Comment on October 2026 Membership Drive: Connecting Your Tags

  1. RubyRhodes Fri 16 Oct 2026 06:56PM UTC

    I think a lot of people misunderstand how fundraising gifts work, especially when they see something like a calendar being offered for a $200 donation.

    You're not paying $200 for a calendar. You're donating $200 to a cause, and the calendar is a thank-you gift.

    It's the same basic concept as donating to PBS during a pledge drive. You might contribute $100 and receive a tote bag, or a mug, or a DVD collection. Nobody is suggesting that the tote bag itself is worth $100. You're supporting public television, and the gift is a little something extra to thank you for that support.
    Fundraising works differently from traditional retail. When you buy something from a store, you're paying for the product. When you participate in a fundraiser, you're contributing to a mission, organization, or cause you believe in. The item you receive is an incentive or token of appreciation, not something with an equivalent retail value.
    .
    But judging a fundraising gift solely by what the physical item would cost in a store misses the purpose of the fundraiser yall.

    Tell me you’ve never donated to a charity without telling me you’ve never donated to a charity 👀

    Last Edited Fri 16 Oct 2026 06:57PM UTC

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    1. cuentame1cuento Fri 16 Oct 2026 07:34PM UTC

      THIS 🙌 I’m reading through the comments and I realized not many are familiar with how donation gifts work and I automatically thought of PBS as well. Thank you for giving a good example and laying out the difference between a donation gift given as gratitude versus merch being sold.💕

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    2. TheRazorsEdge Sat 17 Oct 2026 06:20AM UTC

      I honestly think many newer members, who are probably younger rather than older, may never have encountered this concept before. (I remember PBS pledge drives, but I haven’t seen one in 20+ years.) It’s likely they haven’t donated directly to a charity before, or if they have it was through something like a Facebook fundraiser or a text-to-donate-$5 campaign, not an old-school membership drive. Heck, I can’t think of another non-profit org I support that gives out physical donation gifts these days. (Hmm… Mozilla might have done stickers recently.) We may be getting into generation-gap territory here. 😅

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      1. valentinite Sat 17 Oct 2026 03:03PM UTC

        NPR around me still does them, but I think “turns on the actualfax radio in the car” is also a sign of being old.

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      2. Gretia (malori_crowett) Sun 18 Oct 2026 03:07PM UTC

        A fanart of Gretia from Ascendance of a Bookworm. She is lit by moonlight, smiling sligtly as happy tears can be seen

        among the association I'm member,
        I know the EFF also have donations gift
        but it's true its something you see less often, in purticular for over internet donations. you do often see like some random pens being gifted for in street drives

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    4. regardsalxndra Sun 18 Oct 2026 11:20AM UTC

      My favorite gifts are the stuffed animals from the aspca and wwf.

      🐕🐼

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