Should charities use chuggers?

Skint1

I never give them anything. Give my BANK DETAILS to complete strangers NO. If I want to give to charity I don't need any help from people who are being paid to do a job.
Joe

FACTSNOTFICTION

I have worked as a street fundraiser ("chugger"), a telephone fundraiser and I've also knocked on doors to ask for donations. I was paid to do all of these things. How do I justify that? Easy; I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, so I do need a modest income in order to put food on the table and pay the rent. Much less of an income, I might add, than I might have derived from flogging double glazing or "accident cover". I can also tell you that the vast majority of people in fundraising do it because they want to make a positive difference. Street fundraising makes a real difference to peoples' lives: many of our favourite charities make a substantial proportion of their income by "chugging". So, even if you I haven't changed your mind, and you still think that it "isn't a proper job", please spare a thought for the many recipients who benefit: cancer sufferers, defenceless children, starving men and women around the world. So next time you pass a street fundraiser, why don't you stop and say thanks...

Quasar

FACTSNOTFICTION wrote:

I have worked as a street fundraiser ("chugger"), a telephone fundraiser and I've also knocked on doors to ask for donations. I was paid to do all of these things. How do I justify that? Easy; I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, so I do need a modest income in order to put food on the table and pay the rent. Much less of an income, I might add, than I might have derived from flogging double glazing or "accident cover". I can also tell you that the vast majority of people in fundraising do it because they want to make a positive difference. Street fundraising makes a real difference to peoples' lives: many of our favourite charities make a substantial proportion of their income by "chugging". So, even if you I haven't changed your mind, and you still think that it "isn't a proper job", please spare a thought for the many recipients who benefit: cancer sufferers, defenceless children, starving men and women around the world. So next time you pass a street fundraiser, why don't you stop and say thanks...

Thank you, FACTSNOTFICTION.

Of course I can only speak for myself, and I would like to say that I have never thought your job to be "not a proper job". As a market researcher I also have what some may describe a "not a proper job" and I resent that.

The issue here is that much of the public just don't like to be approached in the street, talked to for a bit and then asked to hand over bank details. Playing on our sense of guilt if we don't give to good causes only creates silent resentment and ensures that people will cancel the direct debits (or standing orders, whatever) and become less charitable in the future.

That's life: you do a very worthwhile job for a living, and others do not like to give personal details (bank details for heaven's sake) to a total stranger.

White_Noise_2

Fifer wrote:

Perhaps the issue here isn't 'should charities use chuggers' but 'should chuggers behave better'.?

Perhaps that would be more constructive.

Fifer wrote:

I'd love to go with what's scientifically measurable here, but I'm not aware that the appropriate data is in the public domain. However, you and Nik have a fantastic opportunity here. Share with us the churn figures, the donor/years data, the number of DD's cancelled in the first three months and the number of unique individuals signing up in a year and convince us. Fair?

Absolutely that would be fair. That's not, unfortunately for me, information that I am privvy to in such detail and I suspect that you are are aware of the difficulties posed in compiling such data across numerous private and charity organisations bound by confidentiality clauses.

But let me put it this way, if I was the Finance Director for a charity with requisite qualifications and significant experience in the corporate sector, and, within the scenario we are discussing my return on an investment dipped to a point where I considered that it was no longer yielding results, I would cease to invest money it it. It's really very simple in that respect. Charities do f2f because it works incredibly well.

As regards, ascertaining whether donors are duplicated across charities, that's not something I could possibly comment on. Maybe, maybe not. I simply don't know. Most people I know give to at least 3 charities by DD so I suppose that could be true.

What concerns me more, is that even if I could answer your question with a definitive figure, you still don't have a quantifiable figure to counter it with. Yeah, sure in terms of population maybe, but that doesn't indicate whether they share the same opinion as you. That's why the only way in which one can guage this is in relation to complaints recieved by the body responsible for regulating the activity, and that body ladies and gentlement is the PFRA. Not Joe, or Dave down the pub.

Sorry, gotta go. England match starts in 15 mins.

Fifer

I don't doubt that charities use chuggers because it appears to be profitable. If you recall, the statistics debate was about whether those who like chugging were in a minority or majority. If the PFRA only publish statistics which suit (I presume that's where the 500,000 and 690,000 came from?) then I suppose we'll never know.

If charities were really interested in whether chugging was popular or a PR faux pas, I suggest that the only way to find out would be for the governing body to engage a truly independent polling organisation to find out. They might just discover that it turns more people off than it pulls in.

Skint1

FACTSNOTFICTION wrote:

I have worked as a street fundraiser ("chugger"), a telephone fundraiser and I've also knocked on doors to ask for donations. I was paid to do all of these things. How do I justify that? Easy; I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, so I do need a modest income in order to put food on the table and pay the rent. Much less of an income, I might add, than I might have derived from flogging double glazing or "accident cover". I can also tell you that the vast majority of people in fundraising do it because they want to make a positive difference. Street fundraising makes a real difference to peoples' lives: many of our favourite charities make a substantial proportion of their income by "chugging". So, even if you I haven't changed your mind, and you still think that it "isn't a proper job", please spare a thought for the many recipients who benefit: cancer sufferers, defenceless children, starving men and women around the world. So next time you pass a street fundraiser, why don't you stop and say thanks...

You have chosen the line of work you wanted to do. Why should you expect to be thanked for work you are paid for. When was the last time you thanked the street sweeper for cleaning the road . Why do you feel morally superior to, for instance, double glazing salesmen, who do provide a necessary service? Just as some salesmen are pushy and aggressive, so are some charity collectors.

PS welcome to the boards

beckiwynn

I haven't read the whole thread, so please forgive me if something similarhas already been posted!

I used to be a Chugger (charity mugger). I got an hourly wage (£9.00/h, 6 hours a day) and I got no commission.

The way it worked was, if I got someone to sign up in the street, for lets say, £10 a month, the agency that I worked for would charge the chairty £60 for it. So, if that was the case, indirectly, the first 6 payments would be going to the agency, but not to the individual fund raiser.

It seems a bit wrong, but it also seems to be one of the cheapest ways of advertising, paying me £54 a day, rather than payig £50,000 for a 30 second advert between Corrination Street.

Having said that though, there is a way of getting round your money going to the agent. Sign up for less. If you really can't get away with out signing up, sign up for a really small amount, like £4/month. This is based on the idea that most people cancel in a year, and the Charity pretty much wants to double the £60 charge that it payed, so if the agent can't gaurentee that, they don't charge the chairty for it. The fund raiser won't like it, because they got told off if you bring back too many low sign ups, but they would rather take that than nothing.

Another thing to remember aswell, is that not all chuggers on the street are working for agents. There is a few who work directly for the chairty, again, on an hourly rate, who obviously aren't going to charge the charity anything for the sign up. Worth asking!

But again, having said that, it was the worst job I have ever done. Despite only getting paid for 6 hours a day, often I would of had to travel for 1/2 hours, sometimes as far out a Portsmouth from London. Although travel was paid for, your time wasn't. 12 hour day, 6 hours pay. Rubbish!

The abuse you get from some people is unbelivable sometimes. I was an 18 year old, straight out of college, didn't want an office job, girl. Even if you hate the whole idea of Chuggers, which even I admit, when I see them, I do my best to cross over, there is no need for the threats and abuse you get from some people.

The best line to get rid of them is to say "no thankyou, but good luck." Even if you wish they would fall over and die, 99% of them will leave you alone after that.

Thankyou for reading!

Murphy_The_Cat

This must be record breaking ........... all of these first time posters falling onto this thread & hallelullah , praise be, chuggers are all lovely people who are nice to their mums and have litlle white bunny rabbits with floppy ears as pets etc, etc.

aww bless em, some people might even imagine that it was the same person who had registered multiple names so that they could post on this thread how wonderful the world of chugging was and how good it was to be a chugger.

oh I am a cynical old moggy cat.

MTC

Fifer

beckiwynn wrote:

This is based on the idea that most people cancel in a year

Why can't people cancel whenever they want? Are they really getting people to sign up to non-revocable contracts? That's another good reason for saying no. BTW, I am only ever rude to chuggers if they are rude to me first.

Fifer

Murphy_The_Cat wrote:

aww bless em, some people might even imagine that it was the same person who had registered multiple names so that they could post on this thread how wonderful the world of chugging was and how good it was to be a chugger.

That thought never crossed my mind ... :whistle: