A Donation in Your Name

Ah, Christmas. The time when Christians rejoice about the birth of their messiah, others are happy about no work or whatever but Christmas is also the time for giving and to some it seems they ain’t even trying. Before I go on this rant is not an insult to charities and most charities (mostly local ones) do a good job where Governments have failed.

I have seen lately more and more people have been “giving” a gift which is simply a “donation in your name” which is exactly as it says – someone donates money to a cause that you believe in (or worst, they believe in) and then have the nerve to claim they given YOU a gift when all they have done is given money to a charity of their choice to make them feel happy. Now do not get me wrong as there are many charities that do excellent work but not many really know what you value and unless they said in advance or did a hell of a lot of research on you, that “gift” they sent you ends up being something they value and not you.

Now I know what some are thinking “Oh they did something nice for someone else, in YOUR name!” and you would be correct if it was something that you believed in or even worst – something that you DISAGREE with. I find it very obnoxious that someone would give something in YOUR name and then expect you to be happy, thankful and hell even grateful that they did it. Take this as an example: Let’s say you do not like children and want nothing to do with them and someone donates in your name to the NSPCC.

Now I could forgive someone doing that if they were not lazy. I know people are now thinking they do not have to send a gift at all and you would be right just in this case they never even sent anything in the first place other than their ego put on a bit of paper. I am more than happy if someone sends a card or whatever but to simply send a donation in my name to something you believe in is VERY lazy and only serves to float your ego. Now I would not debate nor complain if someone sent me a list of charities and go – “Hey Matt, you are hard to shop for and/or got everything you want. What charity would you like me to give to” and honestly I would be far more thankful and happy that you allowed me to pick where to help and not assume.

Because let’s be honest – all a donation in your name to a place you want is YOU being arrogant that not only did you help the charity you want but you expect me to be happy that I got such a great gift … which isn’t a gift at all. If you want to give money to charity then fine do so and skip me. Do you want to send money to a charity in my name? Also fine but ask me so I can tell you otherwise as it will not be going to that lovely charity of yours but something I find worthwhile like Stem Cell Research instead.

Just man up. If you can’t think of a gift then just get a gift card – we all know everyone got to pretend they are thankful anyway.