<p>So… Intriguing event occured with my mother and I. We were donating old clothes that I had outgrown [though they were still in good condition] to the local baptist missionary group. We don’t agree with the religious preference but they give out completely free clothes to the poor in the community regardless of the patron’s religious preference and we had given to them once before and found them to be an exceptional organization with a very righteous cause. So we were glad to help them and enjoyed giving back to them. My single mother and I are just above the poverty line but we have clear moral compasses and try to give whatever back to the community we can, whether it be time or goods. I was born in a one bedroom apartment with a mother making around 20 k in a 100+ k per capita [now, but it was still very high then too] county [Fairfax] but we always had a strong sense of pride and compassion. We’ve just always tried to do the right thing and help out where ever we could whether it was raking leaves for the elderly or volunteering for the local community swim team competitions.</p>
<p>Onto today’s issue, we were giving to the aforementioned organization today, old snow boots, two coats [in very good condition] and a nice new $40 race track bought 2 days earlier that had been marked down to $20. We had originally bought it specifically for “Toys4Tots” but my mother heard something over the radio station that they were checking their “patrons” recieving the gifts for social security numbers and birth certificates. If you read that through the lines, they’re basically screening against illegals. Which is a big deal in Northern Virginia, especially following the controversial Manassas illegal immigrant deportation raids a few years ago. Typically, we’re conservative regarding immigration but come on, we’re giving gifts [given in good faith] to children for Christmas, I don’t care if illegals recieve them, they’re just for children. So we entered the store together with the donations in our hands and gave them to an old white volunteer. She thanked us and we were getting ready to leave when we heard a middle aged black woman taking clothes for her children ask the worker if she could have it. The worker refused and said “it was for her nephew!”</p>
<p>We were both shocked and appalled, though we didn’t protest. We just left, we probably won’t be donating to them again and as we drove into the highway I tried to talk to my mother about it and she just told me she’d rather not speak of it again.</p>
<p>This raises an ethical dilemma. Is it right for volunteers of charity to keep donated goods for their own purposes? </p>
<p>My response, I don’t care about her socio-economic class, it was purely immoral from my perspective. We, the givers of the community should be able to rely on and trust charitable organizations to be neutral, nonjudgemental, and fair. They shouldn’t be allowed to take from the charity because that puts others at a deficit. It is no longer volunteer work when they profit in any form of margin whether it be in denominations or goods. We’re not giving to the volunteers/workers and they shouldn’t be allowed to take from us, we’re giving to those identified in the organization’s charter. In the future, they can count our donations out. It really is a shame.</p>
<p>IMO, no. It allows the volunteers to cherry-pick the “best” stuff for their own relatives. I don’t begrudge their kids/relatives/friends gifts if they are needy, but they should have to “wait in line”, so to speak, just like everyone else. Everyone should get a chance at the “most desirable” items, not just people with connections. Acting otherwise is in bad faith and, as your example illustrates, upsets donors and perhaps makes them less likely to donate again. I would certainly be upset if I’d heard a volunteer say something like that.</p>
<p>I would also think it might be illegal for the volunteers to do this if the charity is a registered non-profit organization … if it a registered non-profit your donations are tax deductable since the expectation is that your gift is going to the needy … I can’t believe that is legal for volunteers or evern worse employees to “take” donations meant for the true clients of the organization.</p>
<p>FYI - it was me I would not immediately write off that charity but first contact whoever is in charge and tell them what happened … their response will tell you a lot … I would expect them to be shocked and upset and that they hd no idea this was going on.</p>
<p>No. Someone in my family works at a swap shop. It’s an area at the dump where people can leave things they don’t want and take things they do. No money changes hands. My family member is a volunteer. Sometimes someone brings in something old that has some value. Family member takes it and then gives it to a fair/bazaar/what have you, helps them price it at what its worth and the money goes to charity.
I’m not clear, OP, was the worker going to buy the item or are they simply donated to the charity and the charity gives them away. If the former then as long as the worker who wants it doesn’t price it I would say they can buy it just like anyone else. If it is the latter and the items are to be given to the needy it is obviously unethical for the worker to take the item.</p>
<p>We just donated about $700 in clothing. I can say that figure because all the clothes, mostly children’s stuff, were brand new in the sense that they were never worn and still had the original price tags on them. My wife is a pack rat and this was the stash she accumulated over some 20 years. We donated it to the local Woman’s League that runs a thrift shop for the benefit of the less fortunate. I sure as hell hope all of it was either sent on to needy people or sold with the proceeds going to support needy people. If I found out that any of that stuff was appropriated by staff members for their own use I’d would be both angry and disillusioned.</p>
<p>This issue comes up twice a year at the non-profit where I work. We have a large Flea Market each spring and fall, and we collect goods from the community for several weeks beforehand (no clothing, which would make things even more of a circus than they already are.) One of our board members is a secondhand dealer who really knows her pricing. She spends hours setting the best price so that our nonprofit can maximize the proceeds. The set-up is backbreaking work, and we like to reward our volunteers, who are all over 70 years old, for their efforts by allowing them to shop first. I think this is fair because the fundraiser benefits a senior center. But the rules are that they must pay the full price on the sticker (no bargaining). </p>
<p>Before we developed this system - and before we carefully screened the volunteers - it was common to have a couple of them hide items and walk off with them later, or work in pairs to set artificially low prices. (Newish leaf blower for $2? I don’t really think so.) Some people seem to feel that, since the owners have donated the goods, it’s not really stealing to take them. They don’t recognize our non-profit as the new owner, since we didn’t purchase the items, but were given them. It’s sad that a volunteer would shortchange his own organization like that, but it happens (I’ve seen a lot of odd behavior at Flea Markets, but that deserves its own thread. ) </p>
<p>It’s even worse when a volunteer commandeers items from the people he’s supposed to serve.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, I’m like that [way overly descriptive] as I’m sure you could tell. Sometimes as I write along aimlessly, I just drift away. I certainly hope I didn’t offend you. I guess I never really understood where the line was? Why is it okay to use terms such as lady [pointing out that it was a female] but not white [pointing out race]? Onlookers will readily call you out on describing race but not gender. Sorry, but I just don’t understand, why?</p>
<p>Sure its unethical! Don’t you remember that episode of Joan of Arcadia?? (Help me out here… can’t get the details straight, but I think Joan was working on a coat drive and intercepted a leather jacket that was donated to charity and gave it to her mother who was then confronted by the woman who donated the jacket to charity… how embarrassing!!) </p>
<p>It’ not always as simple as it looks. Sometimes clients of a charity like to give back by doing work for the charity also. When I volunteer at the soup kitchen I usually eat lunch when I finish working</p>
<p>As for added details of the organization, it’s a “Baptist Missionary Group.” It’s in a small farming town that is almost exactly in between two counties out in rural country. We found out about it from my mother just happening to ask about it in a local animal shelter of all places when we were going out to have a pet domesticated rat put down [age related afflictions]. The shop advetises “free clothes and things” on a board from the street, which is honest, I’ve seen people just walking out with boxes full of clothing and they don’t have a cash register in the store. It appears to be an old, dumpy building, inside are racks and racks of clothing, perfectly sorted out. As you donate a worker/volunteer opens a door into a big room where you place your things to be sorted out and then they are organized and given out in the very same facility just outside the door.</p>
<p>You seriously watch[/ed] Joan of Arcadia? Lame…</p>
<p><em>Me wondering to myself if I’ve broken another crucial rule of social etiquette!</em> ;)</p>
<p>Revisiting the original topic, I don’t know if it was a registered nonprofit. They never offered tax reduction forms akin to the regional goodwills, so I would assume not.</p>
<p>Androctonus, you certainly did not offend me. The reason I point this out is that the race of the individuals was not important and by having their race in the description seemed to imply that it was. Gender while also important, does not have the same historical baggage.
But back to your original topic, while I do not think it is right, I do think this is a common problem. Hopefully, this was a client that was giving back some time as a volunteer. Do not let this bad experience put you off of your generous ways. Most of your stuff probably got into the right hands. If it still bothers you, find another charity. There are many good ones out there. You might want to find one that is a little more structured. I would be worried that people would be coming in to take free clothes and selling them on ebay. I think by having some price on them, it would reduce this problem. Some people make things so much harder on those of us who try to do good.</p>
<p>In the circumstances you describe it is completely unethical. The situation I described and frazzled described (which is similar to mine) is one which ensures that the charity gets the maximum dollar value for the donated item regardless of who ends up buying the item. The “swap shop” situation I described is one where everyone and anyone can take anything at any time. It is in no way set up as a non profit or described as for the needy. It is a way to reduce trash in the landfill. In that situation, I would say anything is fair game to anyone, volunteer or not.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your insight, I don’t think we’ll be donating there again, it was just astounding as to how blatant she was. It really is just so hard to find a good, honest, helpful charity these days, I’m beginning to distrust charity altogether.</p>
<p>But, as the simple old adage goes… Never lose faith in humanity.</p>
<p>For all I know people are posing as poor and coming in with their children to sell the goods donated to them. Who knows? But we can’t stop giving because of it. We should all just give in good faith and hope that those in need acquire what they so desperately need.</p>
) </p>