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 :)

We often have 2 sets of chuggers on high st to avoid and then at least one lot asking at our door - every week

In my area it has become increasingly difficult to collect for christian Aid.

I have been the local rep at my church for 14 years and have seen the amount collected reduce to around a fifth of what we were collecting ten years ago. This is partly due to many of our collectors no longer being in the best of health, but also because so many people are no longer willing to give.

This year we have restricted ourselves to fundraising only within our church. I won't know until next week whether our efforts have been more or less sucessful than last year.

bog, you say you were too embarrassed to say that you woudn't collect again this year. Does it trouble you that you felt too embarrassed to say no? Do you mind being put on the spot like that?

It's pretty soul destroying for the people on the other end of your collecting too.

bogwobbit - answer me a question (it's a serious one) would you rather I begrudgingly gave you a pound just to get rid of you and hid the next year when I saw you marching up the driveway or would you rather I said no on the basis that I don't agree with your choice of charity's activities? Because actually there is an implicit assumption that the majority of people WILL want to donate which has you stomping up the path again and again.

Perhaps actually you should work out how much you raised and find another way to raise the same amount next year (car boot sale?) so you find a way which is more ideologically acceptable to more people and you don't find yourself in the firing line in the same way.

Personally I donate quietly and privately. I don't think it's anyones business and I don't speak about it to anyone for this reason, including doorstop callers.

bog tbh it was more your comments about your colleague making a joke when you cornered him about your 10k run, I think. I don't mind CA collectors, though I don't give to them myself, but I think slagging him off for not wanting to donate to your run was really off.

I wasnt rude i just didnt answer the door.

I give monthly to one charity and yearly to another, its my choice and i give what i can.

I do not like people calling at my door asking for money, whatever the charity

Wen Maybe embarassed's the wrong word. Maybe I felt sorry for the person who asked me. Maybe I didn't want to be rude. Who knows.
Maybe you're right - maybe having someone knock on your door is a huge imposition and yes, maybe Christian Aid should re-think their strategy and maybe I am being unreasonable to judge people. I still don't think it's any excuse for rudeness though.

I wouldn't be rude, I say no thank you, if they don't understand after I told them twice or three times - yes, I will tell them to go away and close the door.

I do not appreciate people knocking on the door, asking for money, I feel that is a bit rude, for a Charity or otherwise. I feel cornered - a bit as if you said 'give some money or you are a bad person'.

There are lots of Charities with lots of worthwhile causes. I choose to give to the Charities whose causes are dear to me. I can't give generously to all Charities just like most people.

I am more likely to give to someone standing outside a supermarket as long as they don't approach me asking for money.

There is a name for Charity collectors who approach people directly, can't think of the name, I guess it has been mentioned above somewhere.

There is a name for Charity collectors who approach people directly

That will be 'Fucking Nuisances', gabsid

I have - because of this thread - just given graciously to our CA collector, had a nice chat with her, and sent her on her way with a smile :) Feeling very virtuous now.

klaxon I really wouldn't care if you said you didn't approve of my charity as long as you weren't rude. That's fine. I would disagree with you, but I would respect your opinion. That's fine.
I do appreciate your comment about finding another way to raise the money. I agree that perhaps doing something where people get something back, e.g. a coffee morning; soup lunch, ceilidh or whatever, is possibly more acceptable. I do also understand that people don't like being 'cornered' and that's another reason why I won't do door to door collections again.
I'm sorry if people didn't like my comments about my colleague. It was probably one of these occasions where you really had to be there to appreciate the reasons why I thought he was unpleasant.

op what exactly did these people do that you consider rude?

bog, you know darn well what I'm going to say next, don't you? If you know how it feels to do something you don't want to only because you don't want to be rude and/or you feel sorry for the person who's making the request why on earth are you putting others through the same thing?

It's not nice when people do that to you, is it?

Some of us are rude as a frustrated knee-jerk alternative to being guilt-tripped and under obligation, particularly when the person who's the cause of it has actively sought us out by coming down our paths and knocking on our doors, catching us unaware and putting us on the spot. Some of us are extra rude when your uninvited door-knocking causes dogs to bark, neighbours to get assy about it and children to wake.

Wen Yes, I can practically read you like a book . I still think comparing asking someone for a Christian Aid envelope that you put through their door a couple of days earlier with asking someone you know well to give up a good part of their busy week is like comparing apples and pears.

Your knocking on their doors in their homes at the end of the day. You might not think there is any reason to be rude, but it's their prerogative in their own house to behave as they please.

And you will get a percentage who are rude. Possibly a pitchfork.

Many many many many years ago we collected for a small charity (kidney transplant IIRC)
We walked round street after street. What really me was the number of people saying "If you were collecting for an Animal charity"........

On the back pf this post by the OP:

"I can absolutely appreciate that not everyone can give or wants to give. I am never rude (although I've felt like - not very Christian but there you go) ... I'm afraid that I do collect in the evenings and weekends (this morning) because I work full time. I'm sorry if it 'offends' people but there you have it.
I find it interesting that people are so 'precious' about their 'own homes' and their 'privacy'. I guess Maggie Thatcher was right about there being no society, there really isn't"

I am never giving to CA again. What a repugnant attitude.

I suppose that it depends upon whether the person asking you to give up your time came knocking on your door to put you under obligation or not, bog.

Wen not quite sure what you're getting at there - I just can't see what the huge problem of people coming to my door is.
Waspie - I would say get off your high horse love, but I'm sure it would just reinforce your opinion of my repugnant attitude

"I would say get off your high horse love,"

HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA!

I don't ride anymore, and Yes it does. So much for Christian . Everday I find an example of why I'm glad I'm an atheist.

Waspie and every day I find an example of why I'm glad I'm not an atheist. I would say the soulless and self-indulgent attitudes of many in society but that would probably just make you think I was a sneery, judgemental do-gooder. And, if you're an atheist I wouldn't imagine you could give to Christian Aid anyway so I'm sure they can cop with the loss of your non-existent donation.
Someone asked what exactly these people did that was rude. Well, telling me to get lost, threatening to phone the police, treating me like I was begging. A bit like on here actually...

70 out of interest, why a kidney transplant charity? Is that not available on the NHS? (Genuine nosy Q, as have kidney ishoos myself!)

The thing is, people's values are just so different that charity giving is always going to be particularly sensitive.

Personally, I think the fact that humanity is wiping out entire species through hideously destructive practices deserves my money, so we give to the Marine Conservation Society and Butterfly Conservation Soc. Also, that the landscape will be permanently damaged for future generations is important to me, so we give to 3 separate wildlife trusts. We also give to MSF as we think they do good work and don't waste money.

But money isn't unlimited and so whilst I think a charity like NSPCC or Barnardo's is doing good work, I also think that British children generally have pretty decent lives compared to most of the world, and we do have legal systems in place to prevent abuse and neglect. So I wouldn't give to a children's charity.

However, I appreciate that this will totally outrage some people. Which is why charity collectors' assumptions that they are working for A Good Cause are always going to get some people's backs up.

I started a CA collecting related thread this week because when we failed to answer the door (due to malfunctioning doorbell but that is irrelevant really) the man collecting peered through the window at me.

So I answered the door assuming it must be a neighbour (he looked vaguely familiar) or at least someone with an urgent issue.

I was annoyed that he was just collecting for charity. If people do not answer the door that should be respected.

You have no way of knowing if it is convenient when you are knocking on a door, no one is obliged to give or to be polite, I try to be but if pushed I will be firm. Cold calling is risky and I don't like it when I helped run a small local charity we did all our collecting in the street, people came to us.