To refuse to support charity in work?

[emphetic]

I work for a big international company. It’s very keen on getting its name publicised for supporting charitable ventures.

It has partnered with a particular big name charity. This also means that the company cannot and will not allow staff to fundraise for other charitable causes. Any charity has to be for the benefit of this special partner charity.

There’s constant fund raising in work. £25 a strip raffle tickets. £5 a slice of cake for charity. Sponsored walk 100km in a month etc. There’s always pressure to donate.

AIBU to refuse to support the charity through work? In my personal view, there are far better charities to support and it’s better for money to be split up rather than hoarded by one big charity. Historically the charity have been quite shitty to people from my religion so I don’t want to support them when there are many alternatives.

I also take issue with “my money” being claimed by the firm as “firm donation”.

Just say can't commit other expenses.

Many years ago they did a charity head shave at work and tried to pressure a young member of staff with beautiful waist length hair to join in to make the target as they had run out of heads to shave . She said no and stuck to her guns despite being put on the spot . She was called selfish and vain . No she wasn't and good for her .

What the fuck? I'd have had them in a tribunal faster than you could say piss off you massive weirdos.

Altho it should say board rather than noard!

Out working to feed your family in the worst cost of living crisis, absolutely no way would I be giving them money.

@SocoBateVira

Many years ago before harassment laws were made . A lot of the pressure was from female members of staff who had had their heads shaved and had short hair in the first place .

Operation Christmas Child - run by an American evangelical Christian organisation called Samaritan’s Purse - goes in for conversion of children in impoverished Muslim countries and is anti equal marriage and generally homophobic.

Well done that Lass.
I was once in a similar situation to have my beard shaved for a then "thing" charity and had similar pressure applied.
Amazing how many people do not recognise the words "FUCK OFF"!!!

This really depends on the company. Op will know what's realistic for her or not. Dh works for a massive multinational, their employees are the ones who nominate and vote for charities. I've worked alongside a number of very large multinational companies and its been staff who have suggested this who were not at senior management or board level. One of my friends suggested this at her company (again a massive multinational household name) and she's now been moved into a role that oversees community engagement in a way that works for their staff.

What it really depends on is how good the two way communication is within your company and how willing you are to step up and share in the responsibility for making it happen and if colleagues are likely to go for it as well.

I work for a nhs hospital and like many other hospitals they have a hospital charity to fund various things which the government can’t/wont. Anyway, I feel exactly the same as you as they are always relying on staff to support the hospital charity with either financial donations, doing charity sports events or donating to ie tombolas. I hate it. Now I just say now, and especially with cake sales I now add in that I have no cash on me.

It's not unusual for large corporates to have named charities they sponsor/do corporate fundraising for, but usually they would have one that's a pet charity of someone on the board, then another 1 or 2 that are voted for by employees.

It's entirely up to you whether you choose to donate or not; the company can't force you and YANBU to want to choose a charity of your choice.

Tell them to take your contribution from their profit! You are at work to make money not give it away. YANBU to not want to contribute but especially if you don’t support the charity morally. If they question you then just say you already support other causes/charities

I think everyone has their favourite charities/causes and in being pressured to donate elsewhere you aren’t donating somewhere close
To your heart. If they want to do fundraising they shouldn’t be emotionally blackmailing the staff (which it can often feel like when someone puts you in the spot) they should be getting out into the community

I’ve never joined workplace charity stuff.

The very first head teacher I ever worked for always refused to join and openly said “I’m not going to donate thanks, I prefer to do any charity stuff privately” so that any staff who couldn’t afford it, didn’t agree with the chosen charity, or simply didn’t want to then could easily follow suit. She said that public charity stuff puts people under pressure and no one should be debating spending money they don’t have so as not to lose face. If she wanted to donate to the charity she did so later.

Ive never forgotten that.

I think it’s fair for the company to restrict workplace fundraising. It can get very annoying to get constant pleas for donations from every coworker with a cause. There is also potential for undue pressure.

that doesn’t mean you have to donate to the company’s preferred charity.

My school runs 5 charity events a year. I willingly support the local food bank but the others see staff almost being coerced by SLT to donate in order for the head to make a grand social media announcement.

I’m a fundraiser! I’ve never actually worked in a corporate setting where there’s a charity of the year, I do however feel very strongly that everyone supports a cause that’s close to them for whatever reason and shouldn’t be pressured into giving.

I see on a daily basis huge companies who are just tax dodging, or conscience easing. Its gross.

I would decline to participate and say you’ll donate directly to a charity you support, and allow them to claim the gift aid (which is hugely important to us).

Sounds disgraceful. You go to work to earn money, not to give money to a charity to make the company look good. I’d ignore all the fundraising.

Hate this. I chose my charity myself, Guide Dogs, meant to be for one year but ended up four to date.

I did work for two National charities over the years and fundraising is a tough one. First one, which I enjoyed working for, had an annual target but when you achieved it, it doubled, so we were always trying to achieve the unachievable. Staff did a lot of overtime unpaid. Money was not always spent in the town in which we worked and so we had to refer to it as being spent in the County when asked. The poorest areas were the most generous donation wise.

Second one was one close to my heart but at local level really badly run by a group of ladies who lunch types. When I complained about the appalling state of the outside loo with a leaking roof (the only loo I hasten to add) the chair person told me she had to go in a bucket on her yacht.

I did a lot of unpaid evening work and I reached the end when the same woman asked me to work Saturday evenings serving pie and peas for a mate of hers who may then donate. Don't think so.

I work in a secondary school, and I’d say stridents come knocking at the staffroom door every other week asking to be sponsored or selling raffle tickets etc and it’s starting to get a bit ridiculous. It’s lovely that they want to raise money, but I feel tight for giving a couple of quid and it’s so often.

I get annoyed with businesses asking for charity money as part of the sales process, as I imagine they’re able to write some of it off as a tax espense.

We were once forced by a manager at work, lots of pressure put on us, and a collection forced, to give money for some woman with a sob story, in a local newspaper.
I can remember at the time not being convinced by the appeal or the newspaper, it all seemed very bogus, including the charity involved at the time, which I couldn’t find listed anywhere.
I still irks me, many years later.
No one should be forced to part with their hard earned money by others, for so called charitable causes ( other peoples greater wages)

£25 raffle tickets! And £5 for one slice of cake! That'd be a hard no from me! Those prices are insane. And as others have pointed out, they're getting all the benefit. Very cheeky.

Tell everyone that you donate directly to the charity/charities of your choice as it is more tax efficient.

If the company collects donations and then submits them the charity cannot reclaim the tax you've paid on your donation.

God yes.
I worked for one that decided to choose a charity. You could not argue with it, and it was kinda linked with the purpose of the company but it was the "no other charity to be supported "that got Me. One colleague had fundraiser for years at work for a charity related to her husbands illness. They removed the charity tin from the canteen. Honestly!
Next company was global. They gave 5 charities and staff voted to pick one for 3 years. It was non controversial things like air ambulance or hospice. But no rule about not fundraising for other charities and in fact did paid leave for volunteering. Much better.

I always handle pressure to give with, "It's not one of my charities."