Chuggers - methods or myths?

 

Why don't Chuggers approach over 40 years olds?  This was a question I tweeted this morning linking to an astonishing answer from Madame Curie Charity supremo.  I had a sound reason to ask the question but the answering tweets below disagree.

 

The Sunday Telegraph said this morning: 

 

'Our investigation showed how members of the public were lied to in order to get them to stop and were never told how much fundraisers were being paid to work on behalf of a charity - in this case Marie Curie - as they are obliged to do under charity law.

 

 

Marie Curie said it had launched its own investigation into Tag. The charity said it had never previously worked with tag and the company was running a pilot project on a new way to attract long-term donors through the use of text message donations.

 

But it has emerged that Marie Curie’s chief executive Thomas Hughes-Hallett appeared to pour scorn on 'chuggers’ in comments to a Commons select committee last year.

 

In his remarks, Mr Hughes-Hallett seemed to suggest that young people who set up direct debits after being stopped in the street were “foolish” and that his charity’s trustees believed the practice to be “disgraceful”.

 

Asked by the Labour MP Paul Flynn MP why chuggers do not approach people over 40, Mr Hughes-Hallett replied: “I think that they [the over 40s] take the view - this is with absolutely no disrespect to the point you’ve made, which is exactly the one that my trustees make to me all the time - that this is a disgraceful form of fundraising. Actually, I have to tell you, that financially it is almost the most efficient in terms the funds that can be raised.”

 

Mr Flynn then asked: “So it is only the foolish under-40s?” Mr Hughes-Hallett then replied: “Only the foolish under-40s fall for it.”

In a subsequent statement, Mr Hughes-Hallett told The Sunday Telegraph: 

 

“Many of the UK’s largest charities use face-to-face fundraising and it can be extremely effective when it is done well and sensitively by an experienced agency."

 

 

Few agree that chuggers are ageist.

Nigel Grant ‏@ClearLanguage

I'm 60 and often approached by chuggers. Youthful looks? Er...

 

Spence ‏@spencro

Well, I'm 57 and get approached every time. All my charity giving now with http://www.kitchentablecharities.org/ 

 

istress ‏@flumpmistress

I must be wearing better than I thought, then. They pounce on me all the time! http://telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/la …

 

David Cornock ‏@davidcornock

 they always seem to approach me - should I be flattered? They all get the same response, mind

 

Gareth Wyn ‏@garethwyn70

that's either untrue, or I look you g for my age. I'm always getting stopped.

 

 

Comments

[D.G.]

It used to be that the way to make serious money was to cut out the middle-man. Now it seems the middle-men are earning a damn fortune - chuggers, "managed service providers" (aka "headcount hiders"), employment agencies, umbrella companies... I bet people have loads of examples and similar experiences

[Fire Alarm Panel]

Great points. You've put a great deal of thought into your arguement. Well done! I'll look out for more in the future.

[Paul Flynn]

There is no doubt that recent revelations that giving money to charities to chuggers is more profitable for the chuggers than the charity. The disillusionment is deep among those who have given generously in the past. They won't be conned again. Adding to the argument of ageism, I have NEVER been approached.

[D.G.]

They put me off from the High St here in the 'Port, that's for sure. I wouldn't agree that they're single-handedly responsible for a decline in visitor numbers, but they certainly don't enhance the shopping experience.

(cue the usual tedious Port-haters... "Yada-yada Cardiff, blah-blah Cwmbran... free parking")

[Plashing Vole]

My MP (Paul Uppal) is conducting a campaign against charity collectors in Wolverhampton. He claims that they're single-handedly responsible for a decline in visitor numbers.

I think he's wrong. I find the 'chuggers' mildly annoying but no more so than the commercial hawkers, religious fundamentalists, skateboarders, and rightwing political proselytisers.

I don't want them swept off the streets - anyone using public space should be encouraged: Uppal wants the streets to be exclusively for the use of 'shoppers': he's got no time at all for the public as citizens rather than consumers.

I don't want sanitised streets patrolled by private guards getting rid of anyone who isn't consuming. The charity muggers might need more oversight because they can be a pain, but there are worse problems.

(I'm 37 by the way, and get approached a lot).

[Ben Karim]

Chugging is a very quick and effective fund raising technique although it is short term.

The public probably resents either being left feeling like a tight arse or guilt tripped into handing over their bank details.

We've developed something different take a look at our SmarterCalls EveryMinute conference calling service. Every time it is used a donor makes a donation to the sponsoring charity without paying anymore. This is friction free fundraising where everyone benefits and we get to make a difference. A little like collecting aluminium cans for school!