Fundraisers, Trust Me

I've been stewing on this one for a couple of weeks now and have to get it off my chest.

Fundraisers, steak nights and suppers and the like. I don't mind at all shelling out twenty or twenty five dollars for a ten dollar meal meal once in a while if the money being raised is going to a good cause...but please...don't overdo it.

I've donated to and assisted in many charitable efforts and will continue to, when and if I feel that the cause warrants it.

Recently I was invited to a "Confidential ***** Supper" fund raiser, a twenty dollar ticket with the monies raised going to a mystery beneficiary, touted as a "great cause". The only way to find out where the profits were going was to give them the twenty bucks and attend the event for the "big reveal".

Without even thinking about it, I dismissed the offer and put my twenty in the "Movember" donation slot. I mean really...asking me to donate my hard earned money to assist in something you won't tell me about until after you have my cash in hand?! Yeah...no.

Shortly after, I got an e-mail from one of the organizers encouraging me to attend and use my Facebook connections to spread the word to increase attendance.

In this e-mail the mystery beneficiary was revealed to me under the condition that I tell no one and even though it feels some days that no one ever reads this, I know some of you occasionally do, so to preserve my integrity I will not break that confidence here.

I will, however, tell you that now that I know where the profits (I use the word "profits" deliberately instead of "funds") are going, I will still not be attending.

I repeat. I will not be attending because I know whose pockets my "donation" will be lining.

Once again, to keep my personal integrity intact, I won't say who it is...but I will say who it is not.

It is not a charity, an organization or a family in need of shelter and medical. The money is not going to CF or MS research, it is not going into a donation slot or kettle..but a pocket.

Only my opinion, but I think that a few people (if not more) will be disappointed (if not down right angry) when the reveal comes and they find out they have been fleeced.

I point to one Facebook wall post from a guy who guessed right:

"If the money was for **** I would pay extra to have it NOT go to ****... Just Don't."

I know that if certain individuals read this they will be very angry with me for posting it, but I'm doing it with your best interest at heart. As one of the original members of the family, my best unsolicited advice to you is to change your reveal before it's too late...pick a good charitable organization and donate the money there.

(if you are one of the angry individuals, get over it...don't make me come out these parentheses)

If you reveal your current beneficiary that night, I cannot see any good coming out of it.

The family's reputation in charitable giving already sucks. It did not follow through with a very publicly announced "pink" promotion and has had other smudges too....