GivingTuesday: Giving Back Shouldnt Mean Giving Up Privacy. Now It Doesn't

silentdonor.com

1 point·SilentDonor··3 comments

Donating money has become incredibly painful. With the exception of extremely local independent charities, any amount less than a few hundred dollars will be quickly used up by mail campaigns, staff calls, endless harassment.

If there's a local cause, please, donate. If a friend experiences fire or medical issues, help them out. A local group helping people out or trying to run a local business in the face of adversity? Do it. But professional charities? I'm sorry to say that it's a waste.

Exactly this.

As a matter of personal practice, I donate a percentage of my gross income to charitable causes. Through experience, I have developed a number of rules about this.

One of them is that I don't donate to large charitable organizations or any organizations that solicit donations from me. I get more bang for the buck by sticking with smaller organizations that are often overlooked by others. The big guys don't need my money, the little guys do, and the little guys make a more obvious impact in my community.

Also, I have yet to have a smaller charitable organization violate their promise to keep my donation and identity a secret.

Check your inboxes/mailboxes. You likely have 15+ unwanted pieces of communication from charities this time of year. We built Silent Donor so you could keep the impact of your donations, and also keep your privacy. In an era where personal data is commodified and privacy is hard to come by, Silent Donor offers a simple solution: you can send a fully anonymous, tax-deductible donation to any charity. If you’re concerned about avoiding relentless follow-up requests, protecting yourself from public scrutiny, or simply valuing your right to privacy, we let you focus on what truly matters — making an impact.

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