To never donate to charity via text again

[MoistSponge]

A couple of weeks ago I saw a really heart rending "advert" for a UNICEF appeal for the people suffering in the Southern Sudan.

The images were harrowing, those poor little children, and so I texted and donated a fiver.

Since then I have received three phone calls asking me to donate more - the first two calls were both received while I was driving, so I quickly told them that I already have direct debits set up for my charitable donations and that I wouldn't be able to commit to anything further, but I didn't let them go into their full spiel as I was on Bluetooth.

Tonight I received a call again, and I started straight away telling the man about my direct debits (I sponsor a child in Africa and I have a small monthly DD set up for another charity) and that I wasn't going to be able to give anymore - and then the "hard sell" started. Lots of very emotive language about the children dying and that famine is coming; lots of "buttering me up" telling me I have a good soul and he could hear it beating from me and that I'm clearly very intelligent and blah, blah, blah. It was pretty relentless to be honest and I felt very uncomfortable having to constantly defend myself by telling him that I can't give any more money. In the end I told him that I am on a low income, I'm a single parent to two children and I cannot afford anymore, I told him that five pounds is a lot of money to me but I had still given it with a full heart but that I CANNOT GIVE ANY MORE.

Fucking hell. This isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened. I did the Race For Life for a few years, raising not huge amounts but a few hundred pounds in sponsorship. I get a phone all every year asking me for more and even though I tell them that I already give to my nominated charities they just won't stop.

I really want to complain to UNICEF TBH, the call came from a fund raising company that they are using, but it almost felt like talking to a bloody double glazing company or worse...timeshare! And the other thing is that they could be using this very aggressive technique on people who are more vulnerable than me and it just feels wrong. It has completely put me off donating by text to anything ever again, AIBU?

Yep partner gave via text for some charity and then quickly was hounded with other charity calls every day till i showed him how to send the numbers straight to block.

Can you not tell them that this is harassment and if they carry on you'll be cancelling all payments to them? You don't have to put up with this.

I am not anti charity btw. I give money and clothes very regularly I'm just against being hounded and made to feel
Bad when i say no. Im off work sick atmo so only getting in £74 a week so cannot afford a £5 a month dd right now! However iv had people from charity trying to make me feel bad for still not signing up!

This is so sad - people who have been generous enough to donate being (in some cases) really harassed by organisations that should have been saying 'thank you'.
Fundraising ought to be about providing an opportunity for people who care about your charity's issue, to make a contribution towards it. I think it's fair enough to be asked if you want to increase your donation if you give on a regular basis - thinking about it, I've given a small amount to about five charities for about a decade, and that amount is worth a lot less now than it was when I set them up. But if I said 'no', I would expect my answer to be respected or the small amount would vanish entirely!

I can't understand how people can get drawn so far into the phone conversation that they discuss their financial situation/salary/car troubles! Seriously people, you are being far too polite, It's none of their business!
Remember that old MN phrase, "No" is a complete sentence, then just hang up!

I can't believe all of you who get so far drawn into the conversation! Don't you think it's far easier on both sides just to say "sorry, no" and hang up!! If you get into details, they are either going to persuade you or make you feel bad, one or the other!
It's the "£50/month is less than the price of your daily cappuccino"
arghhhhh i NEVER buy take away coffee!!

I agree, tess - these people are paid to collect money. If you spend time detailing your finances to them, of course they are going to pick up on what you are saying and try to get you to agree to an amount. just say no and hang up.

My 17 year old daughter volunteers for the SPCA on a regular basis here in NZ. She has no income as such as she is still at school, and we pay for her petrol to get there. She mostly cleans out cat litter trays. Recently she has been plagued by phone calls from them begging her for donations ffs. She's not good on the phone and in a memorable recent attempt to get rid of them, she panicked and said "I have to go, my cat's fallen in the bath". I may use this excuse next time we get another cold call.

I have just got off the phone from Cancer Research who called me thanking me for donating for the no make up selfie. Sternly but politely asked my number be removed from their list and the agent couldn't get off the phone quick enough.

Feeling rather sensitive as my dad died at the weekend from cancer - we are doing donations to the hospice in his memory.

I think they need to be regulated better. If they clearly don't care that you're down to your last £5 and are trying to get that from you, something's wrong. What happens to those who can't tell them to piss off? What happens to those who feel obliged to give them their last £5 and are left with nothing or no money to buy food? Do they make checks to see if people they are calling can manage to donate or are donating to many other charities which take most of their income? I'm assuming the answer to all of these is 'no'.

I've had exactly the same thing happen after donating by text.

I was very direct with the caller and stated that No, I did not wish to give any more money and when he started to try and get into a discussion I got even more direct and said, You're not listening properly, I said NO!

I couldn't give a monkeys if he thought I was heartless. These callers have no clue how much money people give to other charities. It's none of their business and if people want to make a completely one-off donation of £5 by text that is generous of them.

No one should feel obliged, it's a choice.

And what ladysybil said.

Oh, I'm so sorry Blondie

dont let them reel you in. "Im not interested, thanks for your call, goodbye"

then put phone down

dont even listen to them.

The people that they hassle are invariably people who barely have a pot to piss in anyway. How dare they emotionally blackmail you

Do you know what? You are not the only one. My DH donated £5 to Unicef (he got harassed on a high street by a charity collector and felt guilty) and they phoned him every damn week saying shit like 'we know you care deeply about the children suffering in xx country' and 'with just a monthly commitment of £10 you'd be saving these kids'.
So the next time they phoned him he said 'No I don't care. Stop phoning me. I don't care about them.' It was harsh but it did the trick. And of course he cares, but we don't have spare funds to dish out to everyone using emotive language. We already donate monthly to charity by dd and always do sortouts and give our clothes to charity instead of selling them on so it's not like we are uncharitable.

I work, well, if not in the sector then alongside it, plus I donate regularly (small amounts) to various other charities, and I both understand why charities employ these companies and am cross that some of them behave so badly.

I once, a good while back, got the "don't you CARE about people with mental health problems?" from a street chugger I had walked past, and I just lost it and went back to have a go at him - pointed out to him that I was on my way back from a session with a relative who was severely mentally ill, and the reason I had no spare money was that I spent so much money personally looking after them, as well as my own family. He had the grace to apologise, at least. At that point in my life i was so physically, mentally, emotionally and financially exhausted by looking after this person, to have "don't you CARE" thrown in my face was a step too far.

But - charities are picking up the pieces of the crumbling welfare state more and more as time goes on, so they are all desperate for money. I'd rather a wee bit pay more in tax, to be honest, and have a lot of charitable services provided properly, which would be a much more efficient and money-saving method for us all.

Please don't stop doing text donations to smaller charities using the 70070 number.

I'm treasurer of a small charity and it's a really good way for us to raise money. We don't get the details of people who text donate and we wouldn't hassle you even if we did .

I donated after the Ewan McGregor ad, and I haven't had any calls to my knowledge. When I texted I got a reply saying "We'd like to tell you more about our work"with a link and looking back I replied "No call", which I must have been prompted to do somehow.

Having said that, I rarely answer my phone if I don't recognise the number so its possible I have had calls and they haven't left a message.

Have given to several charities over the years and most send the occasional newsletter just to remind that they are still there - I never fill in a phone number. Last year I gave to Crisis. Since then they have bombarded me with emails and direct mail shots nearly always asking for money, with the exception of one which asked me to fill in a survey on their advertising programme. Said advert was then used to ask me to give them £250, and since then I have had two further requests for donations of £250 each. All ignored. With the last begging letter, I emailed them back and asked them to remove me from their mail and email list. I said I didn't donate in order to fund harassing begging letters, and for that reason I wouldn't be donating to them again. I got a nice email back apologising, but saying these tactics are what brings in the money, so basically, the more you give the more they push you for. Not heard anything from them for a few weeks now, so guess I have been unsubscribed. Won't stop me from giving to charity though. BTW, when approached by a street chugger, I usually tell them sorry, I don't speak English. By the time they've clocked that I've spoken to them in English I'm long gone.

Agree with earflaps. Please don't think all charities operate like this.

I've been on the receiving end of these calls and it's horrible, as bad as chugging if not worse. However it does seem to be the larger charities which are practicing this.

Smaller charities absolutely wouldn't do this, so please don't discount text giving to everyone.

YANBU

How much of our donation is wasted on a call centre continually calling us?

I have stopped donating to a number of charities because of this. You give once, by text, and they then call you daily when you are at work. It needs to be better regulated.

I have a horrible feeling the entire industry is a corruption-fest. You can actually ask to see a breakdown of annual costs and how much of your money is actually spent on the cause. Some are much better than others.

I find this very depressing.
Say no.
Give what you want when you want. If you're uncomfortable all the more important that you get better at being assertive.
How can those of you who let people call you, waste your time and make you feel uncomfortable function?
Say no. Say 'I'm not discussing this' say 'I'm not having this conversation' and hang up.

These are important life skills people! If you can't do it you need to work out why, and learn.
[cross] for you and giving you a kick up the arse.

I have a charities aid foundation account. The account claims its own gift aid so its tax efficient and you can choose which charities see you details (if any). Both one off and direct debits can be set up.

www.cafonline.org/