got a request for $$ in the mail today

[annr]

Two years ago I attended a reunion for a group that I had belonged to in high school . The reunion itself was fabulous. On the last day during brunch one of the speakers asked us to give donations of $100,000 each. (that is not a typo). I laughed out loud for a half a second. There was no step from zero to one hundred thousand and no plan to illustrate the use of the funds. I didn't want to seem cheap, but I did not make a donation.

Today I got an expensive marketing piece in the mail by the same group. This time they have scaled back their request to $5,000 over five years: “we realized that many will fall into the $5,000 [plan] over five year [sic].” The minimum offered on their form is $500 over 5 years.

Am I the only one who thinks that this is crazy? Or am I out of touch? These are two of the largest requests I've gotten and seem more in line with the Harvard MBA school reunion than a high school orchestral group.
What kind of donation requests are other people getting?

 

[JatMat]

I always thought it was expensive in Boston, but that does seem a LITTLE out of line. Down here where the hicks live, they would be grateful for 5 bucks, let alone a hundred. Be sure and send them at least a dollar, that might give them a little hint.
Just my .02
No Change required,
Jim

 

[annr]

I always thought it was expensive in Boston, but that does seem a LITTLE out of line. Down here where the hicks live, they would be grateful for 5 bucks, let alone a hundred. Be sure and send them at least a dollar, that might give them a little hint.
Just my .02
No Change required,
Jim

You might rightly think that this was Boston, but it was in one of the nation's poorest states, go figure.

Yeah, five bucks would have worked, even $25.....

BTW I forgot to add that you could pay it (the 5 grand) in easy monthly installments over five years. Just what most people want, another bill to pay every month ! I won't add an expression.

 

[ratstuph]

I would tear the buck in half and tell them they get the other half when they deliver a detailed plan for how they will spend the money. I think these folks are nuts, but I tend to think that often.
all da best,
rats...

 

[annr]

I would tear the buck in half and tell them they get the other half when they deliver a detailed plan for how they will spend the money. I think these folks are nuts, but I tend to think that often.
all da best,
rats...

One more in the nuts column!

Let's see: $1.00 spread over 5 years and paid in monthly installments......sign me up! Then I would need to deduct the postage. I don't think they could afford that dollar.

 

[Cougar Allen]

Reminds me of a time when I owed some money to the leader of a youth group I was in. I dug into my pockets but I was a penny short, so I gave her what I had and promised to pay the remainder in six monthly installments. She wanted to forgive me the debt but I insisted, "No, I'll pay -- I just need time!"

I took a penny in to the metal shop at school and sheared it into six pieces like a pizza. Every time the youth group met I would give her another piece. When she had all six pieces I offered to weld them back together for her but she declined that offer.

Years later I ran into her and she said she still has that penny....

 

[Esav Benyamin]

I used to run into this bum outside the American Museum of Natural History. He would run up to people with a big friendly smile and yell out, "What's the best nation? A do-nation! Please help me out, you don't have to be Rockafelly to be generous! I'll even take a pizza!"

I haven't been able to hear the word "donation" without laughing since then.