• fsk@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • zombuey@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Just FYI this is a scam. The company donates the money on your behalf and they get the tax write-off for your donation while also appearing philanthropic for PR purposes. that’s why they do it.

      • zombuey@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Furthermore, there is no contractual agreement on how or when they donate that money. So for example those companies might and likely will hold that money in trust to the non-profit. That way the company can use money as a hedge on taxes in future fiscal periods if they had an excess.

  • 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.

  • 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

  • terwn43lp@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    PSA: most Americans can get up to $300 deducted from their annual taxes through donations.

  • 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.

    • phx@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      No, that’s not how it works. In order to do so, they’d have to first claim the money received as income.

      That said, there are scummy things that they do. At the least, it’s saying “we [bigcorp] donated $1,000,000 to charity” when in reality all that they did was collect it. In other situations, companies like Sobey’s doesn’t actually pass on food bank donations as cash, but rather have then as credit to buy products only from Sobey’s.

  • EmergingDystopia@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Yeah, this really bothers me. Because in reality, that company that you give money to at checkout is just going to bundle that all up and it’s a donation in their name, used as a tax write-off. You as the shopper might feel nice and warm and fuzzy, but you’re just giving a multimillion or billion dollar company a tax break. Just donate as yourself. If you want to help XYZ cause, do it on your own. My two cents.

    • mighty_alfredo@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That’s not how it works, at least in the US. You are donating as yourself, and can use the donation as a tax write off if you would like.