Moral blackmail

I was stopped by a chugger, who was very good at trying to persuade me to sign up for the Dogs Trust. I have supported them a lot but couldn’t stretch to a monthly donation.

The guy was young and it was his first ‘job.’ He explained that they did get paid on commission.

I was honest and told him I wouldn’t be handing over my bank details to anyone in the street.

Then I told him we were supporting Teenage Cancer Trust after a 16 year old girl had died from cancer, and we were trying to raise money.

Must have touched his heart as he donated £5 to the TCT cause!

I find this kind of collecting annoying too. It's usually animal charities round here, but we do get others too. It seems to me its actually calculated to make people feel bad, and it's usually the more vulnerable who get caught up in it. When I open the door to these people I start around by asking are you collecting for charity and are you wanting me to sign up for DDs, if so I can save you wasting your time right now because I wont be doing it. Similar to this kind of charity collecting is shops that as you to add a donation to your bill and you have to press a yes or no button, Poundland do it.

My sister and her husband gave to Water Aid visa direct debit.
They had a phonecall from the charity trying to bully them into increase the dd.
My bil eventually told them that they accept the original amount it he would cancel it alrogether

Allira

cc

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.

Our neighbours had a plate on ther door saying No Cold Callers.

We have a similar sign Allira I also shop mostly online, we don’t get accosted in our local village.

Emotional blackmail, including all the adverts on TV with the display of abused animals, also in the street and many sales bill have a donate option.

No every time.

AGAA4

Allira I would have given a one off donation but I don't want any more direct debits.
I wonder how much money charities are missing out on by not accepting an on the spot donation?

I agree.

I was reminded last night, watching Race Around The World, of the Hare Krishna's that used to chant along Wembley High Street - age 14, on my lunch from my Saturday job, one young man in the orange robes approached me for a donation; I said I've only got my wages, and naively held out the £5 note to show him. He snatched it up, said "that's great", and headed back to the rest of them. That was my lunch money, and fares, for the week! (back when you had to pay bus fares for over 14's, although you couldn't leave school until 16). I was so cross, and sad ....

A few years ago I was showing an American friend around London and we were approached by two 'chuggers', for a Dog charity - I said no, politely - they followed us trying to engage in conversation. I smiled, said no again and we walked on. One of them shouted "DOGS" after us. I was ashamed and embarrassed, and wish now I'd confronted the little sod. Left a very bad taste in my mouth. I'm less polite now.

I came across some chuggers collecting for the NDCS outside B&Q last week. When the man approached me I ‘spoke’ to him in sign language which seemed to confuse him somewhat as he turned and walked away. I didn’t think I was being unreasonable, after all he was trying to drum up support for deaf children so why not use their language!

I answered the door one evening to someone collecting for charity. I was in a hurry and responded, I’m sorry, I’m not interested, as I tried to rush off. I got a very rude and aggressive response “I didn’t ask if you were interested !!” I very quickly shut the door !

Yet my youngest grandson just lost his eye to cancer. Great Ormond Street have given him and the family so much by the way of care, support and real help.
He had just been awarded a Dreamflight to DisneyUSA, how wonderful and I can’t think of anything nicer for this brave and courageous young boy.

I must say I prefer people to not knock on my door, but knowing how the money is used, I’d just like to say WELL DONE to all of those selfless people who go around raising money for GOSH.

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 think you are right about the 'collecting purge' as they came calling here today

cc

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.

Our neighbours had a plate on ther door saying No Cold Callers.

I was ‘ambushed’ by these charity chuggers recently. He was very persistent and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
They were lurking by the atm in the high street.
I contacted gos& they agreed that they shouldn’t be by the atm . Having got no real answer from them I spoke with our local neighbourhood police sgt who issued them with an order prohibiting them from the area I was far from they only one complaining about them. Might be worth contacting your local police department

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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 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 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.

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 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.