Against the Corporate Charity Fundraising Game

Today kicked off my employer's annual charity drive. It's your run-of-the-mill campaign - most every place I've been has this: the company gives you a list of eligible charities and matches a portion of your contribution. Departments put together mini-campaigns of their own to encourage 100% participation and raise as much money as possible.

It's time to question why we need these.

Look, I know it helps a company's reputation to be involved in the community in this way. And if there was a significant portion of the country that didn't contribute to the well-being of society, I might say that a little push from the company might be worthwhile. However:

• 89% of households give each year, an average of $1,620
• More than $300 billion is raised by charities each year
• Apparently this all adds up to more than 2% of GDP (I didn't do the math but it seems like a lot)

So explain to me why we need to do this? Throw in the creepiness of trying to get/pressuring everyone to contribute something for a company-sponsored event, there's just an "ick" feeling associated with this. No need + pressure = inappropriate. I say it's time to stop these fundraising campaigns in the workplace. I can find my own charity to give to, thank you very much.

This counts as my curmudgeonly moment of the day.