Charities giving it the hard sell

[BigYin]

Apparently last year I was good enough to donate money to Christian Aid... so they (or someone claiming to be from them) was on the phone last night giving it the hard sell, trying to persuade me to set up a direct debit... they didn’t take the first no, they just then asked for a lower amount, they didn’t take the second no, they asked for a smaller amount, but more frequently, so actually the same as the last one, they didn’t take the third no, and asked for a quarterly standing order instead, so I politely told them to take their hard sell elsewhere, since for me at least there’s nothing more likely to make me say NO than someone trying that nonsense.

Lesson – no matter how ‘good’ a charity is, once they have your details as a donor, they will try everything to get more out of you, so by all means donate, but be ready to repel repeated pleading requests for yet more!!

Even IF I was going to be swayed by their pleas, no way was I going to give bank details over the phone to anyone phoning up out of the blue, no matter who they SAY they are acting for - I wonder how many people do??

They said that their current campaign was aiming to raise £400k, and the costs of running the campaign and calling people to try and get them to donate, was over £176k - so almost 50% of the money raised was paying the wages of the call centre!!

Massive GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR from me!

 

[bobsbeer]

Totally agree. Can't stand Chuggers on the street or on the phone. If I give I give it's because I want to, not because I'm asked, even politely.

 

[31bb3]

Id be inclined to report to the authorities might be a scam

 

[Wezzel]

I pay a direct debit to Cancer research but nearly cancelled it a year or two ago for the same reason. I was getting aggressive marketing calls. In the end I rang their customer services, complained, and said that if I receive one more call I would withdraw my payments.

Not had any trouble since!

 

[ScottM]

I give to charity direct from my wage via my work. It means that the money comes off the top line and the company also give a little. Any time these folks come to the door I explain this to them. I've only had the old hard sell tactic put on me a few times, each time it's been a guy (ladies seem to just take my reasoning and leave). On one occasion I said no so many times that my blood started to boil. I stopped responding to the guy and just started at him while he was talking. He went on for a bit before even noticing, it was only when he asked something and I didn't respond that he looked up. He could see I was less than pleased and took an almost comedy gulp followed by something along the lines of "thanks for your time" and made a sharp exit to stage left.

Since then I've put up a small sign politely asking them not to bother me.

 

[beermaker]

My missus contributes monthly to Cancer Research and we both contribute to the NSPCC and to be fair, neither of them bother us. My eldest step daughter has an obsession with "big cats" so the other year as part of her birthday present I made a sizeable donation to some big cat charity (the name escapes me) at which she was most pleased. Bloody wish I hadn't! I was plagued for weeks with calls to increase my donation, set up a direct debit, set up a standing order, etc. I lost my rag in the end and was quite vitriolic and vociferous in my reply! Needless to say I'll not be doing that again - if thats how the charities respond, bloody leopards can become coats and carpets as far as I care!

 

[oldbloke]

OTOH some charities never really push it.
I bought some christmas cards from The Retired Greyhound Trust once and have had their magazine ever since, but never a direct request for dosh. I ought to tell them to stop, they must be losing money on me by now.
Then there's the ones that send you a pack of christmas cards hoping you'll feel morally obliged to pay for them. Um, if they were any good I might, but I wouldn't even send those to people I didn't like...
Don't seem to have had afree pen for a while, either.

Of course, I have to buy the raffle tickets for the local Scouts, the Akela is well scary

What does annoy me is all the little things you have to pay for at school. Like, they do this Mother's Day thing where you're supposed to donate something costing no more than a pound, and your kid gets to buy his mum something - for a pound. Hang on, you just spent 2 quid on something worth a quid that you don't even like (unless you're very lucky). And the kid feels left out if you don't go along with it. The school has a few other scams like this, yeh OK schools need dosh but there's a bit too much emotional blackmail going on for my liking.

 

[jonewer]

I never give to a charity that employs chuggers and I never give to a charity that puts up those ads on the trains that try and guilt trip you by saying "Here is Oombungzulu, he has no mother, no father, no goats and flies in his eyes, but for just £3 a month you can ensure that our managing director has a nice fat retirement fund" and the like.

 

[GeorgeSalt]

I have very little time for a lot of charities these days. I think I can narrow down those I'll support to MSF, RNLI and a couple of very local ones (e.g a local food bank).

 

[narmour]

Similar story with me... I sponsored a friend doing an event for the Simon Community 2 years ago and have received at least a letter a month asking me for more money and telling me how my money is being spent and the good that Simon are doing in the community. I only sponsored them a fiver and they have spent at least that in postage harassing me for more money. I won't give them any more out of principle now.

 

[Windy]

They may be called charities but the bigger ones tend to be run as busnesses and their top executives get paid a vast amount more than the average person and are there to make money for themselves, meanwhile they manage to persuade a lot of their staff to work for them for free!

Do they ever publish their successes and show how worthwhile they are?


Of course there are some decent ones and some good causes that are worth supporting anyway but I reckon it is time for some regulation/investigation so that we know which ones are the good ones and which are just throwing most of our money away...

 

[31bb3]

The only charities i will donate to are county air ambulance ,help for heros, poppy appeal thats about it tbh and then i wouldnt make a monthly subscription

 

[doyley]

I had a couple of bright young things come to my door saying that they were collecting on behalf of the Battersea Dogs Home and inviting me to set up a Direct Debit. I told them that I work as a volunteer for a local animal sanctuary for more than 8 hours a week so it was no good trying to make me feel guilty, and they left. Afterwards it struck me that where I live is a hell of a long way from Battersea, and suspecting a scam rang up the Dog's home. They checked and said that indeed some employees of the agency they use for fund raising were in my area. As with most large charities the amount of money they spend on collecting donations must be huge, and I wonder what percentage of the money actually gets through to help the animals. For this reason I am very wary of giving to most of the large charities, and prefer to give to smaller. local charities, who are really struggling. Direct debit, not on your nellie!

 

[PD]

charity donations are a personal thing, but I will not give via direct debit or subscription.

But as a timely reminder at this time of year......Poppy Day ! drop a coin or two into the tin and wear it with pride !

 

[cutnrun]

I volunteer for a Parrot rescue charity. I have a parrot with me that has hardly any feathers and is very noisy. If there is any door knocker or caller i have a great way to get rid of them. He sits on my shoulder, i explain that birdline get my time and donations so sorry good bye. If they dont get the message he can make such a racket they usually leave quite quickly.

Telephone calls are interesting too!

I do donate to other charitys but at my discression not because some scrub on commission ties to make me feel bad. (I already have a poppy and i am sure I will break it so have to get a few more!)

That said even the parrot charity take the micky at times. mebership fee, adoption fees then insist that i go here there and everywhere picking up birds and dropping them off elsewhere. Over a year i have been doing this, about 200 miles a month... at least and last week they told me to claim for mileage.

 

[Russ146]

charity donations are a personal thing, but I will not give via direct debit or subscription.

But as a timely reminder at this time of year......Poppy Day ! drop a coin or two into the tin and wear it with pride !

Just out of Interest

Poppy day was initiated by Earl Hague

Know as a "Buffoon" and "a blithering idiot" this man's utter incompetence caused the death of hundreds of thousands of British and german troops during the 1st world war. Wracked with guilt from his total failure and the disastrous consequences of his actions he established the Poppy day as we know it today.

So wear it with pride but also remember that the majority of those men died needlessly because of Earl Hague

 

[PD]

I've studied warfare for many years, yes in hindsight lots of folks were the cause of untold numbers of deaths. That does not diminish the sacrifice those men gave.
When I buy a Poppy my first thoughts will not be towards the buffoons or donkeys in charge.
Soldiers obey orders, however, and by whoever is in charge.

There was worse than Haigh aswell Churchill, " Bomber" Harris, Lord Cardigan,Stallin, the list goes on......

 

[GeorgeSalt]

At the risk of being controversial, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to bring myself to support any of the ex-service personnel charities the more they have proliferated on the High Street in recent years. The government will send underpaid and underequipped troops into conflict situations, pay billions for cutting edge death-dealing technology, but knows it can rely on *charity* to pick-up the pieces of it's decisions. Just looking at the remit of the British Legion on their own website, they're increasingly providing long-term social care for the dependents of former service personel because central government cutbacks have withdrawn funding for basic social care needs. I don't particulary like this vision of "big society".

 

[jonewer]

Poppy day was initiated by Earl Hague

Know as a "Buffoon" and "a blithering idiot" this man's utter incompetence caused the death of hundreds of thousands of British and german troops during the 1st world war. Wracked with guilt from his total failure and the disastrous consequences of his actions he established the Poppy day as we know it today.

So wear it with pride but also remember that the majority of those men died needlessly because of Earl Hague

Sorry but this just isnt the case. First of all its Haig, not Hauge, and its a matter of fact that the British army under Haig became the most modern fighting machine in the world at the time. It had its own machine gun corps. It was the first to use tanks in battle and the first to form a separate tank corp. The Royal Artillery grew by 520 percent and the engineers who implemented combined arms tactics grew by 2,212 percent. It was supported by the world's largest airforce, which, together with tanks, infantry, and artillery, practiced a thoroughly modern form of combined-arms warfare.

There's also the fact that the British army under Haig did not suffer disproportionately high losses when compared to any of the other Belligerent nations, and in fact, suffered less than several considering the number of men mobilised. Particularly the Russians and Italians.

So the very worst you can say about Haig is that he was no worse than any of contemporaries.

Now whats more likely, that an entire generation of military leaders - the finest generals of an entire era - were all "Buffoons" and "a blithering idiots", or that the commonly held view of Haig is influenced almost entirely by left wing revisionists and blame-shifters like Lloyd-George.

He initiated the poppy fund out of genuine concern for the wounded who had little future.

I think Haig is probably the most slandered person in history.

ETA
- The phrase 'Lions led by donkeys' was never used contemporaneously. It was fabricated by Alan Clark in the 1960s.
- The casualty rates in WWII and indeed in many Napoleonic battles were comparable to those suffered in WWI.

 

[jonewer]

At the risk of being controversial, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to bring myself to support any of the ex-service personnel charities the more they have proliferated on the High Street in recent years. The government will send underpaid and underequipped troops into conflict situations, pay billions for cutting edge death-dealing technology, but knows it can rely on *charity* to pick-up the pieces of it's decisions. Just looking at the remit of the British Legion on their own website, they're increasingly providing long-term social care for the dependents of former service personel because central government cutbacks have withdrawn funding for basic social care needs. I don't particulary like this vision of "big society".

I do kind of agree with you, but there's also a note of triumphalism and glorifying with charities like Help for Heroes that clashes with the tradition of solemn remembrance associated with the poppy appeal. Which brings this to mind...

I saw the Prince of Darkness, with his Staff,
Standing bare-headed by the Cenotaph:
Unostentatious and respectful, there
He stood, and offered up the following prayer.
'Make them forget, O Lord, what this Memorial
Means; their discredited ideas revive;
Breed new belief that War is purgatorial
Proof of the pride and power of being alive;
Men's biologic urge to readjust
The Map of Europe, Lord of Hosts, increase;
Lift up their hearts in large destructive lust;
And crown their heads with blind vindictive Peace.'
The Prince of Darkness to the Cenotaph
Bowed. As he walked away I heard him laugh.

- Siegfried Sassoon