There was a donation drive on local television last night and callers just need to dial certain numbers depending on the amount that they wished to donate. My elder son wanted to make a call as well. Although his purpose was for charity, the intention was for fun.
Instead of simply allowing him to make the call, which I will make anyway, I asked him,” Who are you donating to and why?” He could easily tell me the beneficiary of the donations as it’s shown on the screen but he got stuck with the cause of the charity organisation.
I told him to Google on the charity organisation. A call that might ended in 10 seconds took almost 10 mins…for him to find out more about about the organisation, what they do and how will his donation be used. He finally made the call and I told him the money will be deducted from his pocket money 🙂
I could had just let him make the call for the fun of it while doing some charity work but I want him to understand that while it is important to have charitable acts but when we make a donation, we got to really ask who are they, why are they doing it and charity takes more than financial help. That’s the same as those who walk around with metal tins asking for donation…If they don’t know the cause for them to raise fund, I will usually not donate.
And more importantly, it also prevent him to fall into scams.
My IFA@Sg 