Door to door fundraising

Pound

I got a knock at the door from someone fundraising for St. Johns ambulance. I usually hate door-to-door people but I think donating to charity is important so I got persuaded to donate. I said I'd fill the form in and she could come and collect it later.

My afterthought though is that she will probably be making commission from my donation. I hate the thought of admin costs eating into the donation amount and not really doing much. I once made a small one-off donation to NSPCC; I was quite disapointed to get a glossy booklet through the post once a month trying to pursuade me to make a monthly donation. Which meant my donation did nothing good at all as the resulting fundraising efforts would have cost more than the original donation!

I'll probably donate £5 a month and cancel after a year. How much is she likely to be making from my donation? How much will SJA get of my £60? What do other people think about donating at the door?

Edit: Just read the back and I'm amazed to see the agency gets 45% of my donation for the first two years. I think I might just not give this form back and instead donate directly.

Owain_Moneysaver

SJA say on their website they use Wesser for door-to-door DD sign-ups.

Wesser say

Based on a fundraiser gaining support from 4 members of public per day throughout the 4 weekly pay period earnings would be around £1400-£1500.

That would work out about £15-20 per sign-up, but that is collector's pay, not what Wesser will charge the charity. And collectors are self-employed so won't get holiday or sick pay, etc.

Most charities assume you'll leave the DD running for 5 years. I think in many cases the first year pays for the collection.

Pound

I don't really want to donate now but I already started filling the form in and I feel a bit awkward telling her I don't want to donate.

I think I might sign up and cancel after 1 month and start a new donation directly with SJA.

BargainGalore

Give the money directly and cut out the middle man

http://www.sja.org.uk/sja/support-us.aspx
http://www.sja.org.uk/sja/support-us/donate-now.aspx

Bruciebonus

Most major charities recognise door to door fundraising as a very important activity,however if you sign up and cancel after a month the fundraising agency will still charge St Johns a fee of roughly your first years donation.This type of fundraising is so lucrative for the charities that they are willing to take the risk as lots more people give for more than a year than those that cancel.(Average of around 4 years last I heard)Anything you donate after a year is pure profit for the charity.The individual fundraiser will get anything from £20-£50 as well as a house to live in for a few weeks before moving onto the next area.Your best doing what BargainGalore suggests and donating direct,not forgetting to GiftAid your donation if applicable.

Pound

OK, I've signed up to SJA directly so they're getting 100% of my money. Who knows, maybe I'll let the DD run much longer than 1 year.

I'll have to tell the fundraiser when she comes back that I'm not going to donate and she can't have her form back either as I started to fill it in.

I'm not sure I think it's ethical how this door to door fundraising works. When she approached the door she had a St. Johns Ambulance T-Shirt on and told me about all the good work SJA are doing but never did she mention that half of that money will be going to a profit-making organisation.

I can see the other side of it though that if charities didn't use these agencies then they wouldn't get any donation at all so it works out better for them if they do use them.

Pound

The woman from Wesser came back. She was still very nice even though I didn't donate but seemed a tad annoyed that I spoiled the form. I feel almost like I should give her a fiver since she did convince me to go to SJA direct.

devonlad

i dont agree with them knocking on the door, phone calls. i dont have much at all and dont like feeling awkward or being put on the spot. i also dont like the pressure of pepole doing charity sky jumps etc at work here there are i think about 7 will you sponser me forms. Most people seem to put £5 down, for me that is £5 towards kids shoes.
I dont want to sound grumpy but when a work mate comes up to me it is very hard to say no. how can you get around it. i have always given in the past but right now isnt good and i feel that there is a lot of people like me.
i do give to charity but when i can and i always give direct never through a very pretty girl with a clip board etc.

sjpkgp

In my view this sort of charity fund raising is all wrong. It is intrusive, it puts people under pressure to do stuff on their own doorstep and it probably isn't even that fair to the young people that are trying to make their money from it. I've ended up signing up to one because my young children were around me when I opened the door, and the sellers appealed to them (not me, about poor little puppies etc....). (since cancelled) and another really awful experience where the person put his foot in my door when I said I wasn't interested (not in an overly agressive way, but so he could continue his spiel) I complained to the charity, particularly as I already donate to the charity via direct debit (it can't be that hard to not annoy those that already give). I am afraid I don't care what the cause is, this way of getting money in can amount to bullying, and the charities have little control over the tactics and morals used by those collecting when there is self interest. Sorry to sound grumpy, sal xx

Owain_Moneysaver

It's also not a particularly nice form of employment. As noted, the collectors are self-employed, so no sign-ups, no pot noodle in the shared house that night.

It's no different from selling dusters door to door except that (a) they use emotional blackmail and (b) you don't get a duster.

Norma_Desmond

Perhaps for most of us a knock at the door from a charity is a mild annoyance, but my elderly mother is plagued by them and has had to put up a 'No Cold Callers' sign - she's quite frail, in pain and awaiting a hip replacement, so why should she be disturbed?

And both charity callers and 'god botherers' don't even have the courtesy to shut her gate most of the time.