I do give money to various charities every now and then.  I figure there are definitely some worthy causes that are deserving of some attention.  But, like everything else, I have a problem with it — after I give them some cash, they put me on some kind of list, and then I get mail from them literally once a week.  I’m not exaggerating here, every week I hear about a problem they’re facing or some issue they’re trying to fight, and every week they ask me for more money.  Here’s the issue:  Instead of spending that much time and effort sending out mailers asking for money, why not just use the time, effort, materials (think of all the trees they’re killing!) and money they’re expending on asking for money and put it towards actually using the money I’ve already given them, they wouldn’t need to keep asking me for any more.  I figure they probably spend more per year asking me for money than they actually get from me, so no wonder they’re operating at a loss.