> wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Nancy Young wrote:
>> "Damsel in dis Dress" > wrote in message
>> > We signed up with both the national and state lists. The only
> soliciting
>> > phone call we have received was from the local fire department.
>>
>> Carol, avoid that like the plague. Don't go there. If you want to
>> contribute, do it directly. It's usually a scam, and not by the
>> fire department.

> I second Nancy's caution about phone solicitations from the fire dept
> and add the police dept. I've been called to contribute to the local
> police athletic league (or some other PD cause), but later discovered
> that the callers were professional fund raisers who took at least 85%
> of the donation as their fee. The first year they called, I thought
> the caller was a police officer donating a lot of personal time to the
> cause and made a big contribution. Some time later the newspaper ran an
> expose of the practice, apparently pretty widespread. The next year
> when I was called I confronted the caller. No more solicitations.

Add in those change cans at the counter of various stores. They are
permitted to keep 98% of the money, just for placing those cans here
and there. Send your donations directly where you want it to go, and
that goes for that money machine United Way. You support the
cause you believe in directly, avoid the middle man.

nancy