Off Topic Aggresive Fund Raising By Charities !

A Charity organisation called me the other time claiming to represent "London Air
Ambulance" they were so annoying because they wanted my debit card details on the phone.
When you are willing to give the method of fund raising can put you off.
I am glad Government is trying to put them on check..

 

There's got to be something fundamentally wrong with a system that allows people to be paid commission for signing people up to DD mandates for charity donations......................

 

People have to work though, I used to do the job, and the way it works is a charity will invest x amount (let's say for arguments sake £2.3million) into a campaign and then the 3rd party will commit to returning x amount, say £10million. Strange thing is that for a lot of the big charities (BHF, Marie Curie, Oxfam etc.) actually rely on this and over 70% of their donations come from this method of cold calling.

The problem isn't the charities themselves, it's the fundraising companies, such as Home Fundraising who are unethical as ****, which is why I soon quit my position there.

 

The charities allow these companies to exist though. In the example you gave there, the service provider would be taking nearly 25% of the total donations, which if the person donating was aware of would maybe make them think twice.

......and that's before you then take off the Charities operating expenses.........

I wonder how much of your £1 actually ends up being used for the advertised purpose?

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear with that, the money the charity invests is to pay the wages of the fundraisers (we were on a basic, not just flat commission). Everyone who signed up we had to make aware that we were paid fundraisers and they had to sign something to say we told them that. The fundraising firm would return their 2.3 and top it up to the 10 or so.

 

I know, I got that. Where did the £2.3m come from in the first place? Oh yeah donations...........

It's therefore circa 25% of the total donated in your example.

 

Yeah sorry I'm with you now

As for the how much per £1 gets to people etc. with some charities we had actual guidelines of how much goes into operating costs, future fundraising etc. (So say, 70p to cause, 20p operating costs, 10p to future fundraising - again example, don't remember actual figures) They were actually really helpful and donors enjoyed seeing how their money was being used.

The ones who didn't provide said info I was skeptical of to say the least. Also you say about the 25%, where else are they going to get their money to invest in campaign? And also all of said 25% will get returned as well, it's not being lost forever.

 

If the donor is able to gift aid (worth an additional 25%) then the company isn't actually taking any of the donation, the charity just isn't getting the gift aid.

Salaries are usually the highest cost so the vast majority of money that goes through any charity ends up in someones pocket.

 

All of which was probably PR bullshit. It happens with funding applications all the time; they are written to fit in with the guidelines to maximise the manipulation rather than charities finding the right funder for them. Usually put expenses in that are already committed to, the funding covers that expense freeing up money to spend elsewhere (aka salaries). Indirectly, its still paying salaries!

 

Just to be clear are you talking about the fundraisers wages here? Or the people employed by the charities?

If it's the former, as I said before a large % of a lot of charities income comes via this method, how could you even begin to replace it?

 

I was talking about charities and people employed by them (as I am).

The companies are businesses so looking to make money but they do it by manipulating said charities. Its not that much different to a accountant, consultant or bid writer; all charge ridiculously high fees to charities (generally smaller ones since larger charities can afford to employ their own) for work that they have no choice but to pay for.

From the charities perspective, they have little choice but to use these companies because such a large revenue is generated from them. They don't look at it as costing 25%, they see it as gaining the 75%. I do the same thing where I, emr....am employed (side step of the laughing smiley there )

 

This is where I fell out with my employer and left. The minimum we were allowed to accept for donation was £8 per/month, no reason was ever given or just a blag like 'admin costs' tried saying to them that a fiver a month with gift aid is still £75 a year the charity hasn't got at the moment but they wouldn't have none of it.

I then found out that any less than £8 and Home Fundraising weren't making any money on it, so they get you in throw you a load of bullshit about they love the work they do for charities, makes them feel really good etc. but really they couldn't give a **** like most large businesses.

 

Playing Devils advocate isn't it better that people get something rather than nothing, unfortunately as we all know nothing is for free and everyone needs to eat.

 

Most charities lack the skill set to be able to raise these kinds of funds themselves so getting a large percentage of what available (via a company) is better than getting nothing at all.

 

That's my thoughts;however it is a shame that all the money or at least more of the money doesn't go to the people who need it most.

 

This is massive problem:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9121361/why-aid-fails/

 

Pushy charity people are ****s

I'm not going to hand over any personal or banking details to someone stood in the middle of a street FFS

When I tell them that and they realise they won't get personal credit for any future donation from me they don't give a **** about promoting the cause

 

That's because the guy (or woman) in the street isn't part of that charity they're trying to get donors for. They work for a company and get commission for people signing up. People that actually work for charities are rarely pushy, they're usually approachable and understanding folks.

 

Yeah when I was 19 I saw an advert for a job which said that they were looking for "trainee managers" and was good money. I went to the interview and it was for a marketing company called Arcadia where you would go door to and sign people up to different gas company. The idea was that the big company spends less on marketing so the people door to door earn the money based on what they sell. The manager part was when you did well you employed people under your wing and made money off of them. It was a complete scam.

 

I do know that in the past some years ago a few people got bad credit ratings for eventually cancelling the DD for various reasons, lose your job or the like. It took an awful lot of hassle to sort it out.

Probably fixed that issue these days but I'll be ****ed if I am giving some gimp over the phone the ability to hit my account. Any twat can call you and say they are this or that.

Mind you I refused them DD details at my door too, even offered cash which they DECLINED