Wow I'm sorry for making this thread and then abandoning it. Out of the last 60 hours I've been in transit for about 38 and then without internet for the rest until now, and now I'm super tired/about to go to bed.

I'll answer a couple of responses quickly but be more devoted to this in a day or so.

Ex - Your idea about having each individual donating their own amount is fine. In fact, it may even be better to have some people transfer money to your brits and have you donate if your Govt will match a certain % and ours won't (which is the case for us Aussies, I think - not positive though).

NV - If one person donates one dollar because they see a bunch of other posters donating, and they wouldn't have donated that dollar without this thread, then who cares about lacking class if that dollar buys a child in africa textbooks for a year. If it makes you feel better, if we do have some sort of list of donors then we can make the list anonymous. I just feel that being able to quantify the amount of money BTP is giving to charitable foundations and perhaps showing in practical terms what that is doing (ie, food for x people for a year, clean water for x families, x money towards finding a cure for breast cancer, x abuse victims cared for, etc) will help people feel that they're doing something meaningful and therefore make them donate more.

I don't want to get into a huge debate but I don't necessarily agree with the fact the discussing ones charitable donations amongst ones peers is a bad thing.

Monk -

I don't get it. Encouraging others to donate to charitable causes is bad? Posting screenshots of the donation confirmation is bad? Being relatively affluent and from a western country is bad so long as poverty exists elsewhere in the world?

Or do I have it wrong? Giving to causes in the third world is bad because the lousy ingrates don't appreciate the help and hate us anyways - and will hate us even more if we give money to some charity aimed at helping them?

How about if I donate to domestic charities aimed at the elderly, the destitute, or the terminally ill? My money will help people that I can actually relate to and know that there but for the grace of God goes John Bradford, and those fucking ingrates in Africa can go on starving and dying of AIDS and hating me a little bit less.

NV, as I see it, you make two distinct statements in this thread.

1) talking about giving charity is bad and people should not talk about it.

2) peoples efforts are not good enough and if they want to do something to help, they should do what YOU have already done, then then might understand what is going on, because they obviously do not and you do, therefore they cannot possibly help because what they want to do is stupid and not as good as what you want to do (despite the fact that there is a 99.999999999999999999999% chance that the people here could never do what you are suggesting (Get their governments to give more money) in the time it will take them to ship $100 a week or whatever to charity).

Hypocrisy ftw. DUCY?