Poll: Chuggers – Do we need a law?

EvanJames said :

Re doing up fake IDs, I’m sure many here have experienced the highly professional beggars that infest LAX in the past, who have huge professional-looking IDs in pouches on lanyards. All manufactured. I find that a turn-off, anyway.

The way Legacy and the Poppy blokes do it is more my style. Red Cross, Salvos… even bloody Greenpeace with the koalas with buckets. These highly professional paid money-extractors are a blight.

Agree. We shouldn’t forget that some charities (even the ones that use Chuggers) are for worthy causes even if we don’t like their collection methods.

Legacy is always a good one – current and former service people volunteering their time to sell badges and aren’t intrusive or aggressive. This is how you charity 🙂

Thumper said :

I generally punch them in the face and then violently pierce their evil, cold, black hearts with a sharpened oak stake and then laugh deliriously as they perish.

Oh, sorry. That’s vampires. I always get chuggers and vampires mixed up.

that can be a messy mistake!!! 🙂

also, rossocat (who suggested posting them at charity bins) – that is freaking genius!!! it’s win-win!

Oh boy, I’m not getting into this one again….let’s just say “law” and move on 🙂

neanderthalsis said :

I am becoming increasingly disturbed by the number of charities that have taken to mailing “gifts” to me and asking for donations in return…

This.

I am becoming increasingly disturbed by the number of charities that have taken to mailing “gifts” to me and asking for donations in return. Over the last month, I have received four such mailings, usually the gift is a basic writing set: pen, notepad, address stickers and envelopes. Obviously they think that the cost of the gifts will be offset by the guilt of people who think that they can’t accept something unsolicited from a charity without giving something back.

fabforty said :

Every time I am accosted by a chugger, I e-mail the charity involved and tell them how much I would have donated had I not been harassed and what I think of their fundraising.

Spread the word, people.

And are you actually honest about the amount that you would have donated? When was it you had planned to make said donation that you will now not make? How many organisations do you currently give donations to? How many charities have you written to this way? Did you even know about the charity that the chugger represented before they approached you?

Or are you just trying to blackmail the charity into stopping the use of chuggers (because they annoy you) by pointing to a carrot that you were never actually going to give them anyway and telling them they could have had it if they didn’t use a particular method?

Every time I am accosted by a chugger, I e-mail the charity involved and tell them how much I would have donated had I not been harassed and what I think of their fundraising.

Spread the word, people.

As Gandhi said: “Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.”

Most of the well known registered charities will be adherents of the The Fundraising Institute Australia’s Principles & Standards of Fundraising Practice.

This means that if you know the rules that apply to Face to Face fundraisers, you can lodge a formal complaint with the charity they represent.

Luckily for us, the rules are available online:
http://www.fia.org.au/data/documents/Resources/Principles__Standards/Standard_of_Face_to_Face_Fundraising_Practice_2011.pdf
(link is to a pdf)

You could probably complain anyway, but it’s even easier if you know which rules they are breaking.

[Full disclosure: I work for a charity which uses face to face fundraising teams]

If anyone deserves a spare quid or two, it’s the Legacy people. The money goes to support the families of those who have given their lives in the service of their country. Few causes are more worthwhile, in my view.

Thumper said :

I did part with my money though, I bought two Legacy bracelets for my girls

I don’t consider Legacy to be chuggers. Generally because the collectors are serving ADF and it’s only once a year.

Thats why they got my money 😉

I did part with my money though, I bought two Legacy bracelets for my girls

I don’t consider Legacy to be chuggers. Generally because the collectors are serving ADF and it’s only once a year.

00davist said :

I have a set amound I donate to charity each year, I do it in december, online.

If a charity, of any kind, sprooks me, They are out of the pool, and the other charity’s I chose to donate to are allocated a bigger cut.

This excludes the red sheild appeal, and red cross, Both of which i now to expect at a certain time.

And the lovely (and QUIET!!!) gentlman at the bottom of the 1/2 way esculators in the civic centre (Salvo’s) gets my change frequently, as he has never pestered me, or made me feel uncomfotable.

No money for chuggers!!!

Ditto.

And I regularly give money to the lovely people collecting money for the homeless at the Watson IGA. Because I never feel pressured to do so.

00davist said :

If a charity, of any kind, sprooks me, They are out of the pool…

This excludes the red sheild appeal, and red cross, Both of which i now to expect at a certain time.

I’m with you here. I’m not a Christian, but the Salvos and the Red Cross get a fair bit of my money. However so do World Vision, and I am f**king sick of being pestered by the idiots they hire.

Thumper said :

I generally punch them in the face and then violently pierce their evil, cold, black hearts with a sharpened oak stake and then laugh deliriously as they perish.

Oh, sorry. That’s vampires. I always get chuggers and vampires mixed up.

Dont we all mate, Dont we all…

I have a set amound I donate to charity each year, I do it in december, online.

If a charity, of any kind, sprooks me, They are out of the pool, and the other charity’s I chose to donate to are allocated a bigger cut.

This excludes the red sheild appeal, and red cross, Both of which i now to expect at a certain time.

And the lovely (and QUIET!!!) gentlman at the bottom of the 1/2 way esculators in the civic centre (Salvo’s) gets my change frequently, as he has never pestered me, or made me feel uncomfotable.

No money for chuggers!!!

Man they are out in force today, must be the sun………

I did part with my money though, I bought two Legacy bracelets for my girls.

Used to drive for a courier company in Sydney who had a well known charity as a client. People would be horrified as to how much this charity spent on couriers each week!

Canon76 said :

They are a huge pain, donate to the charity directly and do not give to these people . Firstly they are not representatives of the actual charity they are collecting for, they are usually contractors who get a small % of the amount collected. The majority of the money goes to the company that they are working for and about 10-20% actually goes to the charity.
Please always do not confuse chuggers with people volunteering their time to collect for charities. Prior to giving money to these people ask if they are volunteers ? if they say yes and they are actually chuggers then they have basically engaged to misleading and deceptive conduct.

Also some of the company’s that these chuggers “work for ” (but they are actually contractors) have interesting websites and company structures (that look very similar to pyramids!)

Spot on Canon76..Eg..the little charmers (some of them) selling the tickets to ‘raise $8,000,000 for the Paralympians at a suburban mall near you are doing exactly this. I was shocked to discover that the charity itself receives only THREE DOLLARS out of the $10.00. The seller gets paid 3 and the ‘sports marketing company’ gets the remaining $4.00….

I do however feel sad for the sellers..sorry, chuggers, as they are often lured in by these ‘Team Managers’ with false promises of great careers in sales etc..Not realising when they reply to the ads online, what it is that they will actually be doing..So whilst these chuggers are as annoying as mosquitos at a BBQ, it is the Managers who worked their way up that are the real villians in the piece.

So I say, be kind to to the chuggers, state you would love to have their charities info, and you will give directly…Should see the little chuggers heading off to Dominoes to find a more fullfilling career path..

Based on all the comments so far I cannot see how in the end any charity in their right mind would continue to use such approaches to raise funds. After all, in the long run what they are damaging is their brands and creating friction with potential supporters.

To my mind this situation of having “fund raising middle-men” between the charity and the supporter creates a serious potential for a disconnect in the relationship. I have talked to some of the “chuggers” in the past, and generally very few of them really understand or support in any real sense the organisations they purport to represent. I believe that people build relationships with charitable agencies because of a connection with the people that are being helped. The greater the distance between the two ends of the relationship then the less likely that much change is really made in the world by the agency.