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but still had to go to all the teacher meetings, they brought in a United Way rep who basically strong-armed the entire room into doing a payroll deduction. (Keep in mind starting salary for teachers was about $24,000 a year, and many teachers gave to causes independently already.)
They strong-armed me as well. They wouldn't let me leave without a completed form.
So I completed it, with a deduction of zero. I wasn't on the freaking payroll. Perhaps I should have suggested a deduction of $10,000 a check and see what they said.
I like some of the things that United Way does, but I don't like that sense of entitlement -- that they have the pipeline to the workplace, so therefore it's obviously the best place to donate -- or the strong-arm techniques of some of its representatives.
I'll give directly, thank you. It's not quite as easy, but it's not like going online and filling out a form, or writing a check, are particularly hard.
I like what my workplace does -- we have a half-hour-of-pay per month voluntary contribution to a "sunshine fund." It pays for things like flowers/fruit if an employee or relative dies or is hospitalized (including, in one case, flowers for the same-sex partner of an employee when he was car-jacked and beaten). If there's money in the pot at the end of the year, it goes to United Way. Accounting has forms, and we can request a payroll deduction if we want, but there's no pressure, no presentation, no quota.
Our company also has a corporate giving program, and will donate several thousand dollars a quarter to worthwhile area charities. They also matched for Katrina relief -- to any recognized charity doing disaster work, not just to the Red Cross.
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