I won’t ever donate to the U.S. Olympic Committee again.

It’s too bad, too. Because I love the olympics. I’m a sucker for the competition, the spectacular locations, the theater of spot, and - yes - even the cheesy human-interest stories about athletes overcoming hyper-dramatized adversity.

Unfortunately, in their effort to milk fans like me, the USOC really got under my skin. Fundraising efforts shouldn’t punish you for contributing. “Team USA” has sent no less than a dozen follow-up offers in the 3 months since I contributed.

They have demonstrably spent my entire initial donation and then some on free junk and glossy mailings asking me for more money. It’s like some sort of practical joke! I understand that once I made the list of “actually might contribute”, their years of fundraising research show that to maximize dollars, they are statistically better off using my dollars to go after even higher contributions. But it still stinks of disingenuousness.

Shame on them. I’ve called and been removed from their list.

Businesses (and non-profits) should reward the behavior they want, not exploit their fans and customers as if they are weak prey.