To think charity street fundraisers should be banned?

[Tittletatt]

Not the ones who just have a pot and are asking for small change. The commission earning, high pressure ones employed to pressure you into a direct debit.
My friend in desperation applied to be one and said they were trained in all sorts of manipulative sales techniques and even told to pretend people had dropped money to get their attention.
Apologies if this has been done before but some new ones have just set up in my town. You physically have to move out of their way as they block your path trying to engage you and I just can’t believe they’re still legal.

There’s loads in Liverpool. I’m in Liverpool for the weekend actually. I heard that they’ve been strict here about where they can operate. Or it could be general sales people I’ve seen about. Still equally as annoying.

Thats interesting Tittletatt. There was a big debate on our local Facebook page about them and Liverpool was cited as somewhere where they are banned, maybe its just more restricted there?

I think they have to get a permit from the council to operate. I'd imagine its quite lucrative for them which might be why my town council havent banned them yet.. anything for a fast buck.

It really puts me off going to town and I tend to go to a nearby out of town place instead. I now only give my money to local charities.

I’ve always looked very young (annoyingly young not the “good for your age” young- I’m 33 and got ID’d tonight...) and one upside was being able to tell charity muggers I wasn’t old enough to sign up. Nowadays I go with saying I don’t have a bank account or don’t speak English.

They really should be banned, they make me think badly of every charity that uses them.

One told my friend her jacket (from a charity shop) looked expensive. Friend was extremely unimpressed and made several complaints to the charity she was representing.

. mrsterrypratchett I do that with he RSPCA and the Children’s Society.

Or I only respond in my second language. They rarely have the language skills to converse at that point.

I hate the ones that come to the door too. The street ones I can get away with because I look young. But my fiancé got caught out by a door one and he’s just too nice. So I was listening and didn’t want to be rude and step in but eventually I had to. I suppose I wouldn’t marry him if he wasn’t him but he does need to be a bit more assertive.

Agree with MrsTerryPratchett, start asking them some probing questions about their charity and CEO, they will soon back off.

However it must be worthwhile charities doing this as it has been going on for so long, I work for a charity (not as a chugger) but I totally agree it is very off putting and I would never sign up to a DD in the street.

I've a method where no matter what is said, what comes out of my mouth, their mouth, it doesn't matter, my feet have to keep going in the same pattern like pitter patter step step step step so no matter what I end up away from them. They can't do anything if you do that.

Still Game's Isa and the animal charities episode sums this up perfectly.

I hate the male ones. If they weren't holding a clip board it would basically be street harassment. 'hey beautiful smiley lady, where are you going' and 'look at your beautiful hair, stop and talk to me' (actual quotes) I mean what the actual fuck.

MrsTerryPratchet me too re amnesty! I genuinely pity the poor young thing who got a 20 minute lecture on so called sex work as violence against women. Pffft

I very much agree! I had two from the same charity approach me when I was crying in the street as I had just received awful news, trying to get me to sign up. The second one called after me when I refused to tell me I was a horrible person. It was humiliating, I complained to the charity and just got a marketing brochure back!

On a better day a Dogs Trust person blocked my path asking if I liked dogs so I replied no, hate them. Not at all true, I love them, but it left him floundering for something to say as I nipped past.

Smile at them and say "thank you" as you walk past - it confuses and disarms them.

My advice obviously doesn't go for the sexual harassment one, clearly tell them to fuck right off

They bring in a lot of money for charities. There have been multiple studies done - branching into street fundraising is one of the few ways to noticeably increase your donor pool. People always say "well, I don't like them so I won't give to that charity now" on posts like these, but statistically those were people who weren't giving already and probably weren't going to give. Most people don't stop giving if they are already engaged.

I work in charity fundraising. Not street or door fundraising but I've seen the studies. They are especially popular with charities who've just had a big income stream shut down - like had a load of government funding cancelled - and need to increase their income drastically or shut down services.

I wonder how many people who sign up on the street have significant vulnerabilities though? Is it ethical for a charity to pursue donations at any cost?

With cuts in health and social care, there will be a lot of vulnerable adults who aren't adequately supported in the community who would easily fall for a friendly chat and a guilt trip and sign up.

batvixen there is perhaps a time lag in the backlash but I think it is occurring.

Charity shop staff hate them too. We had a bunch in our high street where the charity had a shop. They went in hoping to blag a cup of coffee and use of the loo "because we all work for X, don't we". "No you bloody don't" was the response and they were chucked out. The shop customers gave the manager a round of applause.

YANBU I have stopped going into Tesco as they appear to have taken up full squatter rights in the foyer.
Why do I have to feel embarrassed to go shopping for groceries?

Hate this. Used to work in charity fundraising but left over a decade ago due to how aggressive things were becoming with street & at home fundraising teams, tv fundraising on daytime tv, cross-marketing used send huge amounts of direct mail to individuals, increased number of time donors get asked to give again in a year.

The retention rates are often very poor for street fundraising (people cancel quickly) and the fees paid to the companies used often wipe out the first 12-18 months of any direct debits signed up to. Some charities do conduct these things in-house, but they are still pretty expensive to run.

Between parking costs, poor sizing stock (if you can actually find a well-made seasonal item you actually like in the first place) and dodging the street drunks/ mamba zombies, the chuggers are yet another reason to add to the list of why I rarely bother to go to town.

I just want to walk in a line down the road, not have someone randomly calling out stupid comments to get my attention.

I have no interest in signing up to a direct debit for any charity. I don't trust any of them not to badger me for evermore to increase the amount, having witnessed them doing it over the phone with DM until she played the hard-up pensioner card and threatened to cancel it outright.

I give enough time to a few charitable organisations.

I wouldn’t be guilt tripped into anything though since I learned there are over 100,000 registered charities in the uk. I couldn’t give them all a penny each even if I wanted to.

Most of them are tiny - school PTAs, local WI charitable funds and the like, so you needn't fear being asked to donate to them.

I do agree that chugging needs to stop though.

Smile at them and say "thank you" as you walk past - it confuses and disarms them.

I say a breezy "no thank you" as I walk past them.

At train stations when everyone I'd just trying to get where they're going or get home how can it be worth it?

The retention rates are often very poor for street fundraising (people cancel quickly) and the fees paid to the companies used often wipe out the first 12-18 months of any direct debits signed up to.

@ZazieTheCat Ooooo interesting. The well loved charity I work for has just started using Chuggers. I'm distraught!!

It be good if could signpost me to any facts and figures to do with the above.

My comment was based on direct experience evaluating the performance of fundraising programmes at various charities @TheGodmother.

I’d suggest contacting peers at similar charities which run such programmes in a benchmarking exercise.