Moral blackmail

I had youngsters ringing my doorbell a few days ago wanting money for GOS. I said that my local hospital, adults and children were more in need of it, goodbye.

If that had not done the trick, I would have gone down the poverty route, and how difficult it was to buy food, etc, without thinking of a children's hospital.

The chuggers have been removed from the town centre but not from inside Waitrose.

A friend of mine runs a charity in Africa. If asked to donate I say I will If they will sign up to this friend’s. very worthy charity. They are never willing!

I remember reading some years ago that a good proportion of your first year's direct debits go as commission to the 'recruiter' which makes sense as these people aren't working for nothing. Door knockers always get the response "I don't do anything at the door" and street canvassers get "I don't do anything on the street". We do have quite a few DDs to various charities, I was quite shocked when I added them up a few months ago, but all mean something to us.
I like your response Gin, I too have a friend heavily involved in a Ugandan charity, so may employ this response myself next time.

Don’t feel bad about no giving to these people, they are paid on commission and trained to get people to sign up for a direct debit to the charity and can often be quite aggressive. In my opinion this is very bad practise on behalf of the charities and should not be allowed.
As far as the young men selling dusters etc please read the following link:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-64854399.amp.
If anyone knocks on my door like this, unless it is a neighbour for village events, I always politely say sorry I don’t donate or buy anything at the door and swiftly close the door before they can go into their sales pitch. I do donate to charities but not like that.

It's a long time since I had anyone come to my door, and I don't think I've ever signed up to a charity on the doorstep. We get occasional chuggers outside the shops. I did start donating to Wood Green Animal Shelter because the lady explained that they have a tiny advertising budget compared with the big charities, and it's hard to raise public awareness. Another one who won me over was a lovely man who was asking us to sign up for the local hospice. It was only a few weeks after my husband died and this chap knew and understood the cancer my husband had, and gave me a hug and a kiss, so it was a no brainer.

GrannyGravy13

I think GOS must be having a collecting purge at the moment, they were outside our small co-op all week last week.

We nicknamed them the smiling assassins very pushy and preying on the more elderly people.

I will never donate to any charity that behaves in that predatory manipulative bullying way... and I tell them so.

No. Is a complete sentence perhaps we all need to use it more.

My response would be 'You are invading my personal space. I make my choices privately and anonymously '

Also been known to say ' I don't discuss religion in the doorstep.'

Fortunately in deepest rural France I rarely get anything like this. I'm fact in France there is little to be seen from charities, is this a cultural thing, or the fact we are so well looked after by the state if needed.

There are no collecting boxes on counters where you can put loose change. Something I always did in YUK.

I had someone at the door who told me 'your neighbour Sue has signed up to donate regularly - no idea who Sue is, but it's a very long street so O'm not going to have my arm twisted by keeping up with the Joneses!

This is a variation of the 'chugging' that goes on when trained groups of youngish people stop you on the high street and try to get you to sign up. I suppose chugging is a portmanteau of charity and mugging! Very appropriate!

I find this quite sinister. I know that GOS does do this but it opens up the possibility of imposters preying on vulnerable. I do not mind at all the bag that comes the door to be left outside but doing so in person feels an invasion.

Haven't had them here in the 6 years we've lived here. We do get a lot selling double glazing, roof for conservatory etc. I just say we're private renting and they go. We are owner occupiers but saying private rented gets rid of them quickly

We had smiley young men on our doorstep, from GOSH recently too!
I say that I do not do DDs at the doorstep and that I donate already, monthly by DD to a number of charities.
Occasionally, I have been able to say truthfully, that I already donate to the charity.
Sometimes I have said that I will go to the website and have a look.
I don't think that one should be asked to set up a DD either on the doorstep or in the street.

I would like to know how much of these doorstep or high street donations goes to the canvasser.
My student granddaughter was offered a job with a well known charity where she would receive 20 % of any donation she got signed up.

My 15 year old daughter was intimidated yesterday when we were in the town centre.

I had nipped to the loo and left her was browsing in a shop and then she waited outside for me. Somebody from a charity approached her and asked for money. When she said she had none they replied "Don't you want to save people then??"

She was really upset. They had gone by the time I got there. Most of these people don't give a monkeys about the charity and all it is, is blackmail plain as.

I had to be very firm with a pushy representative of a local hospice who was lurking at the check out in Lidl. I explained that I regularly buy my clothes from their charity shop, and also donate goods and clothing to them. He basically said that wasn't enough and went into a speech about people in new expensive cars shopping at Lidl who could obviously afford to donate! I pointed out to him that my car is 25 years old, not expensive and that I am trying to eke my pension out! In retrospect, I'm cross with myself for going into details of my financial situation, instead of just saying no.

I suppose if you say to a chugger that you will donate by direct debit to a charity, it means giving the person your bank details which seems very dangerous to me. By the way annifrance was it a slip of the finger or did you really mean YUK instead of UK

I just say ‘no thank you’ when asked if I want to donate to anything, and either shut the door at home or carry on walking if at a shop or in the street.

And the same if asked if I want to add a donation at the checkout of some shop.

I see no reason to tell them I already give to charity or not. None of their business.

I used to be a postman and regularly came across these charity muggers whilst out on delivery. They ARE NOT volunteers working for the named charity, but employees of a company who do the door to door knocking on behalf of the charity. From what I understand, these people are paid (very) minimum wages, but do get a small commission for every donor they sign up. This is why they cannot take a single one off donation at your door. I also researched one particular agency who do this, and found that they take the first year's donation from every new sign-up so the charity gains nothing until the second year. I'm guessing that as it costs the charity nothing, and people may simply forget that they have signed up, so once the initial twelve months has passed, it makes a useful revenue stream that they would otherwise not have had.

If I wish to donate to any particular charity, (and I do have several that I give to on a regular basis) I prefer to donate directly to that organisation rather than pay my meagre available funds to a third party who only release money to the chariry once they have taken their cut.

Luckygirl3

In the past I have said: "Thank you for flagging up this worthwhile charity. I will go onto their website later and consider making a one-off donation."

Does not necessarily mean I actually did it ................ is there a guilt emoji?

I have said "If I wish to donate I will do so on their website" as I don't want to pay the wages of someone hassling people for money. I already support a few selected charities, mostly either local to me, or run by people I know and trust. I rarely donate to the big national charities, however worthy they are, as I know some of the money ends up being used for publicity and fundraising costs and often huge salaries for their management. I prefer to support some local charities with my time and energy, such as I have, as I can't afford to give financial donations. I wish I had enough money to support every cause that touches me but sadly I can't!

If it's something I don't want to donate to I just tell any canvassers that I already donate to that particular cause. Generally thay smile and say thank you and then off they go.

There are signs on the way into our private estate saying that calling door to door isn't allowed, so I call our security people if somebody calls.

Last week we had a knock on the door in the evening. It was someone from Battersea Dogs’ Home asking for donations. DH politely sent them in their way. He then emailed BDH to complain. They replied that they find it a good way to raise money, but will ensure we no longer get visited.

As to charities asking to increase donations- one charity I will never donate to now is Cancer Research, even though we have a lot of cancer in our family. My Mum and I did the race for life a few times. One thing I hated was that they would send a gift if you raised a certain amount. We told them they should be using the money for the charity. Then the last time I did the race I got a phone call a few weeks later suggesting that as I’d raised some money I should now set up a direct debit. I was really cross as I’d just sent them the money I raised. The man in the phone was really pushy, even when I explained that I had young children and couldn’t give any more. I ended up hanging up on him and have never given to them since.

Bearing in mind the huge amounts of money the really big charities spend on salaries and admin, my inclination is always to support worthy local charities which don’t have the funds or the clout of the big boys. And so a quote I came across some while ago is a handy response to the door-knockers and chuggers:
‘85% of charity donations given in the UK go to 5% of the charities.’
It makes the point.

We had a Great Ormond Street knocker the other day, they must be sending them everywhere.
I also get fed up with charity collectors in supermarkets. The one inside Waitrose a few weeks ago stopped me to ask why I wasn't wanting donate to them. I was really cross.