Chuggers

I'm feeling a little guilty having mentioned the R.S.P.C.A. story. Can I make amends by saying I do support the Donkey Sanctuary based in Sidmouth and other parts of the country. M y dear mum has a plaque there and we donate to the Elizabeth Svendson Trust which has the most wonderful arena which gives rides to handicapped children. The joy on the childrens faces is wonderful. It is very well run by it's many volunteers and staff. It has a hospital too and saves donkeys world wide from cruelty.

If you are the Sidmouth area go along to the Christmas Carol Service, it is lovely. Hundreds of candles and so much warmth and love for all the family.I like the way you can see ho much goes to the charity for example if you buy christmas cards.

I will not be giving large donations to animal charities while there are children living in poverty and young people homeless and living rough.
I used to give to RSPCA and PDSA but then they started with the books of raffle tickets to sell and it wasn't just once a year.
I knew someone who had a houseful of animals she could not afford to look after but when confronted she said she would rather give up her child than the cats,dogs rabbits and so on. I hope the child thinks about this when the mother is old and needs attention.

If so, it's proving counter-productive!

So much for Cameron's 'Big Society' which imposed high expectations on the charitable and voluntary sector. Is this why their fund-raising activities have become increasingly confrontational?

Yes, you're right - you'd think they'd have suggested someone else who could help instead of just washing their hands of the problem.

Anagram We finally got our one sorted - bird sanctuary - and it was ok. I think we just felt helpless in the heat of the moment and phoned the wrong people but RSPCA could have told us who to phone (I know we sorted it out in the end) rather than just say 'too busy'. I am sure they do a good job but I do worry when charities get too big.

We had an injured swan on the riverbank near our house last year, grrranny, and a lovely woman from the RSPB came and rescued it.

glammananna That is distressing about RSPCA. We had a young swan marooned near here recently, obviously distressed, and RSPCA were 'too busy' to even come and look.

We as a family have always supported animal charities over the years mainly by fostering dogs due to be rehomed and supporting the charlty by way of bring and buy sales and cake stalls etc,many years ago it must be about 20yrs a RSPCA home not far from my home advertised for bric a brac and household items for a sale I had never visited this home before this and was amazed at the sign on the gate at the front of the home,it read "No Stray Dogs" I asked the manager of the home how she could justify this and she said that some people had tied dogs to the gate and I told her surely they where better off tied to the gate than dumped somewhere else but she would not have it.I have never given to RSPCA from that day to this.

I agree, harri. I have become very disillusioned with charities as a result. There's no way I'll ever agree that their ultimate aims justify such disgusting behaviour. They will lose support and trust.

How sad that charities act in this way.

I worked for an Age Concern Day Centre for 6 years. We often had donations from clients children unless the donation was very specifically made out to us as a Day Centre the money would just disappear into the national coffers, never to be used for what the donor intended. If you give money to a charity you have to be very specific about the terms of the donation if you wish it to be used locally.

Charities are the least charitable of all bodies when it comes to Wills. When I worked in a solicitors' office, if a charity ever had to be asked to be flexible as another claimant had come to light, they would refuse point blank.

I felt very upset for the poor gentleman who left in his will his property to the R.S.P.C.A. He had loved his home and the wild habitat he owned and felt they would maintain the habitat after his death. How wrong was he! He had made the common mistake when he drew up his will in not stating it a legal condition of his will only a 'wish' that the area be maintained as an animal sanctary.

This allowed the R.S.P.C.A. to ignore his 'wishes' and sell his home and the land, netting them £295,000. He had thought the land would be safe in their hands, little did he know it would be torn down for developing, very sad.

I used to have several direct debits to various charities but chugging and constant harrassment from junk snail mail means that I have stopped the lot except for one. The grasping and unpleasant approach of charities which now use the corporate creep and chugging approach to get donations and then to constantly increase them (i.e emotional blackmail) disgusts me. I can't be the only person who feels like this.

One evening there was a hearing impaired young man at the door; the next it was a couple of unbearably chirpy girls with a clipboard, seeking a commitment to donations to a heart charity. I wish everyone would give the same response as I do and then they might take the hint and withdraw their collectors. My advice is to keep the chain on, say 'no thank you', politely but firmly and close the door immediately. Don't engage in conversation!

I also contribute to the charities of my choice by direct debit. I did this initially because I fondly hoped that contributing in this way would stop the postal requests at least from these charities. When the postal requests kept on coming I rang one of the charities to ask why this was so and was told ''we get more from the people who already give than from those who don't''

It is very annoying to have people phoning asking to increase donations. I do not donate by direct debit, I put a cheque in an envelope with no covering letter and certainly no address and phone number. The charity gets the donation but can't badger me for an increase.

I agree, dahlia. OH contributes to many charities (on behalf of us both) and I've lost count of the number of phone calls he receives from them, always asking him to up his commitment. It's emotional blackmail in my opinion, and almost amounts to harassment!

What always annoys me is that, when I respond to an emergency appeal e.g. for UNICEF in Africa, with a one-off donation, it seems to be a signal to one and all that I am a soft touch. And the regular direct debit (to Water Aid) still led to telephone requests for an increase in the monthly amount. The callers are all very pleasant and appreciative, but I don't like the way they make feel so mean that I genuinely can't afford to pay more. I can well understand how someone stressed or confused would say "Yes" to a request just to get the call ended.

I cannot beleive how naive people are when it comes to charities. Chuggers are not your usual charity collectors. There is a ruthlessness about them and I beleive a lot of fraud is involved with this type of collecting. It is a massive problem, worldwide, concerning charity giving. Even the Big Issue sellers have been highlighted recently as Eastern Europeans who obtain a national insurance number to claim bebefits. This has been clarified by the founder himself if I am not mistaken. I have no problem with Big Issue sellers but when reports are made that abuses are taking place then one has to be careful. Don't take my word for it enough has been written on this issue.

It is not only chuggers that are causing problems. There are many instances of begging and distraction thefts taking place all over the country. I am not being miserable, I do give to charities but I am very selective. I like the Donkey Sanctuary in Devon, Lifeboats and Air Ambulance for example. I was also very shocked when the Icelandic Banks went under. The collosal amounts of money, in the millions, that were being held by even some very well known charities astonished me. I appreciate you have to pay the bills and charities are a business but hell what good was all that money doing sitting in bank accounts.

I contribute to SA, the RNLI, WINGS, and the Earl Haig fund.
I also give to our local church and Christian aid! No other!
I am fed up. Of the junk mail I get from charities!

One and All contribute to the Sally Army - they do a wonderful job, have no staff jollies, no company cars bought on our money, and help where no-one else will.

We have those calls from Cancer Research and my husband says to them if they ring again he will stop the donation.

A few years ago I used to volunteer for a national Breast Cancer charity. I put in a lot of hard work raising thousands of pounds in donations. Then one year I decided to do a bit more investigating of the charity and found the executives were all on very high salaries, head office staff received interest free mortgages and those who came to visit the regions stayed in very good quality hotels with generous expense accounts. The final straw was when I had a visit from someone from head office, the meeting lasted around 2 hours and she then said she was off to do some retail therapy, so she had a very pleasant weekend away, paid for by the charity, all for a 2 hour meeting which was unnecessary in the first place. I resigned from the charity and now only give to local charities where I know where the money goes.