Reply to PTA wealth redistribution article in Arlnow

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Nah, won’t happen. People can donate to any school. There’s nothing stopping anyone from writing a check to Randolph or Carlin Springs. If people really cared they would already be doing it. [/quote]

I totally disagree. This is the reason we have public policy. I could drive all my recycling to the correct drop-off place, but I'm not going to. But put a bin at my curb, and I will do my part. Some people will donate less to their PTA's but I bet the decline overall would be small. Most people would support this idea. Saying people don't support it because they aren't already doing it is ridiculous. It's just not true or how humans work.[/quote]

Read the ArlNow anonymous comments. You’re a fool if you think most people will support this. If my dollars aren’t going to my kid’s school, I’ll keep my money and spend it on enrichment outside of school.[/quote]

Agreed. We have donated a lot to our PTA and been large spenders at auctions. I will donate and spend $0 in the future if this is implemented. [/quote]

This topic comes up from time to time and the response above is what we hear from our big donors. People are ultimately too selfish to make this work. 
[/quote]

Excuse me, no. Selfishness has nothing to do with it. We are absolutely “one percenters” as far as charitable donations go, and I’m reasonably confident that we contribute more money to charities than most of those pushing for this PTA thing.

But charities are charities. We decide where our money goes and evaluate the recipients. The PTA is an organization that is intended to serve a particular purpose at our school. The handful of volunteers or activists mobilizing for this don’t get to arrogate to themselves the right to disperse money elsewhere, based on their own values, and then guilt trip or socially blackmail the rest of us into going along. (Curiously, all the while with their own names in the paper.)

If our pool decides to take 30% of dues and contribute it to swimming programs for low income areas, I’d be against that as well. That doesn’t mean the programs aren’t worthwhile. I might well donate to them if asked, and if I thought the initiative was worthwhile and well run. But that’s not the mission of the pool. Every vehicle for civic or community engagement isn’t going to just become some liberal redistribution program by default. [/quote]

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