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Donating to charities?
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TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTRFull Member
I donate to the odd one – animal and humanitarian, as I choose.
However, I have a blanket policy of turning away door knockers – I’d donate half my earnings if I accepted every one. I’m always polite, to the point of them being too pushy, but I don’t find this happens often.
If I do make a random donation, or sign up to anything though (phone no is usually requested), I find I’m constantly hassled with follow up calls to donate more.
How do you donate, with it being totally on your own terms, with no residual annoyance?
kcalFull Memberjust as you; politely but firmly decline the door-knockers / folk in the street with a “not rushed into donating / donation quota used up” response.
Should say that between wife and myself we donate to a variety of causes – individually – with either yearly or monthly subscription, variety of environmental, world poverty, wilderness – and preferred local charity shop..
Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition
Latest Singletrack VideosFresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...bearnecessitiesFull MemberGuide dogs, monthly. About £7.50.
That’s it for me.
Hyperactive chuggers laid out in attack formation in a high street really boil my piss.
StonerFree Memberfriend’s with close good causes get cheques/justgiving donations to put in the pot on my behalf. Keeps the chuggers at arms’ distance.
The only organisation that has my details as a “regular donor” is the air ambulance as I look after a load of bar-top tins for them in various hostelries round these parts.
chewkwFree MemberTheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR – Member
How do you donate, with it being totally on your own terms, with no residual annoyance?I just say I donate to people I know, really I do.
I also donate platelet and in the past blood.
If they want to invoke the guilt then I would say the world should be depopulated the natural way.
😈
mick_rFull MemberAir ambulance and Motivation (a wheelchair engineering charity). Both contacted and set up without any “salespeople” involved.
I keep a Motivation dd form by the front door. I just ask any doorstepper if they would give me their bank details for my charity – they soon go away 🙂
ADFull MemberSet up a direct debit to ‘favourite’ charities every time you get pay rise. Tell the doorsteppers (politely or not) no thank-you.
By the way most people won’t believe you have actually set up the direct debits but whether you care or not is down to you. My conscience is clear and to be honest I don’t like people randomly knocking on my door to beg/tell me about their exciting sky fairy/ask me to vote for UKIP anyway 🙂
bearnecessitiesFull MemberFuggin’ chuggers
I’m not a violent man, but if some chipper little **** makes some sarcastic remark as I try to politely decline their invitation to discussion, I actually want to smash their chops into the pavement.
I know. Anger isn’t good. They just bring it out in me.
esselgruntfuttockFree MemberWe have a DD set up for Dogs for the Disabled, bout £7.00 a month or summink plus the RSPB £5.00 a month one.
If I was worth stacks I’d be donating all over the shop, but only locally.
Plus we have a door sticker than tells cold callers to **** off.tangFree MemberI donate a percentage of my income every month to a project that I know well (I also volunteer) and have seen the impact it makes on the ground first hand. Been supporting the local food bank also. Door steppers and street stoppers I’m not into.
chewkwFree MemberBTW donation is a good thing don’t get me wrong regardless of who you donate to, it is just so annoying that someone could demand me to donate. 😡
highclimberFree MemberI donate quite a bit of my time and money by being a member of the local MRT. I put my loose change in whatever receptacle happens to be nearest. I never engage with door stepper or chuggers nor do I donate to friends doing 10k races for the reason that I frequently run 10k and it really isn’t that hard.
craigxxlFree MemberI had the same problem with direct debits paid to charities. All 3 charities had at some point calked asking if I wanted to increase my direct debit of which all were declined. One a well known cancer charity wrote to me saying they were going to increase my direct debit as the many others had already done so, they gave the option to opt out so I did by cancelling the direct debit along with all the others.
I now give to two main charities which are Help for Heroes and St George’s Cript which provides shelter for the homeless. Like others I give to family and friends sponsorship if I deem it worthwhile.ADFull MemberCraigxxl – I had the same ‘experience’ with Wateraid. To be honest I nearly cancelled the DD out of spite until my wife pointed out that it was probably a cost-effective way of raising funds by targeting existing ‘subscribers’ rather than trying to get new ones. Not impressed but I see the logic. I didn’t increase my DD though.
Definitely not saying you were wrong to cancel though!JamieFree MemberNot sure how they get around this issue, but the problem for me with the bigger charities is that it’s hard to wonder if they really need those new fancy offices they have, and all those admin/HR/PR staff etc. I know when I donated to local charities most of the money is going to the cause, as it were.
footflapsFull MemberI have about 10 monthly direct debits to various charities and normally sponsor anyone I know doing anything for charity. I just close the door in the face of anyone selling / offering anything unsolicited.
One a well known cancer charity wrote to me saying they were going to increase my direct debit as the many others had already done so, they gave the option to opt out so I did by cancelling the direct debit along with all the others.
Yep, I did have a DD with Plan International, but cancelled it when they wrote telling me they were upping the amount unless I objected. They’ve lost me for life.
scuzzFree MemberI signed up due to a doorknocker. I upped it when they called and politely asked me if I’d consider doing so.
I cancelled the DD when they sent a glossy magazine through the door.nicko74Full MemberI remember being told (could be a crock) that chugging agencies (ie the companies that manage and hire the chuggers out to the charities) take something like the first 6 months of any DD signed up for, to cover their costs. It could be a complete load of BS, but it’s enough, even though I respect the job the chuggers do, to make me not donate to them.
PiknMixFree MemberI cancelled my Red Cross donation due to constant pestering for more, they got ruder and ruder to the point where one pillock told me I was being selfish. I gave what I could afford but it just wasn’t enough for them.
mudsharkFree MemberAnyone had any trouble with AICR? Normally ignore chuggers as they’re on commission but AICR said person who called asked me to collect my spare change for them so thought that’s not real problem and agreed to do it. Then the follow on calls started coming – always at inconvenient times in the evening. Eventually had to tell them firmly not to call any more.
pk13Full MemberMine go as one off payments when I have extra bits of cash or made a few quid on ebay.
BRADS cancer http://www.brads.org.uk/ it’s a small trust for teens with cancer. And the air ambulance (you never know) 😯 I tend to think yo much about the overheads of the larger charity’s.joshvegasFree MemberI was a chugger once. For a whole month its tough and thankless with the worst attempt at supporting your staff you’d ever see and would have to pretty desperate (even more so than last time to do it again.) They are very very good at underplaying how the arrangement works between them and the charity and spend alot of time chucking poorly trained kids onto the street with a misguided belief that the charity get most of it. I believe though after I left changes were afoot with much stricter rules on how and where, and a fair few charities took it back in house.
I have payments that come out of and are matched by my employer. I politely tell chuggers no if they try and be smart I will tell them precisely why I don’t sign up to them, clearly alot of them have never been told the facts.
The other option is ‘I am seventeen’ even if you clearly arent it throws them enough to slip past.
cheers_driveFull MemberI went to a Sean Lock show in Bristol, one of the gaggs was him saying that he has another word for Chuggers – Chunts.
Later in the show this lead to a heckle which got the biggest laugh of the night. Sean – ‘So I follow Chelsea football club’, instantly the guy behind me shoiuts out…
😆PhilbyFull MemberDonate to Disasters Emergency Appeals and seem to buy lots of poppies for the Royal British Legion. Apart from that I do a lot of voluntary work locally – I am Chair of the Board of Trustees for an advice agency, am a trustee of another organisation which runs the local Volunteer Centre, and run the marketing sessions for young people wanting to set up in business as part of the Prince’s Trust Explore Enterprise programme. In the past I was a trustee and Chair of a charity that provided accommodation and training for young people at the risk of homelessness and also do other voluntary bits and pieces. Apart from that I occasionally will pop a quid in a collecting box but don’t make regular donations to the larger charities – IME its the smaller local charities that really need the support either financially or through volunteering.
TiRedFull MemberDonate regularly to a small charity via work payroll. I politely tell people that I do not make charitable investment decisions in the street or on the doorstep. I am always happy to donate small amounts to collectors.
hooliFull MemberI have a direct debit to cancer charity, I also try and support friends who are doing something worthwhile. Lastly I spend a fair bit of time helping at the charity that run my sons nursery school – anything from BBQing at fundraisers, gardening, laying concrete or cutting trees.
The thing that annoys me is the cancer charity write to me about 5 times a year asking me to increase my direct debit. There is a pre-completed form for me to sign and return with an amount that is more than double my current contribution. I did tell them if I get one more letter like that I will be cancelling my direct debit but I haven’t had the heart to do it yet.
horaFree MemberI give blood and I’ll never walk by someone in trouble. Occassionally if a friends running for charity I’ll donate (have done last week).
Some give money DD- thats your thing. I just think with the miriad of charities, the organisation behind them, the running costs its literally big business to soothe someones conscience that they are ‘good’….all for £x a month.
If its a grass routes charity- say a small business run for the benefit of local down and outs, ex-servicemen I’d regular give (direct). Not to Oxfam or RSPCA.
satsomaFree MemberI work for a small children’s charity and give monthly donations to Refuge (for those affected by domestic violence), Wildlife Trust and NSPCC.
As a charity, we don’t use the street collectors. I’m not a fan of them, and people tend to have a negative attitude towards them – we don’t want that associated with our charity!
I give to friends who are undertaking challenges, depending on what the challenge is!
jon1973Free MemberFuggin’ chuggers
That’s a bit harsh. I know he’s a bit annoying, but still…
bikebouyFree MemberI still donate to the Dogs Trust. This despite the Finance CEO running off with most of the charities money, I felt around that time I ought to stop but then the guilt of all those Dogs left going hungry because some twonk stole all the funds made me keep it running, so that’s easily 15years of £15ppm
LHSFree MemberWe have a policy in the LHS family that we give 5% of our household income to charity. The family get to discuss and choose the charities each year. I tell that to the door knockers then politely close the door.
jambalayaFree MemberRarely give to collectors in the street (they take too much overhead) with exception of poppy appeal. Most giving is done in “lump sum” direct to charity or via giving sites. I’ve bought a few items in the past at Charity auctions, again here I know all the money goes to the charity. My prior employer used to have a matching scheme, whatever I put in they matched and it was all pre-tax so very positive.
horaFree MemberI cancelled my Red Cross donation due to constant pestering for more, they got ruder and ruder to the point where one pillock told me I was being selfish. I gave what I could afford but it just wasn’t enough for them.
A while ago I ordered a new tent off ebay. Found abit of grass inside and the power seller immediately refunded the lot and told me to keep it. So I gave a portion of the money to the Samaritans.
Since then they have not stopped mailing etc etc me. Its almost like a gamble- throw money/resources at the potential ‘mark’ thats over the initial donation in the hope you’ll turn into a (relatively speaking) cash cow for them?
somewhatslightlydazedFree MemberI cancelled my Red Cross donation due to constant pestering for more, they got ruder and ruder to the point where one pillock told me I was being selfish.
Mrs SWSD had the same problem with the Red Cross. We reckon, what with all the telephone calls, letters and unsolicited “free gifts” they have probably spent more in harassing her than they got from the initial series of donations.
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