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Hubby and I encountered a veterans organization we had never heard of before, asking for donations. Set up was a bucket with stuff taped to it. Seemed very sketchy to me, but what got me was the guy laying the American flags he had just been holding on the ground to tie his shoe!! I was so mad I wanted to say something, but by the time we approached he was already done and had picked them up. Hubby is more forgiving and donated on the way out.

Does Walmart legitimize these "organizations" or can anybody just set up there?

I've had enough with panhandling in the parking lot and am suspicious of it at the door.

I don't know about checking their legitimacy, but they do have to have Walmart's permission to set up in front of their store on their property.

All of my donations are to organizations with whom I have a relationship. I never give to people holding buckets on the street.

jmra wrote:All of my donations are to organizations with whom I have a relationship. I never give to people holding buckets on the street.

I give money to street musicians sometimes, but that's not really a donation. Other than that, same here.

jmra wrote:All of my donations are to organizations with whom I have a relationship. I never give to people holding buckets on the street.

If it's a legitimate-looking organization and I'm interested I'll ask for a flyer or web address or whatever else so I can look into it. But I'm not going to donate before I've done some research, talked to some people, and whatever other due diligence I feel is appropriate. But we have a limited amount of money to give (and we do set aside that amount out of each paycheck and it is all given somewhere by the end of the year) and I'd rather give it where I KNOW it's going to good use than potentially give it to a fraud when a good, legitimate cause could have used it.

You do have to have permission at Wal-Mart, at least officially. I used to have to go and ask people a question of the week for the local paper and I got very familiar with which locations would let me stick around and approach people. Wal-Mart generally did not.

Edited to add: it's possible someone could set up in front of Wal-Mart and stay there until management was alerted to their presence. Given the difficulty I have finding anyone when I want help there, I can imagine it could be a while, especially if no one thinks to report it (assuming the person has permission). So the fact that they were there doesn't necessarily mean they were approved.

jmra wrote:All of my donations are to organizations with whom I have a relationship. I never give to people holding buckets on the street.

How about boots?

jmra wrote:All of my donations are to organizations with whom I have a relationship.

I never give to people holding buckets on the street.

I plan my giving at the beginning of each year, making donations to organizations that I determine are good uses of my charity. After that, I do not give to anyone soliciting. This is not because there are not good causes soliciting. It is because I cannot afford to give to every good cause I see. If a cause catches my eye, I will look into it for next year's donation.
The exception to this is immediate emergencies, such as a friend in need.

CHLLady wrote: Seemed very sketchy to me, but what got me was the guy laying the American flags he had just been holding on the ground to tie his shoe!!

Yeah, you WILL NOT catch many Veterans (sure there are a few) placing an American Flag on the ground, I take that stuff seriously. Hundreds of thousands of men and women have died for that flag, its a complete lack of respect to place it on the ground.

That would have immediately made me suspicious as well, and I would have kept on walking.