Charitable Organisations

[jkelly24]

I have donated a lot of hand made items to an organisation which then send these items out to premature baby units around the U.K. Five weeks ago a statement was put on the website and facebook page that they were no longer collecting items but the outstanding items they had dating back to November would be sent out and photographs put on the facebook page as proof. My problem is they are not replying to my posts put on facebook or replying to emails in the last 5 weeks requesting information about the items I and lots of others donated. Do I have to just write these donations off or is there anything more I can do about it?

[joko]

not sure what you're asking here - they have said all items they have now will be sent out as normal, but they don't want to receive any more.

so whats the problem... the babies will get the items you sent... so not sure how you think you would be 'writing them off'...?

it is highly unlikely they would just bin them, if that's what you're worried about ...

[jkelly24]

My problem is it said these items would be sent out before now, they were donated in October and I do not think it is unreasonable to expect emails or even enquiries to be acknowledged and answered. I have been trying since January to get information from them but myself and others are being totally ignored. If you are putting out statements saying items will be sent out within a certain time limit surely it is reasonable people will expect you to abide by that

[joko]

and what was the date they aid they'd send them out by?

[joko]

do they keep records of each item and who sent them what? do they normally let you know when your donation has been sent out?

[bednobs]

it's not unreasonable to assume the charity has finished, if so, i don't know who would answer your emails

[joko]

thats what i was thinking bednobs - and also that if they have a mountain of donations to sift through, pack up, post out etc, with presumably a skeleton crew, it is going to take them many months to clear all donations as far back as november - they will also not have clue what your particular stuff was.
do you know how big this organisation is? what the volume of donations is?

i also dont see that they have given you a time frame from what you said either... just that they would still send the stuff they had.

[jkelly24]

yes items previously have been photographed as soon as received and then we are informed via facebook shortly after when the parcels are sent out and where to. Facebook page was updated regularly several times a week and queries answered quickly. Since November only facebook activity has been a few statements promising to send out donations by a certain deadline but these have all passed without any information other than deadlines being put back saying she is 'busy' but no post have been answered for months and I know other donators and myself have sent emails without any response. It just angers me that these items have taken hours to make as well as the cost of materials and postage. If this was money I had donated to charity I would not expect the collector to keep the money.

[jkelly24]

ANY information from them would be nice. It does seem they have decided to call it a day but surely they could at least inform people with a short statement on their website instead of still asking for donations!