Should I have given the nice young man a donation?

Question

So, a nice young man shows up at my door at the dinner hour, standing in the cold wind. He's asking me to buy a coupon card to support Special Olympics. He tells me that "several local businesses" are sponsoring this by offering discounts. When I looked at the card, they were all national chains. He was wearing a typewritten "Special Olympics" card on his lapel.

But, I'm thinking, "I don't know who this kid is. And, more importantly, I don't know who is really handling this fundraising attempt. My guess is that a fundraising firm has hired him to do this for a cut. so, after his cut, and the fundraising firm's cut, I figure about 25% of my donation will go to Special Olympics. So I tell him no. Now I'm feeling guilty.

So, I guess my only recourse is to mail a donation directly to Special Olympics, which will insure they get it all. Will you join me? What charity will you send your check to?

Answer 1

In my area, the local high school sports teams sell these as a fund raiser.  We usually buy one because we know a lot of the kids.  However, you don't know if this was the case.   This guy may have been legit but you don't know for sure.  If you want to give something, contact the Special Olympics, directly.

Answer 2

You did the right thing.

Answer 3

you can still donate to the special olymics if you want, just go to there website

and i think you did fine, it could have been a spam, you never know

and i already give to them, so i don't need to send another check

Answer 4

Whether the solicitor comes to me door or calls on the phone, I specifically ask if my donation would be used locally---I haven't had one person say yes yet!

The second question I ask is what percentage of my donation will actually be used toward the cause.  This usually trips them up because they either can't answer the question or they don't want to tell because the percentage is so high.

I send my checks to Campus Crusade for Christ and Build the Future USA.