to not want to be approached by charity collectors?

[KidsDontThinkImCool]

Raising money and awareness for charities is a wonderful thing. Of course it is. I've done it myself from time to time and I give what support I can. It's important and it's bloody hard work and I have nothing but admiration for those who give their time and energy to do it.

But...I'm really beginning to hate being asked, every time I go to the supermarket or the shopping centre, if I want to help prevent children's cancer. Well who doesn't? but I feel so small and so mean if I don't have spare change to put in their buckets every day! Is it so wrong not to want charity collectors to act like salesmen, making unsolicited pitches designed to make people feel guilty? Is it just me? AIBU or does anyone else feel this way?

[Effic]

I say "Yes I do care about (insert whatever they are representing) however I have already chosen the charities that I wish to support and contribute all I can afford regularly to them. Good luck with your good cause."
This has always worked - occasionally they ask which charities I support and I tell them - but they generally back off and it is actually true!

As for the AA/ RAC - I always say "I am already a member." - job done - that's a lie!

[livingzuid]

How on earth are they the same thing? Tin collectors do it for free. They volunteer. Some have been doing it for twenty or thirty years or more. That nice old man with his war medals on collecting for Poppy Day? The same one was always at my local supermarket the ten years or so I lived in the area selling poppies.

They take time out of their day to do something for others. Some are raising money for a charity event or something like the London marathon. Very rarely it will be a company thing and staff have been alotted time to come out and collect. But all are still giving up their time to raise money for a cause they believe in.

It's also a form of giving that the general public are very comfortable with and is an easy, effective revenue source for many charities.

You as a chugger are paid to do so. People find it invasive and often aggressive. There is a vast difference. If you don't like it, and no one would disagree that it's a shit job, then do something else.

[anonbecausechugLOL]

I need to disengage now, I just came to tell people who have no idea how it is and how it makes people feel. God bless everyone who said they politely reject, respect to you my friends.

Remember that you have a choice to say no.
Remember that most of us are university educated, friendly people who would otherwise be on the dole and this is our only option and actually raises some money for a good cause when people choose to take part.
We have regulations that we have to follow, and if someone is following you down the street etc they are breaking them. Know the rules. Saying hello does not fall under harassment.
We aren't scum or thieves so please don't act or treat us like we are.

Thank you.

[dannychampionoftheworld]

I do say no thanks to chuggers (Every. Single. Time.)

I would like to see some figures on whether it is financially worthwhile for charities to have chuggers. The reason it is so hard to sign people up is because people find it incredibly annoying to be stopped in the street when they're in a rush. It's a very flawed way of getting people to donate imo. When you factor in the pay, the expense of training them and all the stuff that goes with it, it must be expensive to implement. But I guess it must work well enough to bother doing it, otherwise why would they?

[anonbecausechugLOL]

There is nothing else. When I quit from the stress I will be unemployed.

Have a nice day.

[LittleBrassPig]

Interesting anon that you equate people saying that they already donate to speaking faux foreign languages and telling you to fuck off. I've only told a chugger to fuck off once. When he accused me of not caring about children with cancer when I told him I already donated to Cancer Research UK. All I will say is don't ever, ever say something so utterly fucking stupid to a parent who has / or might have watched their child fight cancer. I cancelled my DD and now I donate to a local support & research charity instead.

[livingzuid]

danny a quick Google should throw up some info. There was a debate about it recently on a professional forum and I will link some stuff if I can. Otherwise all charities are required to publish annual report and accounts by the Charity Commission and normally give an overview of where the funds go in general terms. I'd always advise people to take a quick look. They should be on the organisation's website.

If you add up how many times you give £5 a month over X years it is actually a lot of money. You are very valuable :) and equally you're making an investment into something you believe in. A bit of research yeilds interesting results.

My parents, for example, refuse to support big national charities now because mum got so pissed off at the mail arriving and being made to feel if she didn't give it was her fault a child was abused/rainforest destroyed/cancer patient died. And at being harassed by chuggers who were prolific in their number in quite a poor part of the country.

Not that I'm saying don't support big charites as they do great work a smaller charity can't do. And smaller local charities also utilise Street fundraising! But that they personally felt their money would go further locally.

It's fun to think where do I want to give and how and do a bit of research and then make that commitment. The vast majority or organisations big and small do a fantastic job so it's what suits you personally.

[anonbecausechugLOL]

I always sincerely thank people if they already donate to the charity I'm doing. If they're supporting something similar I say that's great but i do have to attempt to engage them anyway but I'd never say something shit like someone doesn't care. I know they care because they've taken time out to tell me this. There are some rude people out there, like in any job.

I was talking about the people who lie and say they already do it, and I wasn't even "equating it" to the more offensive things, just describing one reason why it's a hard job.

[ravenAK]

Yes ravenAK because trying to one-up someone (because as we all know chuggers are uneducated swine who only speak English) and then come online and act like how clever it is is definitely the only alternative to telling someone to piss off.

what now?

I'm not going to give a charity my money if I'm pestered by them in the street. I don't want to be pestered. If I give to a chugger, that reinforces the idea that chugging works, & I'll get bothered by more of them. No ta.

I'm sure you're perfectly well educated; I was when I did crappy McJobs 20 years ago. Your languages are certainly better than mine. It's not that I have any animosity against the poor sod trying to earn a crust.

Tbh, if you were being paid to leap out & bosh passers-by on the head with a squeaky inflatable hammer, I'd feel much the same. Here is someone in need of work, working hard at a shit job, no doubt getting loads of abuse from people less tolerant than me.

I'm still not going to hand over my bank details, thereby encouraging your employer to deploy more people to bop me on the head as I go about my business.

[LittleBrassPig]

Yep, what raven said. If you're a charity and you chug you ain't getting any donations from me. £12 an hour? Nope my money is better spent on other worthwhile causes.

[Viviennemary]

I think chuggers are an abomination and no decent charity should use them. I was thinking of doing a small DD to a couple of charities but I'm not going to. I will continue to donate to charity shops instead of selling on ebay which I can't be bothered with now. I usually give something to collectors if it's a charity I approve of.

[CharityCase]

I am a funder in the charity sector. I always tell people to view charitable donations as an investment with a social rather than a financial return. You wouldn't buy some shares or a bond from someone in the street on their day so re. Expected returns, so why commit to a social investment without taking time to review the publicly available information? In particular, look at unrestricted reserves. If they're more than 12 months expenditure, keep walking. Also look at the impact data- not number of beneficiaries, value of research funded etc, but what was the change in those beneficiaries that occurred as a result if the intervention that took place? Impact is the area where 90% of applications I receive fail. Most do not evaluate well. Lastly, there being evidence of a dire need for intervention ( ie only x of y animal left) does not equate to that particular organisation being best, or even well placed to address that need.

Do your homework. Don't let the chiggers guilt you into a heart decision. It needs to be a head decision.

[livingzuid]

charitycase great post and sorry for going slightly off topic here. The only area I'd disagree with is medical research in terms of impact and that's because it can take so many years to see results. Ten to twenty in some cases, if not longer if bringing a new drug to market. And it can be very difficult for charities to report back to funders where there hasn't been much movement on a particular research project for good reason normally.

There can also be a reason why reserves are over 12 months, again if there are ongoing research commitments. That's as I'm sure you know a hotly disputed discussion in the sector :) although in the grand scheme of things 12 months is normally too high.

But yes, other areas of work should show good change over a much shorter time frame. What was achieved in one year, three years, five years etc.

It's also a fun way of involving dcs in giving. It becomes a family activity then. You miss out on all of the interest if you're signing up to something on the spot imo.

The UK remains one of the most generous nations in the world and chugging represents a fraction of all the fundraising activity that goes on. It's just that it is so highly visible is what sticks with so many. And that's not necessarily a good thing.

[Mimishimi]

I don't mind the ones with a coin bucket out as they are usually charities I know that do good work. I absolutely avoid the direct debit ones though and tell them I only give money to buskers if they are persistent. Most aren't after a quick "no thanks" though. I have only abused one once with a FO and I recounted it here a few days ago. She came up to me with a concerned look on her face, pointing at the ground behind me. Naturally I thought I must have dropped something and turned back to look. Nothing of course and then she said "There, you dropped your smile... cue smarmy smile as my mouth opened in surprise.... How are you today? " etc. Then I noticed the clipboard and told her to FO as I'd actually been in a good mood up until then.

[UncleT]

Raven is spot on. When your job consists of little other than pissing people of then sorry, while I won't say it on the street (there could be kids around for a start) my only thought when being pestered is that they can get to feck. I'm pleased to hear that ignoring is the most soul-destroying response to being hassled - that will be the stock response from now on. This crap deserves no encouragement whatsoever. I've really needed work when younger, but just as I wouldn't go and work on a Chinese cat farm, I wouldn't take a job pissing people right off all the time by pestering them in the street. I'd rather clean toilets.

[yegodsandlittlefishes]

I hate the whole thing. I hate the way it is the answer to youth unemployment and it teaches young people how to beg and make people give something for nothing without taking into consideration how much they have already paid in taxes, given to charities, fund raised, volunteered for charities and what and who they need to be supporting in their own lives. It doesn't matter how much you know about the charity. The fact is they know nothing about the strangers on the street they're shouting at and standing in the way of. On the day my dad died I had chuggers standing right in my way, calling 'hello girls' at me and my (seriously ill) daughter, shouting after me 'dont you care' etc. That they are taught to wrap it up in fansyy sales/begging language doesn't make it any better.

I have a relative who had cancer and she is in remission and she's a fund raiser. She is lovely, and people flock to her to buy things (or give her things) for her bring and buy stall. She works very hard to keep it going and also provide support for other survivors. She doesn't do this in a shopping centre or high street.

I do think that is the way that charities should run their fund raising. If I give money to a charity, I want that money to go to where it is supposed to, not pay for courses and keeping young people on the streets behaving in this way.

I don't mind the ones outside the supermarket if they don't mind if I don't stop and don't call out to me. If they get in my way or shout after me, at least I can complain to the supermarket manager and ask for them to be requested to not shout or stand in the way (or follow people).

Chuggers have to display the charity number of the charity they are working for. I think I might be taking the numbers of a few of these in our town centre and making some complaints. It is ridiculous in our town centre, not particularly big but loads of chuggers there every day as well as buskers and Big Issue sellers and half the shops are charity shops (ones standing empty are being refitted as charity shops).

[hickorychicken]

I think being harrassed in your own home should be made illegal. I appreciate its a difficult job but you are employed to hound people until they part with money, a lot of people dont have £6 a week to spare.
I was donating by dd to a charity and got a leaflet through the door saying i was entered into a prize draw.... to win a fucking CAR
Cancelled dd straight away.... nice to know our money is going to the worthy cause.

[Wuxiapian]

Yanbu.

I adopt the same approach to them as any other salesperson: "No, thank you" and continue to walk on.

I'll donate to charity when it suits me!

[BelleateSebastian]

I either avoid eye contact or give them a big smile and say no Thankyou that should be the end if it, please don't try and 'persuade' me or faux flirt with me or I will get the rage, especially if your colleague does exactly the same 20 steps further on, and then we have to go through the same rigmarole on the way back!!

[hickorychicken]

And it also takes the piss when you do make a donation they try to pester you for more!!
"Ahh cant you make it an extra £xx a month?" FUCK OFF.

[SarahAndFuck]

We already give to several charities by direct debit and although we would like to help more, we just can't.

I will put a bit of change in a collection bucket but I don't give the people who hassle you in the street or at your own front door, wanting you to set up a direct debit, the time of day.

People who bound up grinning from ear to ear and cheerfully shouting "Would you like to help sick, poor children?" get an equally cheerful "No, not really!" as I just keep walking. If they are persistent, I just as cheerfully shout "go away" at them and keep walking.

We give to BLISS, who help premature babies, because they do a very important job and are grateful for anything they get. Not once in four years have they asked us to give anything more than we already give, when they write to us it's not to give us crappy free gifts or raffle tickets for cars and they usually tell us what they have managed to do with the money and how it has helped someone.

We give to a couple of other charities as well, who also don't call or write demanding more. We cancelled one direct debit for the NSPCC, who seemed to imply that we would be personally responsible for all child abuse if we didn't immediately double our monthly direct debit to them, and just upped the money we gave to BLISS instead.

[NinjaBunny]

Oh, these guys are fecking annoying and they know it.

I had one try to stop me the other day, I said 'No, thank you.' and carried on walking, he started walking along beside me saying 'Well, what we're doing is...'

Fuck off!

I said no thank you!!

I started a thread the other day about school constantly nagging me for money. Don't mind giving, its the nagging.

These chuggers are the same. They think that if they continuously nag and bully well give in? Everyone knows that any donation just pays the chuggers salary so whats the point anyway??

[MyLeftElbow]

I had a chap at the door a few weeks ago from a local autism charity. I opened the door and before he could really start, said "thank goodness you're here, I have two children with autism, we are desperate for some support, can you help our family?"
Sadly, he didn't know what to say to that (I do indeed have two children with autism and we do need help!) - he thrust some leaflets at me and told me to ring their office.

[Canidae]

I stopped and listened to an Action Aid chugger a few years ago but truthfully told him I had no debit card as I was waiting for a new one after my puppy chewed it up. He asked what bank I was with and grabbed my arm to try and drag me there saying I could ask for my details.

Even after that I did end up setting a direct debit of £5 a month for Action Aid but cancelled after phone calls every week asking for more money.

[Sukebind]

I understand that charitable giving has really fallen over the past few years with the economic situation and so on and even giving to charity shops has fallen (interestingly when the Mary Portas programme about it was on a few years back no-one mentioned the role of online auction sites in this - whereas a few years back most people would pass on their second hand stuff to family/friends or charity shop, many more people now sell online) so I can see why charities feel that they need to reach out more literally and physically to get donations.

I think that charities will have to rethink this whole thing though. I agree that the chugging, door to door and phoning is very intrusive. I would to some extent think that the means justify the end if I didn't feel that it is the most vulnerable who end up signing up because they don't feel they can keep saying no, are sweet-talked into it, or whatever. Moreover, handing over DD details and so on to a stranger in the street is not really something we should be encouraging. And round here a door-to-door chugger must have wondered why he got short shrift calling after dark - a local woman had been very recently been raped in her own home by a bogus caller. He looked really disgusted with me when I said it wasn't a good time (DC bath and bed) and that I wouldn't be handing over details at the door...

I got a call from the Royal Horticultural Society who wanted me to give £11/mth to help children do gardening at school. Obviously a worthy cause but why ask for such a large amount every month? I would rather give £11/mth to help a charity alleviating poverty or human trafficking.