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[desert rat]

I simply toss everything I get from the "designated collection officer" on our campus.  Both paper and e-mail.  Then, we get the inevitible "you haven't returned your pledge card.  You must return it, even if you are not going to give".  I toss those messages too.  Hey, the very fact that they keep track of who has returned the card and who has not shows that the process IS coercive.

I once told our asst dean (in a casual conversation) that I had not given to UW ever since it quit supporting Planned Parenthood.  That was, like, 20 years ago.  So now my money goes to P.P. and our local public radio station.

[Prytania]

United Way is notorious for strong arming, not only in colleges, but in industry as well. I have to wonder why businesses push their employees to give to this organization, which hardly has a stellar record. I always think someone is on the take.

[Zarkov]

Prytania wrote:

> United Way is notorious for strong arming, not only in
> colleges, but in industry as well. I have to wonder why
> businesses push their employees to give to this organization,
> which hardly has a stellar record. I always think someone is on
> the take.

When I worked in industry, not only did they try to get employees to give to United Way, but the company would "loan out" executives to help run the campaign.

They basically did that to show they were a good "corporate citizen."  It's essentially a PR move.

PS:  They also had a sign in front of the building showing that the employees gave X thousand dollars to United Way.

[ALS]

At my old school, a large Midwestern state university, United Way always put up a huge sign next to the main entrance to the campus.  It looked like an oversized thermometer, and measured what amounts had been donated by the University staff.  You couldn't miss it!

[alternative]

Try to ignore the pressure, and if anyone questions, say [if it's true] that you pay your taxes to support your local community, and feel a moral obligation to tithe your gifts to organizations and charities associated with your research and professional interests.
I tithe, but I've been boycotting the United Way since they started sending long winded speakers to faculty meetings, where they would waste business meeting time with personal testimonies. I found them deeply unsympathetic--especially the one who had gone through a period of deprivation because she was making only slightly more than I had as a graduate student (this was during my first year of teaching).
I also resent the pressures to buy raffle tickets, candy, cookies, current cards, etc. for children's school activities. I'll gladly vote to finance the schools, but consider hawking--or hawking by proxy--to be a very problematic form of child labor.

[%sig%]

[Assoc Prof]

I am against any charity solicitations in any workplace. I discard anything I get related  to this. UW, whatever, I will not participate.

 The subtle (and sometimes direct) coercion is wrong. Charity  should be  _given_ by the donor, not  extracted by the donor's employer.