VIEWPOINT:
To Give or Not to Give

I am an immigrant who arrived to this country after WW II. Although I had a job right from the start, the first few years were a struggle to have the ends meet. Eventually, I landed myself a relatively well-paid (by my standards of those days) job, and pooling our resources, my wife and I were able to afford a modest two-bedroom house. Since prior to arriving at the United States I spent nearly six years as a prisoner of war in Germany, and then seven years as a war refugee (what was then called displaced person) also in Germany, I was not spoiled with luxuries. Having a house, enough to eat, and two small cars meant for me a fulfillment of the American Dream. I felt America was good to me and now I should give something in return.

I picked up a charity, I think it was Father Flanagan's Boys' Town, and sent a small contribution. It didn't take long that I received a thank-you note and an envelope implying that another contribution would be welcome. As the time went by, more and more requests for contributions from other charities began to arrive. The more I was giving the more requests were arriving.

Where were they getting my name from? I didn't advertise that I am willing to satisfy all needs of the world. With each request there was a lengthy letter describing all evils that happen to people, frequently accompanied by gruesome photographs of emaciated children or sick people. There was also a pledge card with a series of little squares accompanied by numbers increasing from left to right in a geometrical progression. An additional square labeled other was always at the upper end of the progression, hardly ever at the lower end. Some fund-raiser even told me how much I should give.

Where did they obtain information about my financial status to make such decisions for me? I don't know. Sometime in the mid-60s a new idea emerged. The newly created United Fund proclaimed that if I give generously to UF, all human needs will be taken care of and no one will ever bother me. This was a splendid idea; unfortunately, it didn't work. I gave generously to the United Fund but this didn't stop the flow of mail.

After I became a citizen and registered with the board of election another flow of mail began to arrive. Now there were requests for political contributions. Once I sent a modest contribution of $10 or $20 to a political fund-raiser; they began to call you a community leader and they immediately made you a member of a political organization whether I wanted it or not.

It is strange that one can easily renounce U.S. citizenship but it is impossible to surrender a membership in these political fund-raising organizations. Many times I enclosed with my contribution a note saying that I supported their cause but I did not want to be a member of anything. Nevertheless, next month another request for money arrived with a lengthy letter beginning with the words Dear Member of....Obviously they didn't read my note. Well, I didn't read their letters either because I know that all they wanted is my money.

Since I am a registered Democrat, most of the political mail came from Democratic organizations. However, occasionally I received mail from the opposite side of the political spectrum. Once I received an adorned letter from Senator Phil Gramm inviting me to join the Republican Senatorial Inner Circle. For a mere $1,000 a year I would have the privilege to rub elbows with Mr. Sunnunu, Arnold Schwarzenegger and other Republican hotshots at the Inner Circle meetings at the additional cost of $200-$300 per meeting. Of course, travel expenses to Washington and the hotel in Washington are on me. Being now such an important personality, I couldn't take a room in any flophouse but would have to stay at the Omni Shoreham Hotel for a minimum of $135 a night (a special rate for VIPs). Another time I received from the Reagan White House a proposal that if I contribute as little as $1,000 or so to Reagan's campaign I will receive a medal and a special letter of appreciation that I may display prominently in my living room. This was a shock to me since my European background taught me that medals and crosses are given for special achievements in peace and war and cannot be acquired for money.

Now that I am retired a new type of mail began to arrive. Some charities figured out that after contributing for 30 years or so I may have reached by now the end of the line. So, in case I am brooding about how to dispose of my alleged estate I should consider to bequest everything to them.

Presently, I am flooded every day of the week with four to five letters asking for contributions. I am glad that there is no mail on Sunday; at least one day a week I am spared heartbreaking decisions to give or not to give. Mostly the requests are for, what I consider, worthwhile causes. But unfortunately my limited means do not do not allow me to solve all of the world's ills, so I have to be selective and dispose of some of the requests into the wastebasket. These are hard but unavoidable decisions to make.

It certainly would ease my conscience if we would reverse the trend for privatization of charities. Let the governments take care of the needs of those who cannot help themselves as it is done in most of the West European countries. This will not stop the flood of requests for money entirely, but certainly will ameliorate the situation. It will simplify our lives and will save a lot of paper and thus preserve our forests and cut down on pollution from the pulp industry.

In addition it will be more cost-effective because charities usually collect money through fund-raising agencies and only part of the contributions go to the charity, whereas the rest fattens up the fund-raiser. I would rather send once a year one sizable check to the IRS than hundreds of small checks year-round. Let everybody chip in, not just the suckers.

As far as the political contributions are concerned, let us eliminate money from the campaign process altogether. This way, our elected representatives won't need to take bribes from corporations and alms from the citizens. So much is being talked about how welfare devalues people's self-respect. Shouldn't the same apply to our elected officials who have to go begging to have chances to be elected?

Sigmund F. Zakrzewski
Research Professor