My Aunt and the Cancer Recovery Foundation

SpammyTheSpammer

So I go to take her out shopping today as I do every other week. Whilst I am waiting for 20 minutes as she gets her shoes on (she is 90), I spot a half completed form on her side table.

It is from something called the Cancer Recovery Foundation, PO box 912, Crawley, RH11 7XU and claims to be a registered charity # 1105703

They have sent her the usual extortion letter with a "personalised pen" and the minimum donation is £17.

Unfortunately, I picked up this letter and brought it home with me so my Aunty will be unable to make this donation. Which is lucky as I have just looked up this organisation and they do not look like nice people:-

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-800-379-2068

I assume that it is only a matter of time before Austin Kulp signs up to post a reassuring message....

sweetstudent

What I would be more worried about is how they got her details in order to send her a personalised pen?

Just had a look at the site and in my opinion the whole site is rather vague concerning cancer!

Glad you managed to stop your aunt from paying £17 for a pen!

SpammyTheSpammer

Yes, thanks - this is a tangled and unpleasant tale! Our family have been screening her post after she asked one of us to post a handfull of envelopes a couple of months ago.

Initially I did not think much but they were all charity type things and I mentioned this to the rest of the family. Seems that they have all been posting such envelopes for her and we began to get concerned about what was going on.

Initially we took to opening them before posting to examine them. To be fair, most were small sums, £5 or so, but these seem to have been increasing up to the recent £17 demanded by the Cancer Recovery Foundation. Most did indeed seem to be "regular" charities such as the RNLI or whatever but these are now the minority and are organisations that I have never heard of such as the title of this thread.

Since then the family attempt to remove post from her letter box, before she even sees it, when we go over.

It is now obvious that her donations are sparking extra demands from more and more of these con-artist "charities" who seem to spend all their donations in running costs. The web site I quoted in the first post clearly indicates that the fund collectors pass the details of the donors onto teams who handle other such charities and it all just snowballs as they do not stop after the first donation. They just keep sending further demands.

She got a telephone call from one a couple of weeks ago, when I was there, and luckilly my Aunt managed to resist the urge to set up a Standing Order payment with them. However, she is getting less out of touch with the world and it can only be a matter of time before she falls for one of the spiels about the "sick little kitties" or the "poor baby puppies" and ends up signing over a significant sum each month or whatever.

I must state that this does not make me happy, that we have to stoop to this, but I am unsure of what else to do. We are hardly in a position to be asking for control over her finance and frankly do not want to but she is being shorn by these unpleasant people.

clemmatis

SpammyTheSpammer wrote: »

I have just looked up this organisation and they do not look like nice people:-

http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-800-379-2068

I assume that it is only a matter of time before Austin Kulp signs up to post a reassuring message....

Good lord.

Perhaps the Charity Commission should be informed? Cancer Recovery is registered with them, I just checked.

And perhaps AgeUK should be told.

(I've no bright ideas on how to stop your aunt being taken in/hassled. Sorry.)

SpammyTheSpammer

I really do not know whether the Cancer Recovery Foundation is a true charity or not. Web investigation seems to reveal that a massive percentage of their total income seems to go on expenses and that a significant proportion goes to an independent telemarketing team. These are just the equivalent of "Boiler Room" operatives but using high pressure emotions tactics.

However, reading the 800Notes thread (http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-800-379-2068) reveals some fascinating facts:-

• Austin Kulp posts as the marketing communications manager for Childrens Cancer Recovery Foundation (CCRF)*
• He repeatedly claims that the Childrens Cancer Recovery Foundation (CCRF) is "a member of the Better Business Bureau, and we have earned the GuideStar Exchange Seal"
• When challenged about this he states that "It should say we are a member of GuideStar, NOT a member of BBB"
• In subsequent posts, only a few days later, he then continues to reiterate (falsely) that they ARE a member of the Better Business Bureau.
• So that's a pack of porky pies and, because of that, I believe nothing of what he states in those posts.
• There seems to be clear evidence that only a tiny fraction of the money collected by the telemarketers actually ends up in the charity and that is then reduced again by high overheads. There is another damming report of the US operation here:-

http://wafflesatnoon.com/2013/02/20/telemarketer-review-childrens-cancer-recovery-foundation/

This is a thoroughly sickening read.

I personally feel that lining your pocket whilst claiming to be doing good is hypocritical and frankly evil.
IMHO!

ariba10

TESCO make a lot of money selling customer details to third parties.

SpammyTheSpammer

Tesco do not claim to be a be a charity. They may donate a small percentage of their (huge) profits to charities but they do not use emotional blackmail on old ladies to extort money that will "help little kiddywinks overcome cancer".

Here is the report from the Better Business Bureau about the Cancer Recover Foundation:-

http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/childrens-cancer-recovery-foundation-in-harrisburg-pa-418

Utterly sickening.....

PlutoinCapricorn

You can stop cold calls/letters from reputable charities by registering her with the Mailing Preference Service and Telephone Preference Serivce (MPS and TPS). You can return cold mailings or mailings from charities she has already given to in their original envelopes with "Please remove my details from your database and do not pass on my name" and/or contact the charities individually. Reputable charities DO honour these requests.

As for this foundation, it is very lucky that you intervened.

SpammyTheSpammer

Company pockets most of charitable donations to cancer, veterans, children's groups:-


http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/company-pockets-majority-of-charitable-donations-to-cancer,-veterans,-children%27s-groups

Another damming report - it quite puts one off donating to any charity.

PlutoinCapricorn

Donating to charity is another issue. There are discussions about this on other boards. There are legitimate, effective and reputable charities out there if you really want to help. Just do the research first: some charities may be legitimate, well-known and do good work but they may also have trustees and patrons with unsavoury connections, highly-paid staff whose positions cannot be justified, very high admin costs, little to show by way of outcomes for the huge amounts they raise ... For example, I have become more and more uncomfortable about the NSPCC over the years.

Georgiegirl256

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

very high admin costs, little to show by way of outcomes for the huge amounts they raise ... For example, I have become more and more uncomfortable about the NSPCC over the years.

My cousin used to work for Oxfam, but left because he didnt like the way it was run,a very high % of donations went to admin costs etc and not as much as you would think to the actual cause This was quite a few years back now though, so maybe things have changed, but I know it does happen with a lot of charities.