Need to vent(long) - People who try to make money off others tragedy

[talulabelle]

I am just so sick of this - I need to vent. I wish I could post this on Facebook, but several of my FB "Friends" are guilty of this and I might be shunned....

I am so tired of people trying to make a buck off others illnesses or tragedies. I have one fb friend who has started a company that sells "jewery" with pink ribbons for breast cancer or blue ribbons for prostate cancer - any cancer she can exploit she does. It isn't even really jewery - she buys the beads and strings them, that is a craft to me, not really the art of jewlery making. Anyway - the woman is a cancer survivor herself, and she really is a nice person - she just doesn't see what she is doing the way I do. She decided to start a business that would also help cancer victims. She gives a "portion" of profits to cancer research. A tiny portion - like 1%. She still makes enough money off people being "aware" of cancer to make it her full time job. Unless someone is giving every penny to charity I think its wrong to exploint the "awareness" ribbons etc. It is really sickening to me. Don't even get me started on what the "pink ribbon" has become. All that does is make a ton of money for companies and a tiny bit for research.

I have another friend that has started selling T-Shirts to give cancer victims hope. They have sayings on them like "I will be strong" etc. I don't think one penny of the proceeds go to any charity. She is just giving cancer victims "hope" and "strength" - and expoiting the hell out of their illness to make a buck.

What is shocking is how common place this seems and that they have audacity to do this.

Yesterday I saw the worst yet however. One of my FB friends is an Arbonne salesperson. Now - first I hate these typle of companies to begin with. The Sipdas, the Cookie Lees, the Arbonnes, the Pampered Chefs etc. They prey on peoples friendships to make money. If you have to buy something everytime they are invited to someones house, that is not a friendship. I never go to these anymore because you feel pressured to buy something to thank your host for having you. If I want jewlery, I can go to anystore in town or order from a catalog or the internet, I don't need to wait to be invited to a "friends home" so they can get free jewery for giving me a glass of wine and some chips.

These are shameless companies to begin with - but what I saw yesterday from this Arbonne salesperson was the height of indecency. She is soliting "donations" to put Arbonne carepacks together for the tornado victims in OK. SO basically, instead of just donating your $25 straight to RedCross or a reputable charity that will use all the money to help - she takes your $25 and it buys a little tiny sample size hand cream, an organic bug spray, and a tiny sample size expensive suncreen. and she will send these little "care packages" that will "sooth" the victims to some church in OK. At Christmas she did the same thing and took peoples donations to put together Arbonne care packs for the Elderly in nursing homes. It was $25 for a handlotion and a candy cane in a crappy coffee cup. Then she plastered what a good samaritian she was all over facebook because she visited the elderly to hand them out. Now - visiting the home was nice - but she could have done that with out soliciting money from friends and making a profit off every gift. Now she is doing it for OK. So you donate $25 to feel good about doing something for the victims, and she gets a cut of it, Arbonne get a HUGE cut. And the victims after cost of shipping get like a $1.00 worth of overpriced crap that they won't even have a a place to put it because the don't have HOMES. That is not charity. That is using someones tragedy make a profit. I think someone brought this up to her - so now she says she will also donate her profits to the cause.

Arbonne is promoting this with all of their salespeople - so many others aren't donating thier profits. It is still wrong, because not only is Arbonne profiting still but the salesperson is still raising her numbers to get toward that next trip she is still trying to earn. Still at the expense of the victims tragedy. It is double wrong that it is taking all this money that could have gone straight to victims and is sending this crap instead. Horrible. Why doesn't Arbonne just donate these products if they want to do something good? Then I might take them a little seriously. These salespeople always seem like such desperate and brainwashed people. They have been so brainwashed by Arbonne to think they are doing something good for people .

Why can't people think for themselves?

 

[debelfish]

I completely agree that it is offensive to profit off of the misfortunes of others. I have friends that have done similar things for cancer, brain injuries etc. it is revolting. They should just make direct contributions to their causes.

 

[NYCDiane]

I agree and I can't stomach stuff like this.

I actually don't even donate to charities like the Red Cross. I heard that very little of the money you donate actually goes to the victims. For example, Superstorm Sandy: How many BILLIONS of dollars were donated to the Red Cross specifically for Sandy victims??? Did any of that actually reach the victims? I don't think so because there are still many people without their homes.


You know what I hate even more? The ones who stand outside the grocery store and claim they're raising money. There was a guy outside a grocery store near me a few years ago. He had a handwritten poster that said he's "raising money for cancer" (not cancer research, not cancer victims, not cancer awareness -- just "cancer). Anyway, I knew it was a scam. He would stand out there with a water jug asking people for money. I never saw anything in the jug but maybe a couple of dollars in change.

There were a couple of guys outside another grocery store recently. At least they had the decency to get a sign done at a sign shop. They were asking for money for the "needy". Every time I saw them, I told them I'm needy and to give ME some money. They stopped asking after a while (these were the same guys for the past few years accosting people and asking them to buy candy bars for "youth sports")

 

[hlg22]

I actually don't even donate to charities like the Red Cross. I heard that very little of the money you donate actually goes to the victims. For example, Superstorm Sandy: How many BILLIONS of dollars were donated to the Red Cross specifically for Sandy victims??? Did any of that actually reach the victims? I don't think so because there are still many people without their homes.

Please don't discourage people from donating to legitimate, needed charities like the Red Cross based on rumor and speculation. You can research the % of donations to any charity that go to programs vs. administrative or other expenses on the Charity Navigator website. For the Red Cross, 92.2% of donations go directly to programs and services for people in need. The remainder is administrative and fundraising expenses. If 92 cents of every dollar I donate to the Red Cross goes to help people in need, I'm happy to donate.

 

[talulabelle]

Yep, my children say I don't trust anyone - but - I cant stand the thought of someone pocketing the hard-earned money that I wanted to go to a charity. I am charitable, but I donate very directly. I never trust ANYONE holding a bucket. Even if they turn in most of it - I'm sure it is too easy for many to scoop in and take a little coffee money - there is NO accountabliity when it is collected that way. I like to donate though websites that keep an accounting of what is collected. Honestly, how do I know if an Arbonne salesperson is even putting the crappy little care pack together at all? I will never see it.

I live in a rather affluent area, my kids go to a very nice school, and TWICE mothers who volunteered to chair fundraiser have stolen money. TWICE. It could not be proven who took it, but we have a good idea who it was. Two different people . Mothers. Stealing money from their children's school. One time it was most of the proceeds from a huge carnival we have and it was thousands of dollars. SO this is really sad, but today when my son asked for change to put in the collection jars at school for the tornado victims, I just gave him pennies, rather than the jar of quarters I have sitting on the counter. I wanted hm to feel like he was doing domething to help, but I can't trust what mom will be counting the money. Sad, I know. I will donate directly to a website set up to collect instead.

 

[talulabelle]

Please don't discourage people from donating to legitimate, needed charities like the Red Cross based on rumor and speculation. You can research the % of donations to any charity that go to programs vs. administrative or other expenses on the Charity Navigator website. For the Red Cross, 92.2% of donations go directly to programs and services for people in need. The remainder is administrative and fundraising expenses. If 92 cents of every dollar I donate to the Red Cross goes to help people in need, I'm happy to donate.

I agree, Red Cross is actually reputable, 8% is low for overhead cost. From what I have read the United Way has a much larger percent they keep, and has too much management. I shy away from donating to them, but Red Cross is good.

At least those companies are in the business of charity- Arbonne is in the business of selling products.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

While I get your rant, frankly the Red Cross and United Way do exactly the same thing. Ask the families of the Newtown shooting victims how much money they have received so far. Oh, wait our Attorney General has had to step in and audit... When I donate, I donate directly to the victim, no middle man.

 

[Julie*]

I am so tired of people trying to make a buck off others illnesses or tragedies. I have one fb friend who has started a company that sells "jewery" with pink ribbons for breast cancer or blue ribbons for prostate cancer - any cancer she can exploit she does. It isn't even really jewery - she buys the beads and strings them, that is a craft to me, not really the art of jewlery making. Anyway - the woman is a cancer survivor herself, and she really is a nice person - she just doesn't see what she is doing the way I do. She decided to start a business that would also help cancer victims. She gives a "portion" of profits to cancer research. A tiny portion - like 1%. She still makes enough money off people being "aware" of cancer to make it her full time job. Unless someone is giving every penny to charity I think its wrong to exploint the "awareness" ribbons etc. It is really sickening to me. Don't even get me started on what the "pink ribbon" has become. All that does is make a ton of money for companies and a tiny bit for research.

I have another friend that has started selling T-Shirts to give cancer victims hope. They have sayings on them like "I will be strong" etc. I don't think one penny of the proceeds go to any charity. She is just giving cancer victims "hope" and "strength" - and expoiting the hell out of their illness to make a buck.

What is shocking is how common place this seems and that they have audacity to do this.

Yesterday I saw the worst yet however. One of my FB friends is an Arbonne salesperson. Now - first I hate these typle of companies to begin with. The Sipdas, the Cookie Lees, the Arbonnes, the Pampered Chefs etc. They prey on peoples friendships to make money. If you have to buy something everytime they are invited to someones house, that is not a friendship. I never go to these anymore because you feel pressured to buy something to thank your host for having you. If I want jewlery, I can go to anystore in town or order from a catalog or the internet, I don't need to wait to be invited to a "friends home" so they can get free jewery for giving me a glass of wine and some chips.

These are shameless companies to begin with - but what I saw yesterday from this Arbonne salesperson was the height of indecency. She is soliting "donations" to put Arbonne carepacks together for the tornado victims in OK. SO basically, instead of just donating your $25 straight to RedCross or a reputable charity that will use all the money to help - she takes your $25 and it buys a little tiny sample size hand cream, an organic bug spray, and a tiny sample size expensive suncreen. and she will send these little "care packages" that will "sooth" the victims to some church in OK. At Christmas she did the same thing and took peoples donations to put together Arbonne care packs for the Elderly in nursing homes. It was $25 for a handlotion and a candy cane in a crappy coffee cup. Then she plastered what a good samaritian she was all over facebook because she visited the elderly to hand them out. Now - visiting the home was nice - but she could have done that with out soliciting money from friends and making a profit off every gift. Now she is doing it for OK. So you donate $25 to feel good about doing something for the victims, and she gets a cut of it, Arbonne get a HUGE cut. And the victims after cost of shipping get like a $1.00 worth of overpriced crap that they won't even have a a place to put it because the don't have HOMES. That is not charity. That is using someones tragedy make a profit. I think someone brought this up to her - so now she says she will also donate her profits to the cause.

Arbonne is promoting this with all of their salespeople - so many others aren't donating thier profits. It is still wrong, because not only is Arbonne profiting still but the salesperson is still raising her numbers to get toward that next trip she is still trying to earn. Still at the expense of the victims tragedy. It is double wrong that it is taking all this money that could have gone straight to victims and is sending this crap instead. Horrible. Why doesn't Arbonne just donate these products if they want to do something good? Then I might take them a little seriously. These salespeople always seem like such desperate and brainwashed people. They have been so brainwashed by Arbonne to think they are doing something good for people .

Why can't people think for themselves?

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Personally, I have no problem with your friend selling t-shirts if that is her business and she markets to cancer patients. I would never do it but I don't feel like she's misrepresenting anything even if it is in poor taste. The bad part would be if she claims that the proceeds go to charity when they actually don't.
I'm really bent out of shape that you have a friend who donates 1% of the profits from the "jewelry" but says a portion of the proceeds goes to cancer research etc. I have never thought to ask that question before when I go to a craft fair and buy those types of things but now my first question will be, "What percentage of the proceeds goes to what organization?"

Julie

 

[curlyjbs]

I am just so sick of this - I need to vent. I wish I could post this on Facebook, but several of my FB "Friends" are guilty of this and I might be shunned....

I don't understand why you would care if these people shunned you Obviously they aren't anyone you respect or would care to be friends with. I would post away....................

 

[talulabelle]

I don't understand why you would care if these people shunned you Obviously they aren't anyone you respect or would care to be friends with. I would post away....................

You're right, but it's a small town and I hate to hurt feelings. Even if I don't care for a couple people who are doing it, we have mutual friends who I don't want to hurt. They may feel I am attacking their friend or friends.

Like I said, the one who sells the jewelry is a nice person. I just think she wasn't raised the same as I. She doesn't really see it as exploitation I guess. I wouldn't want to hurt her daughter who goes to school with my son. I protest by not buying I guess. I don't feel the need to denounce them right on Facebook.

 

[Planogirl]

I don't understand why the Red Cross gets such a bad rap because people still don't have homes. The Red Cross is in no way involved in home replacement. I feel for those people but they are criticizing the wrong group IMO.

How does anyone get their directions directly to the people affected? Unless you personally go out there and hand it to someone, I don't see how that can happen.

 

[Arielle22]

People not being back in a home can have other reasons other than financial. There may be permitting issues or backlog in construction issues. If the infrastructure of an area was destroyed (roads, sewers) then that would cause issues as well.

OP, I understand your point but how is it different from any of the pink ribbon publicity that has sprung up in recent years? Clothing manufacturers and cereals and many other companies produce stuff with pink ribbons but give a limited amount to a charity.

 

[Mom2Ben02]

My biggest peeve is Yoplait yogurt - making you collect lids, then mail them in, and THEN they donate money. Just donate per unit sold, and not make people jump through hoops. They want to use the logo and then hope no one mails anything in.

 

[Burnedout]

My biggest peeve is Yoplait yogurt - making you collect lids, then mail them in, and THEN they donate money. Just donate per unit sold, and not make people jump through hoops. They want to use the logo and then hope no one mails anything in.

I hate that!

I don't have a problem with people making crafts or jewelry with the ribbons etc. The ribbon concept was all about awareness. I don't care if people make a profit. Earning a living isn't a bad thing. BUT don't lie about the proceeds. Or suggest that more is going to the charity than not. I never assume that a charity is getting the funds when I buy the type one diabetes stuff I buy. I don't see the ribbons differently.

I walk along the middle line when it comes to trust. I'd much rather give directly but there are few opportunities for me to directly help the people in Oklahoma. So I have to trust somewhere.

 

[talulabelle]

People not being back in a home can have other reasons other than financial. There may be permitting issues or backlog in construction issues. If the infrastructure of an area was destroyed (roads, sewers) then that would cause issues as well.

OP, I understand your point but how is it different from any of the pink ribbon publicity that has sprung up in recent years? Clothing manufacturers and cereals and many other companies produce stuff with pink ribbons but give a limited amount to a charity.

They rarely says what percentage will go to charity. At least many of these companies would be selling the cereal anyway, but for a month they add a pink ribbon logo to the box to raise awareness they will donate to the cause. But to build a personal business off selling the ribbons alone?

LIke I said, I don't like what the pink ribbon has become. It is bizarre. My daughters school has a day in the Fall (OCT - breast cancer awareness month) when all the sports teams wear pink socks or shirts, and they call it "Think Pink " day. The team moms have bake tables set up at the games that week to sell treats (usually pink themed) and the proceeds go to breast cancer research. This is fine. Except I have to buy the socks with the pink ribbon logos, or the t-shirt with the pink ribbon on it for my kid to wear to her game. Those companies selling the clothes with the ribbons aren't giving any of the money to charity. I rather the kids just use pink face paint, or maybe an inexpensive pink hair ribbon and then I give the $10 that I usually spend on clothing to the charity.

So it gets worse - this spring - the spring teams just felt compelled to do this because the Fall ones do it - so her softball team just has a "think Pink" day. I had to buy pink ribbon socks for her to wear. I asked about donating food to the bake table and she said, "oh, we aren't fundraising this time, we are just wearing pink" WHAT? the ribbon has become disconnected from the fund raising at this point. A company used the motif to sell socks, and the kids have grown up in the environment that it is cool and a good thing to do to wear pink ribbons to support breast cancer survivors....but they don't even realize the the whole thing about it is to RAISE MONEY FOR RESEARCH!!! not just wear cute little popular socks that I have to pay full price for. This is when a company is just exploiting the cause.

 

[Arielle22]

They rarely says what percentage will go to charity. At least many of these companies would be selling the cereal anyway, but for a month they add a pink ribbon logo to the box to raise awareness they will donate to the cause. But to build a personal business off selling the ribbons alone?

LIke I said, I don't like what the pink ribbon has become. It is bizarre. My daughters school has a day in the Fall (OCT - breast cancer awareness month) when all the sports teams wear pink socks or shirts, and they call it "Think Pink " day. The team moms have bake tables set up at the games that week to sell treats (usually pink themed) and the proceeds go to breast cancer research. This is fine. Except I have to buy the socks with the pink ribbon logos, or the t-shirt with the pink ribbon on it for my kid to wear to her game. Those companies selling the clothes with the ribbons aren't giving any of the money to charity. I rather the kids just use pink face paint, or maybe an inexpensive pink hair ribbon and then I give the $10 that I usually spend on clothing to the charity.

So it gets worse - this spring - the spring teams just felt compelled to do this because the Fall ones do it - so her softball team just has a "think Pink" day. I had to buy pink ribbon socks for her to wear. I asked about donating food to the bake table and she said, "oh, we aren't fundraising this time, we are just wearing pink" WHAT? the ribbon has become disconnected from the fund raising at this point. A company used the motif to sell socks, and the kids have grown up in the environment that it is cool and a good thing to do to wear pink ribbons to support breast cancer survivors....but they don't even realize the the whole thing about it is to RAISE MONEY FOR RESEARCH!!! not just wear cute little popular socks that I have to pay full price for. This is when a company is just exploiting the cause.

I don't like the pink ribbon campaigns. My mom died of breast cancer and I feel the disease is trivialized by the pink ribbons.

I don't think building a business off the ribbons is different from a lot of businesses. Franklin Mint sells junk for a lot of tragedies. They have a Twin Towers design and after Princess Diana died, dolls of her. To me it is all the same.

 

[kkandaj]

The most frustrating for me is the NFL in October. Players have pink shoes, towels, gloves, sidelines and endzones are painted, etc. Seriously--why doesn't the NFL DONATE THE MONEY TO RESEARCH instead of everyone wearing all the pink. For awareness, all they have to do is have their broadcasters mention it while they broadcast the games. Makes me furious!

 

[simpilotswife]

If anyone is interested I believe Americares is a reputable charity. At one point in time I believe that they said 90% of the money that is donated to them goes to people in need. Not sure if that has changed (this was about 15 yrs ago) but you can certainly check them out.

 

[purpledisneyprncess]

They prey on peoples friendships to make money. If you have to buy something everytime they are invited to someones house, that is not a friendship. I never go to these anymore because you feel pressured to buy something to thank your host for having you.

I wholeheartedly agree with you and you summed it up perfectly "They prey on peoples friendships to make money"!!! I've been invited and this 1 person had all of these over the years: Tastefully Simple, At home America, Pampered Chef, Cash for Gold, Avon, Mary Kay, and now they are doing these "Wine parties" ONLY $20 for a bottle of wine..noooo that's not overpriced or anything! I would never attend these things and waste my money. And with that one lady, the only time she had people over is for these parties, to profit off of them, that is disgusting.

Also, I have a friend who sets up "Fundraiser" events for the last hurricane, and before that she's done other ones.. in my mind, I always felt like she was scamming people.

When I read your post, I thought "Wow someone else that thinks this too!"

 

[everythingALICE]

I agree that Charity Navigator is a helpful tool in deciding which charities are legitimate and how their funds are distributed - although it isn't always up to date (I checked the profile for the nonprofit where I work, and the info is from FY 2011).

There are so many legitimate charities that do great work, that if something doesn't sit right with you, don't donate. Ask the person for their contact information or a website where you can donate, and take the time to look into it if it's a cause that you'd like to support.

I totally understand the frustration behind folks making a buck off trendy causes, and then not donating proceeds to reputable charities. Living in Boston, there have been lots of people selling 'Boston Strong' t-shirts, etc. that do not appear to be affiliated with/advertising that proceeds support the One Fund.