Charities 'canvassing' for money

Regularly and I detest them. They start off thanking you for your support and end up asking for more money. I stop them in their tracks by saying if the call is about increasing my donation I would like to end it now.If a certain amount of money is mentioned I get very cross.

I think we should all be allowed to give to the charities we choose to support. It annoys me that the big national charities are always touting for money while the smaller local ones cannot afford to do so.

I think they all need to examine their methods of fund raising.

I have stopped 3 regular donations for exactly this reason.
They've now lost out as I have redirected my donations to unrelated agencies. I even had a call asking why and trying to persuade me to restart - and to increase my donation by 200%!
The guy just didn't get it!

I agree Greenfinch. DH has just said 'you should stop them in their tracks' but having just experienced cancer ourselves I can appreciate what people are suffering and feel so hard hearted

I can see why people stop donating after being pressurised.

It's the people in the colourful tabards who stop you in the street that annoy me.

"Would you like to help starving orphans, abandoned puppies, blind veterans etc? "
Of course I would, but I won't pay your commission!

In our High Street it is the same youngsters touting for a different charity each week.

I hate it too, but had it explained to me by a friend who works for a charity. When the recession hit, one of the first thing salaried people did was cut their regular contributions, many were made redundant, many more had salaries cut or frozen. Charities were forced to close. Which again led to unemployment. They are a bit desperate at the moment. Apart from donkey sanctuaries which are booming. I'm not surprised - my great aunt left half her inheritance to one in Cornwall!

I wish some charities would join together as one . Cancer charities, child protection charities, armed forces charities etc. Some have to stand alone , such as air ambulances . janerowen was right, so many cut backs in donations charities have to do more to get funds

I have been receiving calls several times a day from an 02034 number, but don't answer them. On Googling the number I find that it is WWF asking for donations. I also receive emails from them, but I don't mind them so much.

In our area we have had several different charities calling at the door. Whilst they have all been polite its still an intrusion. I always say the same thing ' we have decided on our regular charities thank you'- its does leave you with an uncomfortable feeling though.

Katy Please stop feeling guilty. You and your DH are perfectly entitled to spend your own money in any way you think fit. If you think you already donate a reasonable, affordable sum to charity each month then the fact that your DH had cancer last year, is not a reason to increase your donations and certainly not an excuse for a charity worker to harass you in this way.
There was a programme last year (I think channel 4 Dispatches) about how charities set their fundraisers targets and how ruthless they are about pursuing anyone who doesn't actually tell them where to go.
If you had seen it you wouldn't feel the least bit guilty.

Quite so, janea. I do not trust a charity that thinks using emotional blackmail to extract money from people is okay. Charities that use cold callers need to be called out.

Yet again today my post contained an envelope from the Red Cross containing a pen, cards etc. I do wish they would stop WASTING money by sending these things to me!

I just think, thank you Red Cross - a fair exchange for all the clothes I drop off to you!

I am dropping the charities that bombard me with phone calls and letters nearly every week. A well known cancer charity started off asking if I would donate £5, I was happy to but the next letter asked for £10 again I obliged. The next letter asked for £20 and I have just had another asking for £40, I believe that if I give willingly they push for more assuming that I am going to be a bottomless pot. I already give more to charity than I ever spend on myself so while they are paying CEOs vast salaries I will be giving my money to people who do not hire fund raisers.

I hate the TV ads asking you to text a small amount, usually £3 to a deserving cause. If you do, this is followed up by one of those long phone calls by somebody on commission I suspect, in which you are made to feel a total heel for not contributing more. Their street counterparts are known as 'chuggers' - charity muggers. Very apt I believe.

I really dislike this type of marketing; a friend who is a pensioner donates to the Red Cross by monthly direct debit and got a lot of calls persuading her to increase her donation five fold - she cancelled altogether.
We haven't had one so far.

We get lots of raffle tickets sent through the post and sometimes we buy them, sometimes not.

I wish the Red Cross wouldn't send the pens and mats and cards either - the shop gave me a card so that they could reclaim tax and now I am bombarded.

I now want to donate some money to the Vanuatu disaster fund - but who do I donate to and will it reach the people who need it, or will it be spent on huge salaries, first class flights, expensive hotels and 4x4s?

Beaing in mind we are pensioners, I take exception at being harrised for money. Sadly for more generous soles than me they will get pestered. I don't get phone calls as I don't give to charity. Thers is always a tin rattler in every supermarket. I only buy a poppy.

Thank you janea

I so agree with most of the comments. I hate to be rude to people and I think they sense that as weakness and keep on and on, hoping I will agree. In the past I did but have become more ruthless now. I was talked into signing a direct debit for Amnesty (I do support its aims) but then I read that the director in Europe had been paid a vast sum of money to leave the organisation and I cancelled my direct debit. I just thought how long it would take my little contribution and those from people like me to reach her pay-off and despaired.

A fellow was knocking at my door a few months ago wanting me to sign up monthly for the local hospice. I did, reluctantly, because he was so insistent and was making me feel a heel. I cancelled 3 months later. PDSA rang me one evening when I was trying to cook supper. I stopped her in her tracks going down the "poor pensioner" route and feeling awful about it.

Like others, I prefer to choose to whom I give my money and it is usually to a local charity which has true volunteers doing the work. There may be well paid salaried staff further up the chain but there are none locally.

My poor pensioner routine also works when every 3 months or so somebody from ADT the alarm system company knock and I say it is a wonderful, useful system but I cannot afford the monthly fee. Bills keep rising etc and they seem to leave feeling sorry for me and accepting that I cannot afford it. If I wanted an alarm I would not be buying at the doorstep but I dare not say that I am semi computer literate.

When I complained to MacMillan about a doorstepper calling on me after 8pm in an area where lots of us are pensioners and don't like answering the door in the evening unless we are expecting someone, they were completely unapologetic and I still get emails from them asking for donations. I know they do a wonderful job with cancer patients and if I ever need their help I know they won't be asking me if I've given them money. If they were less importunate, I would willingly give them a few pounds from my pension, but I find their methods questionable.

We donate to our Local cancer Charity at Clatterbridge and donate at Xmas to their Lite a Lite campaign we also give a small amount to Dogs Trust on a monthly basis,just last month Dogs Trust had a stand at our local Morrisons and asked me to donate I told them we already did and he thanked me and asked if I would increase my donation whilst I was there he was very very hard sell and I had a job convincing him I was had no intention of increasing our monthly amount.Trying to circumnavigate your way through "chuggers" in our local shopping centre could be changed into an Olympic Sport as it is so challenging.

There's a website called Give as you Live. Lots of online sites donate every time you buy something through this site.
It's a way to give to charity without it costing you any more than you would normally spend. You choose which charity you give to.

I stood whilst waiting for my daughter only 2 weeks ago and watched the system that a "chugger" used to attract attention, complementing people on their clothing, smile etc all with the intent of relieving them of their money. Granted she had style and charisma to pull it off but it was so calculating that it put me off donating completely! I want to CHOOSE who I help not be pressurised into it by a calculating scheming well trained purloined of my hard earned money!