Family makes good on dying family member’s last wish: Leave $500 tip

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

It's a pretty cool story.

Can I be the asshole, though, that is just a little bit concerned about what people are donating money to these days? I don't see the point in collecting money beyond the $500 tip. You have legit nonprofit organizations that are bleeding money because donorship is down, and yet school bus monitors and random acts of tipping and George Zimmerman are collecting thousands of dollars....

I serve on a nonprofit board. I can assure you that collecting that kind of money is hard work. There are better ways to donate money than for a family to engage in random acts of kindness. St. Jude's hospital would use that money to keep the lights on in a hospital that provides free patient care to kids. The Boys and Girls Club would use it to buy new gym equipment for their kids.

Anyway, flame away. Because I know people will.

so, hey, can I decide what you do with your money?

....didn't think so.....

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by stevieray

so, hey, can I decide what you do with your money?

....didn't think so.....

With the death tax, yes...

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by stevieray

so, hey, can I decide what you do with your money?

....didn't think so.....

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by stevieray

so, hey, can I decide what you do with your money?

....didn't think so.....

If you eat unhealthy and then wonder why you're fat, I'm going to call you out for eating garbage.

We saw millions of dollars get raised for The KONY campaign, and then months later people realized "holy shit, what did I just spend my money on? This might be the wrong cause." You have thousands of dollars going to the defense of George Zimmerman, a guy who gets shadier with every passing day. Now we're donating money to this family who, while probably has the best intentions, could very well be pocketing some of the money for all we know. Or what if the story came out that the bus monitor we sent money to was in fact a huge jerk?

I'm not saying "don't spend your money." I'm pointing out the obvious point that it scares the shit out of me that we're donating money in knee-jerk ways to people and organizations we know close to nothing about. And in many cases, we act surprised when they aren't who they thought they would be. And it scares the shit out of me because there are organizations that fully disclose everything they do and that provide 100 times more an impact than most of these knee-jerk donations, and they are struggling big time for money.

So again... people are free to spend money on whatever they want. But spending it in this way is just plain stupid.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

If you eat unhealthy and then wonder why you're fat, I'm going to call you out for eating garbage.

We saw millions of dollars get raised for The KONY campaign, and then months later people realized "holy shit, what did I just spend my money on? This might be the wrong cause." You have thousands of dollars going to the defense of George Zimmerman, a guy who gets shadier with every passing day. Now we're donating money to this family who, while probably has the best intentions, could very well be pocketing some of the money for all we know. Or what if the story came out that the bus monitor we sent money to was in fact a huge jerk?

I'm not saying "don't spend your money." I'm pointing out the obvious point that it scares the shit out of me that we're donating money in knee-jerk ways to people and organizations we know close to nothing about. And in many cases, we act surprised when they aren't who they thought they would be. And it scares the shit out of me because there are organizations that fully disclose everything they do and that provide 100 times more an impact than most of these knee-jerk donations, and they are struggling big time for money.

So again... people are free to spend money on whatever they want. But spending it in this way is just plain stupid.

By the way, to go more directly on your first example. The way you're donating your money today is like giving a sandwich to a guy who, it turns out, wasn't hungry and ends up throwing the sandwich away. Or giving a tank of gas to a guy who then drives to a motel to beat up his girlfriend.

At least with legit nonprofits, you can pretty much follow the trail of the dollar you spent. You can choose to spend based on what gratifies you. That's your prerogative. I'm saying it scares the shit out of me that people are increasingly caring less about how their dollar leads to actual impact.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

If you eat unhealthy and then wonder why you're fat, I'm going to call you out for eating garbage.

We saw millions of dollars get raised for The KONY campaign, and then months later people realized "holy shit, what did I just spend my money on? This might be the wrong cause." You have thousands of dollars going to the defense of George Zimmerman, a guy who gets shadier with every passing day. Now we're donating money to this family who, while probably has the best intentions, could very well be pocketing some of the money for all we know. Or what if the story came out that the bus monitor we sent money to was in fact a huge jerk?

I'm not saying "don't spend your money." I'm pointing out the obvious point that it scares the shit out of me that we're donating money in knee-jerk ways to people and organizations we know close to nothing about. And in many cases, we act surprised when they aren't who they thought they would be. And it scares the shit out of me because there are organizations that fully disclose everything they do and that provide 100 times more an impact than most of these knee-jerk donations, and they are struggling big time for money.

So again... people are free to spend money on whatever they want. But spending it in this way is just plain stupid.

Look at this way - they could be wasting all that money on tithing.