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Street fundraising

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A street fundraiser is a person who collects donations on behalf of a charity. They may be a paid employee of the charity (or a company working on behalf of the charity), or they may be a volunteer .

Face to Face Fundraising

'Face to face' fundraising, which includes street and door to door fundraising, has in recent years become a major source of income for many charities around the world. The practice of hiring paid street fundraisers whose main task was to talk to the public and convince them to make a finanial contribution began in Europe in the late 1990s and spread rapidly. The reason the technique is so popular is that charities usually get a very profitable return on their investment (often around 5:1 [1]) because the person is asked to donate on a regular basis. By securing long term donations, charities are able to plan future campaigns in the knowledge that they have a guaranteed amount of money to work with. The acquisition of funds through face to face street donations has been shown to be the most cost effective method of fundraising for charities compared to costly (and often ineffective) television, radio and newspaper campaigns. [citation needed]

Face to face fundraisers also serve to raise awareness of small charities and highlight the importance of new campaigns in larger, more well known organisations. The primary role of a fundraiser is to secure financial support, but charities also consider it an effective way to reach people and sharing important information. It is known to be particularly effective as a method of engaging young people who may not normally consider themselves interested in the charity's work.

Street Fundraising

Paid street fundraisers stand in busy areas and approach passers-by to convince them to donate money to the charitable cause he/she is promoting. They will briefly explain the work of the charity and try to engage the person in a dialogue about the issues the charity focuses on. The fundraiser will then lead the conversation towards asking for a financial contribution, often a regular monthly or yearly pledge.

Street fundraisers often work in teams, and are usually not local to the area they are working. They may be paid by the hour, or through commission, or a combination of both. The thinking behind usingperformance-related pay is that the more people the fundraiser convinces to donate to the charity, the better the return on investment. However this situation can lead to the fundraiser using high pressure selling technique which may lead to a greater number of the new supporters quickly cancelling their support, thus eliminating the charity's supposed financial gain. Commission is also unpopular with both employees and members of the public. In the United Kingdom, fundraisers are legally obliged to point out to potential donors if they are paid when they speak to them. A self-regulatory body, the PFRA, exists to ensure that this happens and that all fundraisers conduct themselves in a manner acceptable to the charity.

Door to Door Fundraising

Door to door fundraisers call to people's houses and ask them to consider contributing to a charity. Usually this means a regular donation, but it can also be a one-off payment. Door to door fundraising is also a profitable method for the charities who use it, although it is not a popular as street fundraising.

Some door to door fundraisers work in teams. They will come to an area only once to approach as many homes as possible. They are unable to make appointemnts to return, which can lead to a high pressure situation where a person may feel intimidated into making a decision to support the charity. Other door to door fundraisers work alone. In this case they are likely to live locally and are able to make appointents to return to see a person who may be interested in supporting the charity. This gives people more time to think it over and research the charity, and they are far less likely to feel pressured.

Volunteer Fundraisers

Charities have always relied upon individuals to help raise money for them. These people use many methods, such as collecting cash in boxes or tins, sponsored tasks, organising events and collecting from the attendees, or visiting people at thier homes and asking for a donation. Volunteers may contibute just a few hours as a one-off action or work regularly for a charity for many years. There are some great examples of dedicated individuals raising enormous sums for their favourite charity, just in their spare time. However, by nature this is an unreliable way for major charitable organisations to source thier funds. If charities were forced to manage on spontaneous donations alone, many would have to scale down their operations considerably.

Colloquial Terms

Paid street fundraisers are sometimes known as chuggers because of the aggressive way they can behave (a combination of the words "charity mugger"). It became popular as a way of referring to street fundraisers after several articles appeared in British newspapers which touched upon the negative image of the people doing the job. Similarly, a paid door to door fundraiser is sometimes called a churglar (contraction of charity burglar).

Criticisms of Face To Face Fundraising

Frequent complaints about paid street fundraisers include the use of aggressive or deceitful tactics, lack of knowledge of the charity, refusal to listen to a person who doesn't want to stop. Sometimes the sheer frequency of fundraisers in a certain area will lead to frustration- a person asked on their way home from work every day will be very unlikely to have a positive view of street fundraisers, or be prepared to engage with them.

Opinion polls suggest high levels of public hostility towards street fundraisers, with as many as 80 per cent of those interviewed being against them [Source: Times Online [2] ]. Under present UK law, street fundraising is legal as street fundraisers are not themselves soliciting cash donations, but rather standing orders or a Direct Debit.

The fundraisers may be employed directly by the charity as part of an 'in-house' team. They may also be employed by an agency working specifically in the area of fundraising. In this case, the company is usually paid a fee per person signed up. This fee can be around GBP 70 [Source: GBP 350 return on investment at 5:1 return, [3] ].

Street fundraising will continue while it remains legal and cost-effective. However some people find street fundraisers intimidating and may feel pressurised into signing up to regulare giving agreements. In the UK some local councils have set up "cold caller exclusion zones" (See Out In The Cold) to prevent doorstep fundraisers.

An effective way to deal with doorstep fundraisers is simply to refuse to open the door. Alternatively the police recommend using a door-chain, and not making eye contact. Because the fundraiser is uninvited and may be inconveniencing the target, the target should not be afraid to shut the door.

An effective method for dealing with street fundraisers is to say "I'm sorry, I'm not interested," while not breaking stride and not making eye contact. If the fundraiser persists, he or she is arguably committing an act of harassment. The target may request the fundraiser's name and the name of the agency and state the intention to take legal action for harassment, and to report both the individual and the agency to the charity. The cost and time involved in dealing with written complaints may outweigh the cost-effectiveness of fundraising using fundraisers. However, the PFRA states that less than one in 7,000 fundraising interactions led to a complaint being made [4].

The fundraiser's target may wish to state that they already donate to a portfolio of preferred charities, have existing commitments or donate via their payroll. The target may point out that their first year's donations would pay the agency employing the fundraiser, not the charity itself, and the target therefore only gives directly to a charity. If the fundraiser is promoting a cancer charity, the target can point out that cancer charities are some of the best-funded charities and that the target supports local charities that can't afford to pay agency fees for fundraisers.

Organisations that employ street fundraisers

Source: Personal interaction and/or PFRA

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