to vow never to collect for Christian Aid ever again.

[bogwobbit]

Nothing to do with the charity, which I think is an excellent one, but jeez people in this country are soooooooo miserable.
I can understand why people for various reasons can't or don't want to give to a specific charity and I can appreciate (especially after reading some other threads on this topic and by the way yes, all you people who complain about people daring to knock on your door collecting for charity, are unreasonable and imho quite selfish) that not everyone likes to be asked on their doorstep (very nicely in my case) if they would like to donate but why do people have to be so rude and smug and downright horrible about it. It's almost as though NOT giving to charity is some kind of positive personality trait. Funnily enough the nicest, most generous ones are the little old ladies who quite possibly can least afford it.

So after spending five hours of my time, trudging through the rain and the hail and the wind in freezing temperatures after a full day at work, never again!! Rant over but jeez, another nail in the coffin, for my faith in humanity :)

If you work for a charity which religious/ controversial/ politically affiliated the don't be offended if people don't want to give to you for that reason.

That. Plus if you hammer and hammer on my front door, driving my dog into a frenzy, until I have to open it to tell you to piss off, then I'm highly unlikely to want to listen to some self righteous spiel. Like the Christian Aid twat last night.

If I want to give to charity, I will. Just don't harass me in my own home, and appreciate that it is my choice whether to or not.

LRD, I always say, "Would you like to give..* and most people say "no, thank you", they don't need to thank me and I always thank them whether they give or not, but there is nothing wrong with being polite.

Revolting, I don't know about other charities but there are guidelines for CA Week collectors. We don't go the houses with no cold caller signs, we don't knock doors after 8pm or at weekends (at least we're not supposed to). there is no spiel, we just post an envelope through and then call back to collect it. if we cold call, all we are supposed to say is "would you like to give to CA " and only say more if the person asks questions.

As I say, all collectors are volunteers, most are wee old ladies what harm does it do to be polite to them?

But I have not been rude to cold callers.

I think knocking on people's doors and asking them for money is rude.

However, they just get a firm but smiley no thank you from me and I close the door.

worra - that disappointing. I was hoping you would literally roar worra liberty before slamming the door in their faces

stressed - fair enough. It was you saying people 'need' to thank you that got my back up. Of course, naturally lots of people will say 'no thanks' or 'sorry', but it's rude to say they need to say that to you when it is in fact you who are asking them for something, not the other way around.

I have done it. I can't see why people can't be pleasant- it is hardly difficult just to say, 'I'm sorry - I don't wish to donate', with a smile- or even ' I already have charities that I support'.
The funniest are the ones who say they have lost the envelope when you have masses of spare ones. I found that difficult, so had to say 'well, you can have a spare but you may not want it' with a question in my voice so that it was a let out.
My starting words were always ' I left an envelope, did you wish to contribute', which is why it is so easy to say 'no thank you' in a pleasant manner.
One thing that I learnt was that you can never tell from the house or person what sort of response you would get. Young professionals and families are often fine.

HEmum, of course people should not be rude. I was not even rude to the lady from Oxfam who knocked on my door whilst I was on the phone (could see the phone in my hand) and proceeded to talk for about 3 solid minutes about what Oxfam did, during which time I had to end the call to listen to her!!

I was thinking more effectiveness in my post, less of politeness. Both important

Although tbh I wouldn't give to CA due to the religious element. We do have DDs to 6 other charities though.

It's simple. When I shut my front door behind me, I do not want anybody to disturb me. Be it a cold caller on my doorstep, or on the phone, I didn't invite you into my home, I don't want you there, and if you bug me I will be rude.

When we lived in a big town I hated being called on by anyone, especially (and don't think me rude) the homeless charity guys who wanted me to buy tea towels as I felt a little intimidated, or those raising money for charity by taking down bank details for a direct debit.

Now I don't live in town I still have the homeless selling lot except now I find it much much more intimidating as we have no neighbours, I also have had people try and flog me furniture, again quite intimidating! However the christian aid does get money because it is a friend from the village that collects and it is nice to see a smiley face and not feel intimidated. I find uninvited visitors/strangers coming to my house intimidating, I just do and I am not a particularly wet person

I really hate anyone who does not know me (other than delivery folks or postie) banging on my door. They are either asking for money, trying to sell me something or change my political / religious views. I find it intrusive in the same way I do when people ring me at home. I give to charities of my choice via direct debit, I research things I want to buy and as it is my HOME I can choose who I open my door to. I always say No thanks politely but do get narked when I get one who mutters under their breath or huffs, sod off this is MY HOME I DID NOT ASK YOU TO CALL!

Young professionals and families are often fine.

Revolting, CA week collectors aren't trained at all, sadly, each church has it's own CA representative who recruits volunteers from the congregation and gives them some envelopes for whatever street(s) they want to collect in, usually their own and sometimes neighbouring ones. That's why it's mostly old ladies.

Obviously Christian Aid have proper fundraisers who are trained in what they do but that's a separate area of the work. I'm a church rep and the organiser of the local area committee, made up of the reps from all the churches in the area. For CA Week, my job is to co-ordinate all the materials, make sure each church has what it needs, get relevant permissions and the like, other than that each church rep is responsible for the promotion of CA week within their own area. It works well in affluent areas and areas with an older demographic as you say, but not in difficult areas like this.

As you say, they really need to reassess their fundraising and target more efficiently. I don't know how the figures for Christian Aid as a whole stack up (can't remember) but I do know that our takings go down every year and not by a small amount. It's coming to the point, here, where we will not really do CA Week but just put out envelopes within churches and the like because it's just not worth going out for most folk.

worra - that disappointing. I was hoping you would literally roar worra liberty before slamming the door in their faces

Lol I actually did once when one cheeky fucker collecting for the RSPCA, asked me if I was on benefits

He got a piece of my mind...even though I clearly have little to spare

On an average working day I pass four sets of chiggers, and six Big Issue sellers on my way to and from work. The last thing I need when I get home is someone hammering on the door when I'm trying to get the baby to bed/eating dinner/in the bath...

I have worked for a charity and now have charities as clients. I understand how difficult the fundraising climate is, but don't think charities do themselves any favours driving people to charity fatigue. In fact my Mum was telling me this afternoon that she has cancelled her Cancer Research dd after many years of supporting them, when they began to ring her almost daily to ask her to increase her donation. Two smaller cancer charities who probably can't afford such aggressive fundraising tactics now benefit from her generosity.

So whilst YANBU to object to people being rude, I'm afraid chez cocoa the door would not be opened to your unsolicited calling.

I think I would go crazy if there were people knocking on my door looking for money. It's hard enough to navigate the streets with the chuggers and their bared teeth smiles barely covering their aggression and the million other calls on me, but to have it coming into my home when I'm trying to relax as well?

Can we not be safe from them anywhere?

I cancelled a direct debit to a charity for using chuggers - I felt like I was paying them to harrass me, and I got just sick to death of it.

Personally, I don't understand the sense of entitlement that people collecting for charity have. It's still my money, even if you want some for charity, and I'm not obliged to support a charity you like, and you're not entitled to anything.

I decide for myself which charities I support. I do it privately and after due consideration of the aims and methods.

I know exactly how you feel op! Yanbu!

I've done Christian Aid for a couple of years. We put the envelopes in one week and collected the next. It was a nightmare.

Apart from the cut fingers and knuckles, it always rained, people claimed not to have received them and many many men would say they had to ask their wives of that their wives weren't in. .

Ime, the elderly, indian people and black people were the most courteous and generous. The young Polish and Arab people were the worst - not at all generous and mostly rude. I don't mean to generalise but that was my experience in my area.

I was always polite, if they didn't have their envelope I asked if they would like to make a donation, and if they said no I would say thanks for your time, sorry to have bothered you, thank you anyway.

The worst were the ones who looked out the window, saw the badge and didn't bother to come to the door at all, leaving me standing there like an idiot.

Never doing it again tho as the church has stopped organising it.

I have had to put a sign up. I work from home and my door bell was being rung about 3 times day between charities, mormons and hawkers. I was constantly interupted from my work not to mention tha baby being woken.

What annoys me about the charities is that they are not now just happy with 50p in their tin, they want you to sign up there and then for direct debits. This really isnt on, way to pushy. 1/ Its not always convenient and i am not giving out bank details to somebody on my doorstep. 2/ If I am going to commit to long term giving i will research and find the charity of my choice. and that will not be one pressuring me in my own home.

I also feel that they target what they percieve as "well to do "areas". When i lived in a non posh area, I rarely had anyone at the door. Since we moved to poshville (with consequent big mortgage and and general being skintness), we have been plagued. Love the assumption that living in a certain area means you have plenty of disposable income.

Someone stole dh's bank details once...

They paid a £300 phone bill, bought loads online

And then donated £5 to
Christian aid

I would like to say that I do a great deal for local charities which I do think need some help sometimes and help them out regularly but we dislike being touted for money left right and centre and I kind of think someone standing there with a tin in their hand or whatever is touting.

To be fair, I HATE chuggers and I hate those ones that come to your door when you are making the dinner and start with the whole " for the price of a cup of coffee.." thing. It's intrusive and it puts me off giving at all. CA week isn't like that, though. No-one is asking you to sign up for anything or commit to anything, all we do is come back to collect the envelope.

The ones that always make me laugh are the men who can't put anything in the envelop because their wife isn't at home.

I don't understand the sense of entitlement that people collecting for charity have yes yes soooo agree, its the ones who glare or huff or look down on me or challenge why I won't give that really really piss me off. Its my money and I will give it to whom I wish..... so there.

can i ask OP, why did you offer to do the doorstep collection in the first place if you are going to give up after 5 hours? did you do it to collect money for a charity or so you could have nice chats with people on your doorstep who might recognise you and tell people that "bogwobbit does charity work you know"?

HEmum have you thought of having collectors with tins during CA week in the town centre or similar? People often perceive them as less aggressive than paid chuggers. Leeds city rail station used to have lots and I think they made out quite well.

It's also the case that lots of 'national' or big charities are suffering right now, whereas DP's is a regional one. I think there is an odd psychological effect whereby in difficult times people feel that giving money to a local charity is somehow better than to a large 'faceless' one, iyswim. Not saying it's right, but there you are.

Also the religious thing, if we are supposedly more secular now?

on their doorstep.