A few weeks ago I got an email about some random charity for some kid who was going to ride his bike across the country for cancer or something. Although I didn't know the kid real well, I thought it was a worthwhile cause and threw him a couple of bucks and then a few days later I got a thank you letter from the kid for my generous donation. Problem I have is that it wasn't a personal thank you, it was a general form email which wasn't at all specific to me. Honestly if you are going to ask for donations the least you can do is email each person back and tell thank 'em personally, it's not like this guy was running for POTUS and he was getting thousands of dollars per minute. He had a goal of about $500 which means that at $25 a piece, the most he'd have to write is 20 emails which considering it all is probably about an hour worth of work but likely not even on a single day because donations were probably rolling in through a few weeks.
I don't care what people say whenever anybody makes a donation or gives to a charity they are doing it in part for themselves. There is just no such thing as a truly selfless gift. It makes them look good in front of friends, coworkers or acquaintances, it gives them a tax write-off or it just makes them feel better about themselves. Like the Curb episode with Ted Danson and the museum the anonymous donation always has a way to get leaked and become non-anonymous. Now this doesn't mean we should get rid of donations, charities etc but just means that everybody should be honest about what they give and what is expected as return and the least I expect is a personal thank you
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