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Donating to EFF

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eleman:
Recently, I got some good business, and earned more than my usual fare. OK I thought, a good time to donate here and there. One of the donations I made was 5 (five, the one with Lincoln) dollars to EFF (Electronic Frontier Thingie). And today I got a (transatlantic) letter from them, thanking me for my generosity (since when 5 bucks is called generous?). Anyway... The stamp on the letter cost $1.15. Think of the time and effort spent to send the letter as well...

I'm not sure I'll donate to EFF anymore. It's kind of them to send a dead tree thank you letter, but really... for 5 bucks, I feel like it's really wasteful.

btw, before anyone asks; I didn't ask for a letter for tax purposes.

40hz:
Dunno...while good manners may make good business sense, they're not just about business.

I personally can appreciate that level of civility. It's a refreshing change from most of what I see these days.

Note too that although $5 USD may not seem all that generous to you right now, for some people, it may well be a very generous amount to contribute. And it's nice to see the EFF doesn't make any assumptions as to the degree of generosity a given contribution represents.

I pretty much donate to the same causes each year. In years when I'm flush, I would not consider even a fairly large contribution from me to be overly generous. In years when I'm not, even a $5 or $10 contribution is a sacrifice since it means cutting something from somewhere else in the household budget.

I personally think you did well by contributing to the EFF even if you felt some of it was squandered on good manners. I hope you'll continue. Because it's important that the EFF be around.

eleman:
yeah, I too appreciate their cause. Maybe next time I'll specifically note that I don't need any letter.

MilesAhead:
I wonder if the number of contributions justifies some kind of filtering software?  Like if the amount is less than 3 times the cost of postage, send an email only?

Or perhaps they have some experience that if a small donation is acknowledged in a classy fashion it often provokes a more generous one in the future?

Just speculating.  :)

MilesAhead:
Speaking of donations, often when I check out at Publix they ask me if I wish to donate a dollar to help feed the homeless.  Sometimes I point out they could bypass the bureaucracy and just give me the money, since I am homeless.  The reaction is always pretty sour.  Never even a chuckle.  :(

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