Sell things with the charity name on it.
Have donation drives for particular campaigns and whatnot.

Do not send me things in the post constantly asking for £2 a month. (Didn’t it used to be £1?)
Don’t keep sending me emails unless I’ve specifically asked to be put on the mailing list (and make it easy and guilt free to take myself off it!)

I think that in won’t be long before charities which don’t more or less follow those requirements start finding it difficult to fundraise due to the general public having hardened their hearts from the constant begging.

I’ll buy into your wristbands. I’ll buy into your T-Shirts. I won’t buy into the guilt giving game.

When I say “your”, that’s a non specific. I’ve never felt harrassed by Firstsigns which operates in what I would describe as my ideal method.

I know they need to gain donations, but I’m uncomfortable with the tactics some charities use, and it puts me off supporting them. Yes, most people can afford £2 a month, but not for every charity that asks! I don’t feel comfortable giving to huge, rich charities who have executive directors on 6 figure salaries. I dislike being sent pens and personal address labels with images of dogs and cats, and all the other things I’m sent in order to make me feel as though I should ‘pay’ for the gift I didn’t want in the first place. I dislike being made to feel personally responsible for the safety, happiness and wellbeing of others.

I also dislike the fact if I choose to help a charity once, they never leave me alone again. I responded to one charity’s christmas appeal a couple of years ago, and they replied by asking me to remember them in my Will and enclosing details on how I could do that. I didn’t think it was appropriate.

Oh dear, this has turned into a bit of rant! I guess I try to tell myself that I do as much as I can, and actually I bloomin well do, but it’s hard to *feel* that way when I’m constantly asked for more and more and more.

Twitter takes some time to ‘get’ – the more you use it, the more it becomes fun, friendly and ultimately useful.

Protecting your Tweets from the whole wen (i.e. just letting your ‘followers’ see them) can be a good idea if you’re going to be very very personal in your tweets, but many people enjoy being open with their tweets and gaining more followers.

For very very personal matters, why not set up a closed / locked blog at LiveJournal or Blogger?

We really hope that SIAD helps more people (like yourself) reflect on self-injury and new ways of coping.

I really hope you like our main website.

Cheers