Overall, I think the Jehovah's Witnesses are exemplary when it comes to handling the issue of needed donations to keep the lights on. Other churches tithe or take up collections and it isn't just the old JW mentality in me, but there is something untoward in both practices that I don't like. I think it somehow cheapens the faith to collect money like that.
I can still remember the 'donation talk' at the Service Meeting about the young boy in Guatemala or Nigeria, I can't remember the country. He had a pet chicken that he had raised from a hatchling and took it to the marketplace. He sold it for $1 US and put the whole dollar in the contribution box for Jehovah. If he could do that with the money he earned from selling his beloved chicken then we should be able to contribute our valuable things. This shit sounds worse than passing a collection plate around IMHO. The f@$ing beggars on the GB didn't even blink when they sent this out to the congregations.