Am I being Mean?

Chuggers are annoying but I feel sorry for them. They may be young people who have come out of university with a degree whose dreams were not to be pestering people to donate to charity. They may have had no choice but to take these jobs.

I'm friendly and polite but say at the outset that I won't sign up to these direct debit requests. I saw a programme on the TV which said that the first one or two years of your donations go to the "chugging company" employed by the charity. I realise that this is how the company makes a profit and pays its workers' wages but it is another tier of marketing administration that seems fairly pointless to me.

Chuggers annoy me; they are not supposed to approach you in the street so I am surprised one knocked on the door.

A group I belong to heard a very interesting talk by a local lady who fund-raises for the Guide Dogs Charity and trains dogs herself; we could donate if we wished and sign up for a direct debit if we wanted to. No pressure at all and I think everyone donated or signed up.

Kilimanjaro seems to be a very popular destination, someone else I know is off there tomorrow (not the first person I know who has gone/is going). At this rate it will be worn out.

My area had that for a well known charity last year. Mostly elderly, many residents were very annoyed. Can't now remember the reply to my email but they haven't been this year.

If they're providing a service for the money, what's the difference? No one's business, really, how they use their pay.

Are they still called chuggers when they go house to house? I heard the door bell go at 8.30 tonight. DH was upstairs watching the football. I had to answer the door as our new neighbour's daughter has a life-threatening heart condition and in an emergency she needs someone to look after her younger children.

I could see a shape with long dark hair through the glass and thought it was her.

But no! It was a Chinese girl, collecting for Guide Dogs, who launched into a spiel so I was taken unawares. I sent her packing as I think it's ridiculous to go knocking on doors, on dark winter nights at 8.30pm. There was a whole, noisy gang of them canvassing the street.

I HATE HATE HATE that saying .....Charity begins where it is needed not in any particular country or area anyone who only believes in helping their own hasn't much of a heart
My grandson is raising money for a trip to South Africa to spend a month working with the street kids and helping build small homes for the elderly he ll be 16 when he goes These can be life changing events
Many years ago I helped my daughter raise £3000 to spend a year in Zimbabwe with a group assisting in schools She has always said it was the time in life she had nothing not even an electric light but she loved it the most

I should have tried to put a link but I can rarely find old threads

Thanks Jalima. Found the thread.

Nfk cheeky!!

I think there were a couple of threads on crowdfunding pensionpat

I think some charities can be unscrupulous if they think someone is an easy target. There is the sad case of elderly Olive Cooke who was a fundraiser all her life but then got targeted by many charities, bombarded with phone calls, junk mail etc and in the end took her own life because she could not cope with it all.

In addition to the traditional appeals there are now many crowd-funding appeals. All have a story behind the appeal and people can choose whether or not to contribute. I'd like to know how successful this method of raising money is, compared to collection boxes etc. Any one have any experience?

I tell chuggers for charities I already support that they are will make me reconsider giving them money. After one said 'But this is my job' I suggested she looked for another. The chugging thing really offends me.

I fell off too after a car back fired, lucky for me we were still going round the paddock and I got straight back on so it didn't bother me. My son could not get the hang of the rising trot so he went swimming while I continues with my lesson. Each to his/her own. We used to go together on a Sunday morning.

We added up how much we would need a month after counting the adds for all the Give £3 a month charities on tv one night. Like someone said you would need deep pockets.

I tried that Jalima, I told a chugger that I give to specific charities and he just said one more wouldn't make much difference.

I have never felt the same about real horses since I fell off Yg.

Right, I think the thing is you feel mean when you say 'no' so is that a form of emotional blackmail, ie 'we're doing this for charity'? So you may hand over £1 for them to pack the bags which some people can afford without thinking but others may not.

Walk to the door and just outside in the lobby is someone collecting for another charity or trying to persuade you to sign up to a direct debit for the Woodland Trust (can't get past them even when you say you do buy trees occasionally but don't want a monthly commitment), the Red Cross, or whatever. And someone collecting for a person who cannot get the groundbreaking treatment they need on the NHS.

Then you go outside and there is the lovely man selling 'Big Issue', smiling appealingly.

You need deep pockets to go to the supermarket,to walk through town these days.

I sometimes just smile and say 'I support the charities of my choice'.
Which I do.

Wish I could climb on a horse again! I used to ride at one time. Good fun.

whilst

Ps not getting on a high horse just an interesting point to muse while I carry on sorting out cupboards

So, if we are supporting charities such as WaterAid, and/or sending money, clothes, blankets for refugees, donating every time there is a disaster, perhaps supporting a child through school in a 3rd world country, are we being 'mean' if we say 'no' to someone trying to raise money for a charity expedition when only one-fifth of the money will go to help the needy and the rest goes toward a youngster having the holiday of a lifetime?
Bearing in mind, of course, that, as linsco says, the parents (who must be well-off to be able to do so) contribute a proportion of the cost.

Does refusing to donate to that project mean one is being a little englander if one donates to the local scouts because the roof is falling in on their scout hut?
And every penny raised will go towards mending the roof?

I am going away to have a think.

Climb down off your high horse Badenkate it wasn't you I was critisicing but another who was waving the 'charity begins at home' flag - which is all too often a way of saying they don't think we should give a helping hand to 'foreigners'.

I'm well aware that wasn't what you were suggesting.

Incidentally my acute dislike of this phrase doesn't come from 'prejudice' but from experience of hearing it from the mouth of cupboard racists on numerous occasions.

Better watch out notanan their children will be coming round and wanting sponsorship soon They already do , although one little girl of a friend of mine who used to take great pride in her shoeboxes did a bit of research and stopped, am quite proud of her for that, she now calls round much less frequently, she still does collect for certain things, but not EVERY think that the school send her home with a sponsor sheet for any more.

We need to stop using charity as an adjective. It doesn't mean "kindness". It's just a type buisness model, like plc or sole trader. We need to teach more kids to look beyond "it's charity" and be a bit discerning.

Linsco56 charities would not go to the bother of organising and advertising these foreign trips if they didn't feel the need to do so because other things are not proving as lucrative as they once were. It's really nothing to do with what people do as well, or youngsters not pushing boundaries (which as I said could be done in a number of situations.) It is about competing and trying to offer something more glamorous and more exotic that other charities. It's really not judgemental simply a comment and a query when the exotic becomes every day what do you do next?

Better watch out notanan their children will be coming round and wanting sponsorship soon.

trisher. I think you're making assumptions that people are only attracted to raise money if it offers some sort of dramatic challenge. In reality you have no way of knowing what these people go on to do for other home and foreign charities. Any effort made by a youngster to push the boundaries and do something that takes them out of their comfort zone and at the same time give something of themselves to help those less fortunate has to be a good thing.