Is it wrong to say no to charity?

and should keep their clothes on

I like to keep all of my charity and giving private.... Saying that, I do more than most people I think!

You need to be comfortable with not only how much you give to a charity, but also who you give it to. The last cause I would ever give to would be a cause that I was pressured to give to because of being concerned about the opinions of others.

Sometimes charity is a case of giving $’s, sometimes it is a case of spending your valuable time, sometimes it is best spent within your family, sometimes it is best spent within a structured Charity or organisation.

But one thing is for sure.... what ever I have given over the years, always seems to be be rewarded i n mysterious ways!

So do your own thing and do not worry about what others think about you,

Op, since you are on such a high income, you should be giving MORE to charity to knock down your tax bill. That will be nice when you get a fat refund come July when you are on one income. I would much rather a charity has my money than those wowsers in parliment!

So unless it is a colleague’s kids raffle ticket sale, I only donate to charities with recognised tax status. Not only do you get the deduction but the charity is legit. The ATO doesn’t let a dime slip through its fingers unless it has to!

Dunno about dimes Catbiccy, but the ATO and the government behind them seem to throw dollars and cents around like it’s going out of style.

Yeah. Give all you can to charity, claim it back in july, then give your entire tax refund to another charity!.... Welldone. i mean seriously, if you get $2000 back come tax time.. think of all the people out there that dont have that or even near that.. give it away. then the next tax time repeat, when your eating dinner at home think, no the people on the world vision adds dont have steak. throw it in the bin and never buy steak again. give what you would spend on steak in the form of cash to someone more needy, dont put fuel in your car to get to work, people overseas dont have cars or fuel so you shouldnt either, toss dirt in the air everytime you take a breathe because your clean oxygen is something others arent so fortunate with…

Theres some sarcasm in there.. see if you can spot it.

Correct, and I should refer OP to http://www.globalrichlist.com - if you enter your annual income it will tell you where you sit on a global scale in terms of wealth. Apparently I am in the top 3% most wealthy in the world, despite the fact that I earn very little and still manage to support my boyfriend, son and pay my bills. Guess what, I donate a little bit to charity too. At the end of the day, I could do without the massage or eyebrow wax, that money could go toward a more worthy cause.

I’m a little lost.  Because, I can’t find anywhere, where the OP even mentions that the charity was for starving kids overseas.  The charity could be for Cancer, RSPCA, Crohns Disease, Deaf and Blind foundation, absolutely anything. 

The charity may not have even allowed donations under $40.00, as some charities can set a minimum donation amount. 

It’s up to each individual as to where they give, how much to give and how they prefer to give the donation (Raffles, tax deductible receipts, purchasing a red nose to throw in the bin etc).

HonkyTonks,

what a load of crap that link is! Its based on a world wide average income of 5 grand, so our ‘poor’ pensioners on $600/fnite are in the worlds top 12 percentile range
What Rubbish!!

WELL SAID.

Well said indeed Chips.

I simply tell people/callers that I am not in a position to help at the moment. Other times I do help, but only when I can.

There is always some charity looking for donations, or some disaster here or there, but I am a single mum with 3 teenagers so theres not much ‘spare’ money around in my house.

When I can I support RFDS and Starlight, as I have seen both in action and know the money gets where its intended to go. Otherwise people get a polite response as above, and I dont justify myself as I already do my bit.

OP my thought when reading your letter is that most of your excuses were about ‘saving for’ things and you feel guilty about that. Its a personal thing, do what you can and dont let anyone else make you feel bad about that.

My vote goes to Dave in marketing.

Totally with you Chips.  I have monthly contributions to WWF and HSI (and formerly Greenpeace - my gods, those guys are rude!)

I have a personal policy which sounds quite horrible out loud, but nevertheless… (dons flameproof suit)

I only donate to animal and environment charities because they don’t have their own voice. People do.

I’m also really cynical about charities - how come Red Cross or World Vision or all those other places haven’t made more of an impact yet with all their donations?  What about all the money that goes missing?  How come my grandfather wasn’t notified that his sponsored child was now 25 years old and probably a soldier for the local militia?  I secretly believe it all funds warlords and terrorists… okay that’s maybe exaggerating a little, but… hmmm food for thought maybe?

The guilt tripping is the worst bit - I hate how they often try to pressure you, and use sneak attacks to trap you.  That just turns me off - and it’s why I quit Greenpeace after several years.  They kept pressuring me to increase my monthly donations, and so I stopped taking their (several a day) calls.  In the end they sent me a letter saying if I didn’t call them, they would automatically increase my monthly donation.  Well enough was enough!

/rant!

Agreed

Well said.

Chips Am Legend, you’re 100% correct. Some people do only give to feel good about themselves or assuage guilt. What losers! You’re really showing them, aren’t you?

Personally, I pick 3 charities per year and donate by directt debit. I also do foster care for the RSPCA and donate goods for special occasions like xmas. It makes me feel fuking great to do things for animals, people who are less fortunate or to maybe help my kids to have a better future. I think it’s a great way to be selfish but it appears that you disagree. I suppose I should buy a new plasma tv and be true to myself?

But your argument that you can’t give anything at all because there are too many worthwhile causes seems a tad dishonest. Options: Choose one cause that means something to you and ignore all others; or give a nominal amount to every one who asks. Alternatively, give nothing and if someone asks why you don’t give anything to charity, be honest at least with yourself. If every act is in fact selfish, why not acknowledge your own selfishness instead of sneering at others?

Bossy, you hit the nail on the head with this response. I have a 5% (of my gross annual income) benchmark for donating to charity and it’s hard to see money come from your account every month when you could buy a new pair of shoes or go out to dinner. But to me, it’s the equivalent of being grossly overweight and stuffing your face with chicken while your neighbour starves to death before your eyes. If you threw them a lousy drumstick, you wouldn’t really notice much difference but it could be a life or death difference to someone else. Wow, I’m selfish and sanctimonious. Throw in paternalistic and I could run the UN! Selfish pricks!

I give. I am able to donate monthly, so I do. I am a single mum, raising two children, paying off my home and as for the car, well I was lucky to be able to own it when I purchased it.

So I sponsore two children and child rescue as well UNHCR, but that is it,because I want to teach my children compassion. I am afraid that in the society we live in today they are at the risk of not developing the character to become human beings. Mind you my girls have given their toys away not to cousins but to other children with a need for them. Actual need, not desire.

Well said.
I love you.
Aye Want Eet Babies!.
Git Ein Mai Belleh!

Some of you are gullible idiots. Any charity that offers direct debit are guaranteed to be ripping you off. I’m with Tehkella - how come with all this money sinking into charities like World Vision, there is nothing to show for it? Because that money (your money!) is lining the pockets of the greedy, not the needy. So you pick your charities, set up a regular deduction, then sit back and feel good about yourselves? You should feel foolish! Do some research before throwing your money away! Personally, I wouldn’t trust most charities. If you really want to make a difference, donate food, clothing and other items to Good Sammys etc., or allocate some time to help out as a volunteer for a worthy cause. Don’t piss your money away thinking you’re doing the right thing. You’re just making someone else rich with your own hard-earned money.

Well said again!

After discovering that most collectors are paid, with commission from YOUR DONATION, whats the point.  Get over yourslef bossy, family does come first, donate time and goods only.

As the others said - well said.

Bossy has taken a holier than though atitude on this. I do give to a charity when I can. Do I trust every charity that puts its hand out? - no. Look at the facts, most charities absorb 90% in admin fee’s. Should I put my hand out to every person at work or in the street asking for money - no. I make my choice.

I do not know what is a good wage / salary these days to live in Sydney. I live in Sydney and I struggle and I consider myself making a good wage. My wife does not work and hasn’t for years as she wants to be a stay at home mum. We now have 4 kids and I make $85K (which is apparently the average household wage), which I consider a “good wage”. That means $1200 a week clear, we have to pay our mortgage, our pre-school fees, our food bills. We have 1 car, 1 tv, a three bedroom apartment in Sydney, we do not live the high life, we do not have i-pods coming out of our arse. Yes we are lucky we live in Australia, and as an individual wage, we are doing OK but as a 5 person wage we have to do what we can. And to have Bossy sit there, and say that we need to contribute as we are in the lucky few percent- well fuck her.

Bossy - what is your situation. Please give a base. Single $120,000 giving advice? Married, 5 dependants due to a lifestyle choic?. End of the day - fuck you for being so judgemental.

‘Truth’ should get your facts right. The majority of charities allocate under 30% of their budget to admin costs. Banks steal money too so should you never buy with finance. Absoluely daft logic.

Charity Navigator breaks down the percentage of income spent on admin/advertising/fundraising. WorldVision is fairly efficient with over 85% of all monies going to programs.

Sorry, you tightarses don’t want the actual facts getting in the way of your privilidged denials do you? My bad!

Greenpeace? Well at least it wasn’t Peta.. some of their tactics are just awful.

Jen, I bow down to your wonderful goodness. I’m a monster, a monster!!

I’m with you here, Chips. Charity organisations are like seagulls, throw a chip to one of them and suddenly there’s a flock squawking around you. Get into the habit of saying ‘no’, and on the odd occasion that you feel like donating, it will be a pleasant surprise, rather than being an obligation every day.

Most of the charity cold-calls I get go like this:
Them: Hi, I’m calling on behalf of Person-You-Never-Met Foundation, we support girls with testicular cancer. We’re a very well known organisation who have helped-
Me: You’re going to ask me for money, aren’t you?
Them: What?
Me: I said, you’re ringing to ask me for money. Am I right?
Them: ...well… yes.
Me: Thanks, but I’m not interested. Good luck! *click*

I refuse to be badgered, guilted or pestered into donating money to a cause I don’t care about. On the other hand, plenty of times I’ve seen a homeless guy asking for coins and said “come on, mate, I’ll shout you a hot dinner”. This sort of charity directly helps someone instead of being filtered through layers of management and professional beggars, with only a small percentage trickling down to the actual cause promoted.

I’m with Chips, who do you give too.  However I do have a rule, any charity which can afford to pay collectors (yep all the ones you see in Martin Place employing backpackers who conveniently turn around their “Paid Collector” name badges) doesn’t need my money.  I’d prefer my money to fully (or at least a majority) goes to a charity rather than only a small percentage whilst the rest goes to their paid collectors, the agency that organises their paid collectors, the phone bills for their paid collectors to call me up from their call centres and try to guilt me into giving more money.  Some of those collection agencies helpers take more than 90% of your donation.  I’d prefer to give to the volunteer Salvo’s collectors amongst others.

I refuse to donate to a charity on most occasions. My contribution is time; I make sure to volunteer for events and whatnot, as opposed to handing out money.
Why? Because I knew of a couple that ran a foundation. only 20% of the money donated to the foundation is required to go directly to the cause - SIDS, Blindness, Sexual Incompetency, etc. What happens to the other 80%? well, it is used for “administrative costs.” The afore-mentioned couple lived in a 12 bedroom house with a pool, three cars, in New Farm - all paid for with the money donated to the Foundation.

As such, my faith that my money will be used for a good cause is destroyed. For all I know, I’m just helping someone purchase their vacation home in Tahiti. So I donate my time instead. At least I know I’m doing some good when I’m helping build a house for the homeless.

LOL @ Peter! I love when people quote ‘facts’ and then give a generic statistic.

Look at the facts, most charities absorb 90% in admin fee’s.

85K is good money, mate.

Give up morning coffee? Are you serious?????

I agree Nicole and Chips am Legend.

It’s no one’s business.

I do feel lucky and blessed and want to help , so I donate to various local and overseas charities regularly BUT it does get overwhelming when you keep getting phone calls from 2 or 3 charities an evening at home, people at work are selling raffle tickets, charity collectors in the CBD are out in force and 5 homeless people can stop me in an given day asking for donations too.

Nicole I’m sure if you had to raise funds urgently, for expensive medical treatments for someone close to you, you will have quite a different opinion.

You sound like you have no soul.

I’m with you Nicole.

Being a eating whatever food I could buy with silver change made me understand that it’s better to help those around you in practical ways rather than getting that smug feeling from donating money to an organisation that probably absorbs most of the funds in operational costs.

Oh cool, so I can give my money to a drug dealer and no one has the right to judge me? Why do we frown on gambling addicts? if no one has a right to judge?

Society judges, it’s a fact of life.... it may not be our business or our right to judge but it is our right to think less of you.....

I agree.  No one should judge, and you are NEVER obligated to give to charity.

Call me selfish, but I give money to people in my immediate circle when they need it.  I RESENT being asked to give to charity.  At my workplace, there are weekly charity donations, and every cause under the sun comes up where we are all expected to reach into our pockets YET AGAIN.

Too much pressure.  Charity donation needs to come from the heart, not from workplace obligation. 

OP - you did the right thing by refusing.  Next time, just say, “I already donated online.”

Slow clap Nicole. Tellin it like it is. Stuff everyone, I’m right Jack and I’m proud to be a greedy pig.

Beauty is only skin deep but some people are ugly to the core.

Perhaps you may want to reread my post. I’m not saying DON’T donate. Nor am I saying I don’t donate myself - try your hardest not to confuse the issue.

But I will maintain that people should not feel obligated to donate to charities and never need to explain themselves as to why they do or don’t.

Same goes for gambling, drugs etc.

What I do or don’t do with my money should be IRRELEVANT to you.

Your own life and your own choices should keep you busy enough without meddling in the affairs of everyone else.

Let people make their choices and you make yours.

*student...I was a student. Freakin typos.

I agree - but wil also add that this is one of the worst Bossy replies ever. Who is she to decide what people give to charities. So many of them absorb most of the money in management and admin. Would be great to sit back on a great wage like Bossy obviously does, and be able to throw $40 to every charity her frineds deem worthy. Some people do not have luxury.

Bossy - this response makes you sound like a tosser. Come to Bankstown or other areas where money is tight and give them you spiel. Ohh, you only care about your select friends in your wage bracket I guess. So to the Eastern Suburbs people, shout out “well said”, to others who have to pay bills shout out something else to Bossy.

Strong agree with you and string disagree with Bossy on this one. You work for your money and it’s your choice to do what you wish with it.

When you investigate many charities, you’ll find the money gets squandered in many cases and does not go to who they claim.

I buy 90 percent of clothes and household goods at Vinnies and SAlvation Army - for me that’s the solution. Everyone wins. I get the clothes I need on my tiny poverty income and other poor people get whatever tiny percentage gets donated from those (vastly overpriced) second hand goods. But cold hard cash that goes god knows where? No deal.

Thanks a lot Bossy, now I’m going to have that in my head for the rest of the day:

“She call me Bossy Boombastic say me fantastic, blog me in me back she somthing somthing blo...gtastic”

Other than that irritating little sideline, I liked this answer much better than your original one.

I never give to charity. Never. We elect a government and pay taxes to take care of all that. Giving to charity helps the government and the wealthy evade their responsibilities.

Fuck champ don’t fall off that pedistal champ you might damage your friggen halo.

I think giving to charity if you can’t afford it is dumb.  Our whole economy is geared towards paying for stuff on credit. Why go into more debt for a pleb who should not have bred in the first place? Why do all these people crying poor keep bringing kids into society? I get a kick out of knowing because of my new surfboard, leather couch, investment property and so on I am superior to most people in the world financially. Generally speaking I have a deep seeded hatred of everyone in the world and don’t care for their plight. The only people in recent times i have had any sympathy for are the black Saturday victims because they are aussie and burning to death would suck. 

If you want give out to charity, give out condoms to stop the poor world from breeding.  Secondly how do charities afford TV adds? from donations? Do you really want to pay for an add?

Love that comment!

Potatoes....

Most Charities actually get there advertsing space for free…

I used to work for a large ogranisation in Sydney and the TV stations and papers would call up offering us the space.

Hey, Potatoes,
Falling into credit debt is a person’ own fault. Whatever happened to saving for the things needed and budgeting for others? I am not aomeone born a hundred years ago, but as someone fairly young, I learnt to save for everything I wanted and needed Budget. Only ever had a credit card once, not for important things, Never had it again. I nowuse my trusty cheque book and ATM card and a debit card, but everything comes from my savings account. I still save.

As for your opinion on the poor having children, what right do you have to judge? These children are also in fact better than the children born to parents who can afford them. Why is that I wonder?

Ha, your an idiot. Most charities absorb about 95% of donations in management fees. Few trustworthy ones.

So Moruk, tell us what you have donated to and what percentage of your wage that was. You can sit there throwing stones, but not give an example of how good you are. Thats what most preachers do. You read Bossy’s spiel and want to suck up. Show us how much of a contributer you have been in the fight against world poverty.

M,

saving for things went out the window when house prices went to 7 times the annual wage. I have a mortgage, which means my borrowed money is invested in an appreciating asset as opposed to a depreciating asset like a plasma or a car. so there’s smart borrowing money and dumb borrowing money. There is only so much you can save. Which gets me back to the topic of charity, as some dumb bitch single mum tennant is copping charity from me by not paying me rent. I don’t give a shit if she has to strip for the rent. That and I feel for my unjust speeding fine 4 years ago I shouldn’t have to pay the world a cent worth of charity.

Anyone else want to contribute to the whip-around for Geoff’s anger management course?

My God… a bit harsh?

I hope some of the money that I donated to the charity for the mentally ill has made it’s way to Geoff.

Doesn’t sound like it though. 

Give them a call Geoff and tell them you need HELP!

It’s not all bad, I’d agree with the ‘and stop having babies if you can’t answer this for yourself.’ remark.  Makes you wonder if the child will be raised to look out for number 1 (as many other’s have commented here) and screw the rest of society/world.

it’s ok bossy has soothed me with that little xx. i’m assuming it means double kisses for me; which is basically the reason i write on this blog. imaginary smooches from bossy. i really like bossy; but i hate people who have children. there are already too many people. everyone wants to carry on their legacy x4 and the cancer on this planet multiplies and gets louder and angrier and stupider. everything else is bullshit unless it keeps you safe and secure in your ignorance that you’re an overindulgent piece of shit that is contributing to all the problems you complain about. and the fact that every retard that writes in with a ‘problem’ is having a child or the having of a child is related in some way to the retarded goings on of another person scares me. who knows though. maybe planet is like a sort of consciousness that’s have some disturbing thoughts at the moment but it’ll be alright once WW3 starts the purifies the planet then we build a time machine and fulfil our destiny as maggots in space.

Nice, PP.

Peter Singer’s point is that there are children dying in this world and we can prevent that from happening. He uses the analogy of a child drowning in a pond. At what point would personal inconvenience stop you from rescuing that child? When you get your shoes wet? No, most of us, given the immediacy of something happening in front of us would help. He urges us to remember that there are children dying, thousands each day, in less fortunate parts of the world. If we each gave quite a moderate portion of our income to help, he suggests 5% if you are less than roughly $100K and more if you earn more.

Personally, I put my money into educating girls in Africa. It is my belief that this is what will make the biggest difference. I have a friend who puts a huge amount of time and effort into creating a socialist state and I respect that.

You need to look after your family but those children dying in Africa and Haiti are part of your family too.

I am not allowed to donate blood. I get through all those questions about if you ever had bum-sex with mad cows in England in 1985 or whatever, but they then reject me because I had IBS which means I might have low iron levels??? So might every other womean of child-bearing age in Oz. Too bad for all the O+ people out there if Red Cross turns you down for stupid shit like that.

But it was a good idea PP

Mrs Biscuit, in that case why not just hack up the occasional hairball and donate it to those lovely old ladies who knit little hats, booties and rag dolls for new babies in maternity wards?

Exactly PP,

It is actually pretty easy to put away money to give to charity, or set up a direct debit system, you don’t even realise the money is gone. You can usually give as little as $10-15 a month and what would you really spend that small amount on? 3-4 coffees? 5 beers (at country pub prices )? A couple of glasses of wine?

Maybe if the OP hadn’t spent all his/her cash on a wedding, car and house he/she would be able to spare $40 for whatever charity.

Maybe you are feeling guilty, not because your fellow co-workers are making you, but because you are looking at your life and wondering if you really needed to spend all that money when most people have nothing?

Donating blood? When pregnant?

Natalie, I just reread the OPs post and the whole thing looks gender neutral to me.  I can’t figure out if OP is the pregnant one or partner of the pregnant one.

Besides, it was an example of an alternative to hard cash.  Donate goods you don’t want or need if you prefer.

We’re in the same situation.

We were scuppered to a single income for 3 years and had to change how we used our money.

Our weekly grocery bill is $60.

Donating $40 to charity for us would be madness.

Occasionally we donate to volunteer based charities (Salvos’, RSPCA etc) I don’t like paid money collectors. I want all the money I’m parting with to get where it needs to go.

I work hard to provide for my family and protect my house. I won’t be sent to the poorhouse by guilt.

-F-

$60!!  Goodness, Fink - you musn’t live in Queensland or feed a family of 4

Queensland now has the highest standard of living (or equal to)in the Country.  Qld Transport have raised Go Cards by 25% and paper tickets by 40% from the 1st Jan.  Electricity is up 16% since July 09 and our petrol prices have been the same or higher than Sydney for 1.5 years.

To register a 4 cylinder car in Qld it’s $655.00 p/a. 

Rates, Gas, insurance EVERYTHING The list goes on.....

Qld used to be the cheapest standard of living in the 1990’s - the killer is that our wages still reflect the 1990’s (and the nightlife - lucky I can’t afford to go out ha) but everything else has gone up.  My job earns 20k p/a more in Sydney.

Each week is a struggle with 2 teenage kids

I give only when I can - Qlder’s don’t look down at you because we are all in the same boat

Fink… your weekly grocery bill is $60? How on earth do you do that? I spend that minimum when I call into Woolworths to buy bread and milk!

I believe that sort of outlook worked quite well for the French aristoracry during the revolution actually…

You are an idiot.

Firstly God doesn’t help anyone. If there is a God all he does he watch two thirds of the world starve and the remaining third prosper.

Secondly how are you supposed to teach a man how to fish when there isn’t any fish?

How are endangered species going to help themselves? is God looking out for them.

Love it Al… LOVE IT

A charity worker was looking for a big boost so took aim at the head of a large local business who was notoriously tight-fisted.

He made an appointment to speak with the skinflint and layed the guilt on thick, indicating he was aware of the company’s financial position and noted there were no records of any previous charatable donations.

The manager glared at him for a moment then said, “Do your records show that my ex-wife looks after our severely disabled son who required around-the-clock care?”

Slightly taken aback, the man confirmed they did not.

“And are you aware my mother has a standing appointment in intensive care and medical bills topping $10,000 a month?”

The man admitted he was not aware of that, and was beginning to feel very uncomfortable.

“What about my brother and his family who lost their home and all their possessions in the Black Saturday bushfires and had no money and nowhere to go?”

Now thoroughly admonished, the man admitted he was not aware of this either.

The manager glared at him across his desk, “So if I don’t give anything to any of them, what the hell makes you think you’d get something?”

Agreed. It’s no ones choice but yours. 

I for one am actually getting annoyed at all the people asking me to donate and then getting abused (and yes I have been yelled at in the street by someone) because I didn’t donate right then and there - (for the record I had previously donated to the same charity earlier that day, but the guy didn’t care).

Most of the comments on here have come across as being really judgemental. Don’t judge until you know the FULL story, not something that has written in brief

I’ll wager you give 25% of your income - but only to those truly deserving of charity. Twenny dollar lady boy hookers with speed habits and a fistful of ribbed Trojans for instance. It must be easy to heap it on the pretentious dicks when you’re so superior.

Are you being disingenuous or do you really not understand his point? 5% is a nominal, arbitrary amount. The point is this money would make an enormous difference to people in dire situations but is the equivalent of missing a morning coffee for the entitled few in the world.

Such as poor OP who might not get the precise quality of imported Spanish lace on her bombonnierre. Boo hoo Princess! Someone set up a telephone appeal now.

Do you give a higher proportion of your income than Pf Singer or are you just talking out of your arse about someone who will make an actual difference in the world?

Carlie, are we talking 5% of gross income or net income?  Either way, I hardly think 5% is “arbitrary”.

5% of an $85,000 salary (gross) is $4,250 per annum. So after I am taxed my monthly salary is $5306. 5% of my income would be an additional $354 going out the door each month. 

That is certainly not a nominal amount to me, that’s crazy!!

Between running a home, car, every day living expenses and attempting to save some money for a rainy day, there is no way that I would be handing over $354 a month. I do not live a frivolous lifestyle by any stretch of the imagination, so it’s not like I’m blowing my money on clothes and shoes.

I donate on a monthly basis via direct debit and gives god knows how much in change to every tom dick and harry that acosts me on the street every day, but certainly not any where near that figure!

I used to work with someone who just stashed every fifty cent piece she got and then forked that over as her charatable bit.

We used to have people at work asking to donate to all sorts of charities during the year, it was getting out of hand so we decided to have a free dress Friday once a month when we could make a gold coin donation (or more if we chose to).
At the end of the year we donate the money to different charities as well as put presents under the wishing tree for Christmas for the local kiddies.