AIBU to think I shouldn't have to contribute to this?

[Callistone]

Work recently introduced a dress down day on a Friday with donations for charity.

I WFH on a Friday and am never in the office, so I never get to take part.

My line manager has just emailed me to say that it has been noticed that I haven't given my contribution yet.

I mean, I don't mind in that it's for charity but.. If I'm not actively taking part, why are they assuming that I should? AIBU to say that I am not contributing?

Ask your boss if he has 'noted that you don't work Fridays' and that you already give to charities of your choice. Have a nice weekend, etc.

What a damn cheek.

Is it optional for those working in the Office?

I personally hated dress down day.

I used to go, fishing/camping, or really dress up, so had to buy clothes, just to dress down in that were suitable.

The firm possibly has a target amount they'd like to donate.

He is being very silly. Surely it is optional to dress down and/or contribute. If you worked in the office on Fridays but did not dress down by choice, will he still expect you to contribute?

it has been noticed that I haven't given my contribution yet.
How very George Orwell.

CalmDownJanet's message is more than they deserve, IMO; you don't need to explain to your own boss that you work from home on Fridays, and it's none of anyone's business what if anything you donate to other charities.

I'd speak to them in person when you're next in and say calmly that as you don't work in the office on Fridays, obviously the dress-down day isn't something that affects you. I'd also express concern about it being 'noticed' that you haven't contributed and say that it doesn't sit well with you that people might be discussing this issue, as it's not great for team morale and relationships.

Your boss should get the message that, if it was another colleague who 'noticed', he/she should be having a quiet word with them about not gossiping; and that, if it was the boss themself who ''noticed', they should bloody well not have emailed you to harass you about it!

If you have an HR department I'd consider a word with them as well.

YANBU at all. I'd send CalmdownJanet's reply. makes the point well but with a really good tone.

Hmm, this is a tricky one...and work charity events can be a bit of a minefield. You don't want to look mean, but can feel under real pressure to donate! Is it for a different charity each week, or one charity all the time? Assume everyone just puts money in a bucket?
As others have said, I'd say you have a couple of favourite charities to which you donate online. That ensures that you can do GiftAid which is not possible with bucket donations. You would love to support many more charities, but feel its best to focus on helping a few specially chosen ones.

Some of the micro managers described on here are mad. You wonder what goes through their heads.

I would reply "ha ha ha! Good one!" Have a lovely weekend.

I had a similar situation to this in my old office - my issue, however, was that the charities chosen were often ones I actively didn’t want to support on ethical grounds. So I approached the organiser and explained that I didn’t want to support the charity (didn’t go into detail but was prepared to if I’d been challenged on it) and that I would make a donation to a charity I DID support. They were ok with it.

OP, if your line manager isn’t the organiser, could you approach them (the organiser) instead, then respond to your LM along the lines of “It’s al been dealt with, I’ve spoken to [Organiser]”.

And YANBU - charitable donations should be voluntary.

"Dear Boss
Charitable donations are a private matter and are voluntary: they are not part of our job description or covered by our contracts. I am concerned that anyone feels it acceptable to monitor who chooses to contribute or not."
And CC EVERYONE.

Insane. It should be entirely optional, even if you worked in the office.

So EVERY Friday employees are expected to donate to a charity not of their choosing? That level of expectation would annoy me whether I was in the office or not.

Agree too that it's a bit invasive of them to monitor it so closely!

Just tell you'll pay next time your in the office on a Friday 😏

What a load of crap, your boss should stop being a sassy CF !!

What reanimated said for sure, I’d be concerned who has monitored this and why

I would be very pissed off with this. Why do people expect money for anything? Charity or otherwise? Work collections piss me off too. Last week a colleague bought (without asking) something for our team room. Something not essential and something that I hadn't even noticed. Cue arsey emails colleagues friend at work, telling us we mustn't let them pay for it, we must all give a donation towards it. Honestly I felt like telling them to get to fuck but i caved and gave a fiver. Then made sure I used the damn thing.*
Just because they have an idea about money doesn't mean the rest of the world have to conform.
I'd email back one of the suggestions above!

*yes I know some will think me a miserable bastard and I don't care.

Yes why is it being monitored so closely? The money IS actually finding its way to charity...right?

I agree with everyone else. The email is completely out of order, as is the 'monitoring' of donations.

How odd - I would definitely push back. I get really annoyed with the charity pushers in my work. I give to charity every month by DD as well as contributing to other charities as and when I can but if I don't want to constantly had over a fiver, a pound, two quid whenever they do a raffle, tombola, bake sale then people look at you like you have two heads. I hate forced charity. I know I give more regularly than the rest of my team in work but they always make jokes that I'm a misery guts as sometimes I say I don't want a raffle ticket 😒

You shouldn't have to justify it by saying you donate to other charities and that is noone's business. You don't participate so you don't donate, that is all they need to know.

I choose which charity I support. I would not donate even if I worked there on Friday, unless it was my chosen charity.

@ReanimatedSGB's response is perfect - exactly what I would say.

Not suspicious about the 'monitoring'. We're not a big dept and a fixed donation (ha ha) was settled on by everyone, so it would be immediately obvious that someone hadn't donated as the pool would be an obvious amount down when someone went to do something to donate it somewhere.

I am resisting the urge to reply "ha ha, good one "

ReanimatedRGB response pretty succinct and sensible. My evil self said:

"I would like details of who is collecting the list of donors and non donors and preparing the report on noncompliance with a voluntary request, who has access to this information, how it is being stored as under GDPR you should have a log of the reason why this information on your employees is being kept, and its destruction/deletion date?

Or do you mean someone was moaning in a gossipy way in the kitchen about WFH people not contributing? It has been noted that you shared this anonymous gossip with me instead of just asking me straightforwardly if I wanted to contribute."

donate every single Friday? Sod that