i donate money from time to time to what i find to be worthy causes, but i'm not sure i don't do more harm than good. when i buy something for my computer, i am sent piles of computer catalogs, both from the company i ordered from, and from other companies selling related products. this goes on until i change addresses (and who knows how long it lasts after that). there must be some registry of potential computer customers with my name on it. while i regret the waste of resources in this situation, i take some comfort in knowing that eventually these companies will spend more money advertising to me than they earned from my initial purchase, and i'll have done my part to put them out of business.
unfortunately, the exact same thing happens when i give money to charitable or political organizations. i get put on some sort of philanthropist registry, and i get solicitations from dozens of related organizations. and i can't take the same comfort in the wasting of money here, because i don't want these organizations to end. i just want them to gain clues.
in many cases, i'm not even sure if the soliticitations aren't costing more than i've given. some of this is my fault. not realizing that so many nonprofit organizations had such ridiculous solicitation schemes, i neglected to read fine print, and probably missed opportunities to opt out of much of this junk mail. i've been trying to remember exactly which organizations i've donated to and checking websites, but i've found no means of opting out after the initial donation (and damage) is done. one potential avenue would be to use the direct marketing association's opt out list, which i've found suggestions that nonprofits use, but i have no idea if they do use this list, and i'm not really interested in spending my own money if it's not going to help the nonprofits. luckily, i'll move again soon, and i can take more care in giving out my address next time. meanwhile, i hope the federal no-call list is soon followed up with a federal no-mail list.