, and since many people are making calls your name may end up on a few different people's lists.

zaq

Wed, Jun 22 2016, 7:46 am

amother wrote:

And if someone was so wealthy to match these big bucks, why not just fork it over and leave all of us who are struggling alone?

Because Mr. Gottgelt's straight million dollars is just a million dollars. By matching your donations, he's not just giving one million, he's bringing in another million collected from all the other smaller donors who might not have given their $5 or $5000 were it not for the incentive provided by his offer to match.

See my previous post about giving tzedaka with zeal and speed and its connection to high-pressure fundraising.

amother

Periwinkle

Wed, Jun 22 2016, 8:36 am

zaq wrote:

Welcome to the human race. We can deny it all we want but there is always an angle that helps push these fundraisers forward. Obviously in a Chinese auction it's the possibility of winning a nice prize. When a yeshiva has a dinner and publishes a journal and announces to everyone what each person contributed, that serves as motivation knowing that there will be honor and kavod as everyone will see I'm such a big giver. What % less do you think a yeshiva/shul would make if they said that this year we will not be publicizing the donations in a journal. Even the administration won't know how much each person gave. All donations will be completely anonymous. I feel sure that over 50% of the tzedakkah will not be given. It's only the publicity, fame, kavod, pressure, that causes people like me and many others to give more than we otherwise would.