False Alarm

In case you couldn't tell, we are in the lull between Christmas and New Year's when not much work gets done. So I don't expect to hear anything from anyone regarding the fate of my proposal until mid-January.

That said, imagine my surprise when I opened my email yesterday to find a message from Dzanc Press, the independent, non-profit press to which I sent my proposal, on a lark, a while back. I do remember writing them to ask when I might be hearing from them, yea or nay, and they told me it would be about four weeks. I did the calculations in my head and thought it must be at least four weeks since I had heard from them.

Anyway, I opened the message only to find that it was a fund raising letter. What a bust! It seems that this independent press is a non-profit for a very good reason. They fund a lot of literacy and writer in residence programs in the public schools and while they were tooting their horn regarding the books they had published this year, they were also asking for support of their non-profit mission. Fair enough, but nonetheless a heart thumping moment for naught...

Which actually brings me to another piece of correspondence I received via regular mail yesterday from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Charities, specifically the Barbaro Memorial Fund. Signed by Roy and Gretchen Jackson, it noted that the fund has raised more than $300,000 to date and underwritten two promising laminitis research projects. Naturally, they too were asking for my support.

Both are very good causes and I don't mean to sound like the proverbial Scrooge, but they have joined the ranks of literally hundreds of pleas for money that I have received via all airwaves--mail, internet and phone--over the last month and I am feeling a bit over tapped.

Yes, I know all about the end of the year tax incentive, but I wonder if it is also an effective means of fund raising in the grand scheme of things. Shouldn't these organizations be making more of an effort to find donors all year round than prey on our holiday spirit? Better yet, shouldn't we be feeling charitable all year round rather than just for a tax break in December?

Or am I merely being a grinch?