To not want to give to charities at the checkout or on the street.

I know, it was to the OP of the other post. We need a new acronym for posters within a thread.

This is standard, though, isn't it? I think that's what HMRC advise charities to put - otherwise they would be continuing to claim GA on your regular donation and then HMRC would come after you to pay it back to them, as you never originally paid it in tax that year.

Presumably, if your income dropped significantly, you'd already have stopped regular charity donations that you can no longer afford?

Could catch you out if you were previously earning slightly over the tax-free limit and you dipped below, I suppose.

Just a heads up, as a uk taxpayer i opted for gift aid without thinking or being told the implications for me. I (wrongly) assumed it was just, as explained something the charity could claim.
Weeks later i had a letter usual thanks and asking if i wanted to donate. However it also said that i had opted to be a gift aid donor, and should my tax paying status ever change then it was my duty to inform HMRC. It concerned me that shod thos ever occur i was likely to forget this. That being the case i emailed said charity requesting they cancel my hift aid subscription.it took 3 further requests at which point i was considering reporting them to the charities commission (stated to them on my subsequent email and demanding they confirmed in writing.
Slight diversion but thought it might help to make people aware of this other form of donation which you undertake a responsibility without being informed of the implications at the time of signing.

Thanks for the clarification.

Pictures usually show need, if they show people whose needs have been met, that doesn't make people want to give.

There's a huge issue you may or may not be aware of around poverty porn and showing people, especially in Africa, when they're emaciated or in a particularly bad way. It's seen as exploitative and makes people think the whole of Africa is a charity case.

And as I said earlier, malnutrition (lack of the right vitamins) is usually a bigger issue than starvation (not enough calories). What tends to happen is that people only get something like maize meal for a long time, children in particular have impacts on growth and immune systems and are vulnerable to diarrhea, which can kill because malnutrition has weakened them, even if in terms of weight they look ok.

It does cost you a bit more at a lot of charity-run attractions - presumably because the standard price is the payment for a ticket rather than an outright gift, meaning you get something for your money and haven't necessarily been generous out of the goodness of your heart.

It tends to be around the 10-25% extra level - so a straightforward ticket for entry to the attraction might be £10, or you can opt to pay, say, £12 as the gift aid price.

Thus it does cost you a bit more, but the charity can also claim back some of the tax that you paid on the money.

Gift aid doesn't cost you more.

The charity claims back the tax you paid when you earned the entry fee. It means the bit you paid in tax gets transferred from the government to the charity. Doesn't cost you anything.

You just need to practise saying no thank you.

If there is any further comment along the lines of ‘don’t you care?, which I got once from a chugger, go with a ‘I beg your pardon?’ Delivered calmly and clearly. Then walk off.

I donate to specific charities and I’ll do the occasional extra one if family are fundraising, but never on the street and rarely at tills.

I shut down any attempt to pressurise me into signing up to DDs at the door - and I note the names of the charities which employ such methods.

Re vitriol, have you explained your comment about pictures of African women and their babies yet?

Someone asking if you want to round up at a supermarket check out is hardly 'being harassed by a stranger'

If you're in poverty, presumably walking past adverts and shops is also upsetting because you can't buy things from them. Should they also be banned? People standing outside giving free samples?

People are so ready to call others snowflakes, that's what this seems to me.

It is, but HMRC set rules and charities have to demonstrate that gift aid is on genuine donations - hence charities having to introduce different pricing structures. HMRC aren't afraid to try and recover gift aid from charities if they feel it wasn't due to them. I supported a charity through an attempt by HMRC to claw back gift aid and ultimately the charity was successful but it was eye opening how aggressive HMRC are.

(It seems it's just absent dads and billionaires they like to leave alone)

I let chuggers tell me all about the charity, and then say that when I get home I will arrange a direct debit online. If they are annoyed at that, they are just annoyed they didn't get commission. The last one properly stomped off when I said I would sort an online payment later. It always becomes clear they don't care about the charity at all, just about their commission

I despise this approach to charity collection. If people want to donate they will do it themselves without being harassed. No one can afford it these days, it should be banned to beg.

I hate chuggers, although the ones in our local supermarket are usually selling electricity rather than charitable.

Sometimes I give at the till, sometimes I don't. I can't say being asked upsets me- I sincerely doubt the cashier cares, and their opinion of me means so very little to me even if they do...

You can bet that some of the people claiming to be mortally offended and harassed, are the same people who complain young people are all snowflakes and there's too much talk about mental health nowadays.

Also, what was the comment about the starving children about? Do you think women in war torn countries are competitively starving their kids to get on the TV OP?

Just say no if you don't want to.
A charity collector (the sign up kind) actually jumped over a bench to get my attention, back when I lived in a big city, to which my response was 'Hassling me won't get results. GO AWAY".

I don't like it either but I'm very comfortable saying no. If someone in the street asks me "Do I care about animal cruelty" I just reply that I don' and walk on.

I'm not sure I would have taken the woman's shake of the head as an indication she was disapproving of you. She might just be disapproving of the whole thing

I used to work in a small supermarket and every week they allowed different charities to set up near the door and accost customers. The customers and staff hated it but higher management thought it made them look good.
We actually lost customers because they refused to return, these people were practically chuggers.
Although I did speak to them when I heard one ask a lovely regular customer if they cared about whatever it was. They said they were trained to do that. Just awful.
My ds was unemployed for a year after school and was asked by people outside the job centre if he wanted to be one of those charity people who come to your home and try to sign you up for monthly donations. They made it sound great and he was desperate for a job. It was the biggest con going for him and the other youngsters. They would pick him up early and drop him somewhere miles away and expect him to make his own way home with no access to food or toilets. He found it awful asking people for money and after 2 weeks of getting home at 9pm soaked to the skin I made him give it up.

I've never understood that one either. I think it's some kind of technicality, whereby if you pay (say) the standard £10 to buy a ticket, you're buying a product and not giving; whereby if you give them £12 (which is then gift-aided), that's a donation - and then, if they give their supporters a ticket as a thank-you for their gift, that's allowed. Something like that, I think. Or maybe they can only claim GA on the additional amount over the price of the ticket?

I agree that it's often unwelcome though. The whole thing about GA is that it's pushed as 'at no extra cost to you' (other than reduced funds to pay for government services!). You're already supporting a place by giving them your custom and buying a ticket - but you're made to feel mean if you 'only' do that.

I just say 'no thank you' when asked at the till. I have charities that I support both nationally and locally and that's my business not anyone else's. I don't feel the need to explain myself.

I never do gift aid to get into places because the price is always higher, I thought gift aid was something that comes out of your tax

Indeed - why should you feel that you have to justify not giving? I know people will just say "No is a complete sentence", but in reality, that's often a very awkward way to respond. The awkwardness is built in to the fundraising method.

It isn't just chuggers, who stand to benefit financially, who will try to pressure you into giving to their charity; many well-meaning volunteers and collectors are also unable to comprehend that their cause is far from the only one, and that people may prefer to give their limited available funds to another cause that they've carefully chosen to support, rather than the one that you just happen to be collecting for.

I used to get raffle tickets sent in the National Trust magazine when it wasn't online, I just used to throw them away

Or their usual ‘it’s a really good cause’. So are the other 500 I’ve been approached about this week 🙄 I’ve got a lot better at just saying no, firmly and unequivocally. It’s something the British could do with getting better at.

the person gave a slight shake of the head, honestly people just need to grow up and getting wound up by things like that. Either give to charity or don’t, it’s fine to do either but get a grip. Even a small shop where someone recognises you just say no thank you, it’s a perfectly fine thing to say. Honestly, people need to just act more like adults.
Surely if you’ve spent any time on MN you’ll recognise there’s a huge swath of people that can’t deal with anything.