A serious (although light hearted) question re adverts asking for your money.

[keithmac]

NSPCC are terrible for badgering about increasing the direct debit.

I've had to add them to my blocklist on phone due to nuisance calling.

I was honestly at point of cancelling and telling them to do one.

Shame really as the cause is a good one, wonder how much of my money actually goes to the projects?.

 

[NorthernDave]

And if you DO set up a direct debit, you will receive periodic calls or letters thanking you for your current monthly payment, "but if you increase it to £x per month then we will be in a better position to do a, b, and c...."
I am not averse to giving to deserving causes but I CBA'd with the emotional blackmail bit, whether it be on TV, by e-mail, phone or whatever. I learned my lesson about setting up DD's so now I just go into a local charity shop (usually Cancer Research) and make one off cash donations. They will of course ask you to fill in a form with your details on it (errm, "for Gift Aid, sir") - but I decline and just say I wish to remain anonymous. Or give my name and NI number if they want to confirm that I am a UK tax payer for gift aid. As for street "chuggers" wanting me to set up a DD there and then, absolutely NOT.

NSPCC are terrible for badgering about increasing the direct debit.

I've had to add them to my blocklist on phone due to nuisance calling.

I was honestly at point of cancelling and telling them to do one.

Shame really as the cause is a good one, wonder how much of my money actually goes to the projects?.

Two good posts on exactly the point I wanted to make.

Mrs ND set up a DD to a well known charity that is close to her heart after watching a telly ad.
Within days of setting it up she'd had the first phone call, apparently thanking her for her generosity but swiftly moving on to tapping her up for "just a few pounds more" every month to do "even more urgent work".
Within a fortnight she started receiving unsolicited calls and mailshots from other charities asking her to donate / set up DD's to them as well.
After a month she got a "thank you" pack from the original charity, which to me seemed to be another thinly disguised demand for more money and repeated phone calls with "updates" that soon moved on to how much more they could do with just a few pounds a month extra. At one point she was getting a call and / or a mail shot every other week and started just ignoring their number.

After a year she was so sick of it that she cancelled the DD, blocked their number and wrote to them to stop mailing her.

We still give (we have a direct debit to Guide Dogs who have been exemplary in their dealings and steered well away from the strong arm tactics of some others) and the rest of the time we just make donations of cash, goods or time as we can.

 

[keithmac]

@NorthernDave

Yep it is a real shame they do that, totally uncalled for imho.

I thought the canvassers were volunteers as well but alas no, they work off commission..

 

[bigjim]

I had a DD with the Red Cross as I thought it was a worthy cause. Bombarded with calls asking me to increase payments. cancelled the DD in the end. I do give to the local hospice. I might end up there. Used to give to a local Bird Sanctuary. Now support the local cat woman. Not the cat woman of course. She's off fighting evil somewhere.

 

[Elysian_Roads]

Two good posts on exactly the point I wanted to make.

Mrs ND set up a DD to a well known charity that is close to her heart after watching a telly ad.
Within days of setting it up she'd had the first phone call, apparently thanking her for her generosity but swiftly moving on to tapping her up for "just a few pounds more" every month to do "even more urgent work".
Within a fortnight she started receiving unsolicited calls and mailshots from other charities asking her to donate / set up DD's to them as well.
After a month she got a "thank you" pack from the original charity, which to me seemed to be another thinly disguised demand for more money and repeated phone calls with "updates" that soon moved on to how much more they could do with just a few pounds a month extra. At one point she was getting a call and / or a mail shot every other week and started just ignoring their number.

After a year she was so sick of it that she cancelled the DD, blocked their number and wrote to them to stop mailing her.

We still give (we have a direct debit to Guide Dogs who have been exemplary in their dealings and steered well away from the strong arm tactics of some others) and the rest of the time we just make donations of cash, goods or time as we can.

I came across this issue when helping my dad out who had been bombarded by various charities. One of the things I noticed that they all seemed to have similar addresses, pointing to the same organisation "managing" this on behalf of those charities.

 

[jefmcg]

I thought the canvassers were volunteers as well but alas no, they work off commission..

I learnt that the hard way a long time ago. My first boyfriend got a job selling pens for charity. For every $1 pen he sold, the got 25c, his boss got 25c, the pens cost 25c each so the charity got 25c too.

 

[slowwww]

I have monthly payments to a number of local, national and international charities. Not a huge sum, but enough to make me feel comfortable walking past the tin shakers and chuggers that are inevitably in our local town every time I visit.

I have a '3 strikes then you're out rule' in any given year. When first contacted to increase the amount I decline and tell them that I don't want any further contact. On the second call I tell them that if they keep contacting me I shall cancel the dd and give the money to another deserving cause. The third time they call I do precisely that.

Fully agree with Tim Hall re Wateraid. I've donated to them for 10+ years and can only think of a single phone call in that time, in fact I had to contact them to increase it!

 

[srw]

I learnt that the hard way a long time ago. My first boyfriend got a job selling pens for charity. For every $1 pen he sold, the got 25c, his boss got 25c, the pens cost 25c each so the charity got 25c too.

I don't know what proportion of the takings of a charity shop goes to the charity rather than the staff, the landlord and the council, but if you told me it was only 25% I don't think I'd be surprised. If you told me it was much more than 40% I think I'd be surprised.

(Goes and searches)

And what do you know?
https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news...harity-shop-profits-have-started-to-drop.html

The typical profit margin of a high-street charity shop is 20%. So more of the money raised by your ex-boyfriend went to charity than would have been the case if he'd volunteered in a shop.

Of course there are plenty of other reasons why charity shops are good (recycling and making cheap clothes available to those who otherwise struggle as well as being a reasonably effective way of raising income for the charity) and other reasons why they're bad (making local private enterprise uncompetitive and reducing council incomes).

 

[mjr]

NSPCC are terrible for badgering about increasing the direct debit.

I've had to add them to my blocklist on phone due to nuisance calling.

I was honestly at point of cancelling and telling them to do one.

Shame really as the cause is a good one, wonder how much of my money actually goes to the projects?.

NSPCC's general cause may be good, but some of their projects have been toxic to the internet, helping lead to the Great British Firewall and many websites that are now www.Blocked.org.uk