“But giving because some government official tells me to, or some United Way rep comes around to my cubicle and tries to shame me into giving, no thank you.”
I assume we are all in agreement on that. I do not like the shakedowns. I don’t give to them, either.
I can’t go grocery shopping any more without being asked for a donation at the checkout. If the grocery store wants to be charitable, why don’t they donate? They take all these donations at the cash register, then say “Safeway gave $23,492 to Juvenile Diabetes last month!” I go to several different grocery stores, too, including Costco. They all do it.
While I admit I don't like being asked for a donation at checkout, at least if everyone in town is doing it, I still prefer that to Target's model. They do what you suggest and give their own money, but it's still mine in a way. I'd bet dollars to dimes everything they give money to is something a liberal would approve of, so it means that into every purchase I make is in effect built in a donation to a group supported by only half their customers. Better if they lower their prices by that percentage and maybe Cato, or GOA, or some conservative Congressional candidate might get the money instead of some home for hags that think all men are rapists because they have penii, yet somehow they're not all prostitutes.