Charities 'canvassing' for money

I think it is nobodies business but mine as to which charities I give money to and how much. I have no feelings of guilt or anything else when I bring these phone calls to a short sharp end, before they can even get properly started on their script. I just ask them if they are ringing from a charity and asking for money.

If the answer is affirmative, which it has to be. I tell them firmly that I have a portfolio of charities I donate to and I review the list regularly and they are not on it and can do nothing to get themselves on it. If it is a charity on my list I make it absolutely clear that if they do not take my name off their list with immediate effect on the receipt of the next phone call I will cease donating to them - and I have done so.

Do not let these people put you on your back foot. Take control of the situation yourself and put them on the defensive. It can be done.

like Greenfinch I stop them in their spiel pretty quickly.Sometimes it's charities that we do donate to sometimes not.I tell them that I am not a tax payer and am a pensioner, which usually does the trick, but the last one who rang said " oh but surely you could just give a little more!" bearing in mind they don't know our circumstances, this is breathtakingly cheeky.It doesn't make me the least bit guilty, but sometimes does the opposite, and makes me wish I hadn't given them any money in the first place.I do wonder if they have targets set?
Anyone who collects money in the street or supermarkets and has an open bucket never gets a penny from me, neither does anyone collecting for often dodgy charities in pubs ( this kind of charity is usually supporting some fraudster very nicely.)

I donated money via my mobile to the Nepal earthquake appeal, and a week later a pleasant enough young man called me from UNICEF asking for a further donation/direct debit. I have my chosen charities which I support monthly and would love to support others, but I have to draw a line somewhere. Fortunately the UNICEF chap was not aggressive or pushy but that's left me feeling worse.

I got a call a bit like the OPs a couple of years ago. The young man wanted me to pay to advertise my business in something or other - I can't remember exactly what now - with the money going to a charity for prostate cancer.
For several reasons, I politely declined, saying that I didn't want any more adverts at that time. He then started asking me quite aggressively why not, and when I told him that I really didn't want to go into my personal reasons with him, he got even more aggressive. He ended the call with a really rude "well thank you very much - for nothing!" I was both angry and a bit upset by his attitude throughout the call.

Then a few days later, I answered the phone and immediately recognised the same voice. The young man started his sales pitch again, totally unaware that he had already phoned me. I let him go on for a while, but when there was a suitable pause, I told him exactly what I thought of him.
Quite satisfying, that was, I have to say! I'm sure it was like water off a duck's back to him, but it made me feel a whole lot better.

Good idea. I did it online and had to give an address and email address. Since then I have been invited many times to contribute!

I just pay at the bank. That's very straightforward and no need to give contact info.

If I had a phone call from a young man asking me how much I knew about breast cancer, however pleasant, he would either get a long spiel from me or I would ask him how much he knew compared to me.

I can't stand this aggressive marketing that the charities seem to go in for these days.
How much do they waste on mailshots as well? I recently donated to the Nepal Earthquake appeal (Red Cross) and since then have received mailshots from them and the DEC asking us to contribute.
We have already, what a waste of the contributions.

I agree! I hate having to run the gauntlet of cheery greetings followed up by the hard sell. There is a group of them who 'work' the entrance to a zebra crossing over the very busy main road. Its hard to just avoid eye contact and feels so rude -which they know fine well. Grrr!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Thank you janea

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.

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?

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.