Intelligent Giving

Door to door fundraising is not new and has ben practised in the UK for over 25 years, initially asking for a covenant, then standing order and now direct debits.

The IoF has a code of practise on face to face fundraising which covers doorstep fundraising:

http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/bestpractice/thecodes/codesof...

Meanwhile, those charities that are members of the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association have signed up to a ten point code of conduct that covers street and doorstep fundraising http://pfra.org.uk/cofc.htm?sectionSet=public&menuSet=down

Hope this helps

Fair enough, some people object to door to door sign-ups.
I've been on both sides of the door - knocking the door on behalf of a commercial organisation and receiving knocks on the door on behalf of gas/lecky/cable/charity/religious organisations.

While I'm against pushy ways of getting sign-ups, I do understand that some people will feel obligated because its for a good cause.
Though that obligation can also apply in the street, in a meeting or from watching a TV ad! Marketing techniques are used by many charities these days.

If someone is pushy you can complain to the organisation about them. Often it is a third-party organisation doing the actual knocking.

Donor losses are high with any kind of individual giving by strangers. But still a cost-effective way of getting money.
Individuals giving money is still one of the largest source of funds for charities these days.
I've no problem with Merlin, no connection to them either as employee or donor but no problem with their work.
Now if someone approached me about some charity I don't know, I'd be more suspicious and wary of signing up there and then.

Bogus callers have been around a while now, and will continue to be around. Proper ID? I can knock something official looking up at home in a couple of hours.
The only way of stopping bogus callers robbing people or fiddling them is to simply ban every type of doorstep, telephone or email caller. Every single one.
Can't see it happening myself. :)

Martin

Just re-read my last post on this and it rather contradicts the first one! I guess you've gone some way to changing my mind on the issue LMC. 

Don't shoot the messenger

"Invading people's homes"....... and to think I once got accused of a lack of impartiality and the use of overly emotive language ;-) If any fundraiser (or anyone else for that matter) were to enter your home without your permission that would consitute a criminal offence rendering industry guidelines and ethical codes quite irrelevant.  

To be fair to you LMC you're consistent in applying the same judgements to commercial organisations and it's a point of view that I have some sympathy with. We already have a statutory 'cooling off' period for door to door sales, but I'm unsure as to whether that measure is sufficient. Instinctively I'm against unnecesarily restrictive legislation (especially when it's targeted exclusively at the charity sector), but then again exploitation and bullying tactics have no place in either business or charity and should not be tolerated. I'm not used to being an 'undecided'!  

Don't shoot the messenger

Martin - there's a reason it works better than mailshots: which is not that people are more likely to 'want' to give to you - it's that they are more unlikely to feel able to say 'No' when caught 'off-guard' in the one place that they can fully relax - at home. I repeat: street fundraising - fine. Asking at meetings - fine. "Invading" people's homes - not fine. I would love to hear about attrition rates for people signed up in this way. I hope they are so high as to make house-to-house an entirely unprofitable method of fundraising and put the fundraisers back on the High Streets/in public areas rather than on people's doorsteps. The end beneficiary doesn't care about the motive of the giver - £2 is £2, whether given joyfully or in simmering resentment just to get rid of a pushy fundraiser. But charities should care about goodwill.

To avoid accusations of hypocrisy, I object equally to door-to-door salespeople/sales calls. However, in the case of charities I am more concerned about a) vulnerable/elderly who are often hard up as it is - it's easier to say 'No' to a double-glazing salesperson (especially if you have already GOT double-glazing!) than to a genuinely good cause and b) the fraud implications of charitable collections - your 'average person' instinctively trusts charities more than they do double-glazing companies. It's all very well saying that people can just say No - but many find that very difficult. (I don't - but that's not the point!)

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... nearly Vlad the Impaler

From charity news articles/press, cold-calling and house-to-house fundraising are the "coming things" in a crowded market where street fundraising appears to be at saturation. We will be seeing more of it I'm afraid.

In terms of guidelines - house-to-house good practice would be the same as for street fundraising. Which is that a 'No' is final and the fundraiser should not pressurise you - in the case of street fundraising not follow you down the street, in the case of house fundraising and cold calling, accept the end of the 'call', remembering that they will be giving themselves as unpleasant a reputation as double-glazing salespeople if they don't gracefully accept the first 'No'.

Re: cold calling. Sign up to Telephone Preference Service (which I have been signed up to for a number of years). It's free, it takes effect within 28 days, any organisation which makes more than a certain number of cold calls annually is legally obliged to sign up to purchase their lists. Including, at the moment, charities - some are campaigning for charities to be excluded from this legislation.

Well done for raising this issue Sam. PLEASE take it up directly with Merlin. The last thing they want is to be given a bad reputation. [NB I have no connection with Merlin in any way - either as a donor or employee/volunteer]. The fundraiser who called on you was almost certainly from a 3rd party organisation which Merlin has hired - and may need further training or a gentle reminder that No means No. If it happens again - get the name of the fundraiser.

Now for opinion - possibly already clear from all this. I personally don't like street fundraising but accept that it reaches donors that other methods do not reach - and evidently works, or charities wouldn't do it. However, I am *vehemently* against house-to-house or telephone cold-calling. Vulnerable people find it hard to say no to predatory salespeople, let alone a genuine good cause - which they genuinely purely don't have the financial resources to support. If house-to-house fundraising becomes common/culturally acceptable, we *will* see an increase in criminals claiming to be fundraisers, who will profit from people's generosity - despite well-publicised and repeated advice about checking ID of any doorstep caller.

It's bad enough that too many charities try to invoke feelings of guilt for non-support of their cause via the post [1] or in the street. How DARE they invade people's own homes to presume on their good nature or unwillingness to say 'No' through misplaced guilt.

Footnote [1] - Not that mailings bother me any more - Mailing Preference Service will 'clean' your name from lists being sold/passed around too - takes a bit longer to take effect (6 months is what you need to allow if I recall correctly) - but you will notice a difference before then. Royal Mail opt-out service will prevent unaddressed mail - http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/print?catId=400126&mediaId=500081

I am sure that someone will very shortly argue that fundraisers are "having to resort" to house-to-house or cold-calling because of the number of people who are signed up to the Preferences/opt outs I have listed above. Newsflash: there is a good reason we signed up to those services. If we don't want your mail, we're hardly likely to react kindly to being dragged from our warm sofas or away from food/family to be pressurised by you.

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... nearly Vlad the Impaler

Yes there are plenty of charities that do this, usually through a third party agency as (for most) it wouldn't be cost effective any other way. To the very best of my knowledge there are no Institute of Fundraising or Charity Commission guidelines discouraging organisations from operating in this way and my personal view is that each charity should make it's own decisions on which fundraising strategies to adopt (provided they're legal and within the bounds of what's considered ethical).............. That said of course you've got every right to decide that you don't like the approach and therefore you won't be donating, it's really no different from the decisions that you make every day as a consumer. Personally I'd never buy double glazing, energy or insurance from a cold calling salesperson - but I defend their right to give it a go!  

Don't shoot the messenger

Stopping people in the street, going door to door armed with direct debit forms, asking people at meetings - they all work.

The number one reason I've heard people say why they give to a charity is because they were asked.
That simple.

Its not a great deal different when it all comes down to it from people knocking on your door to get you to change gas/lecky supplier.
Many people won't want to do anything now, some will respond positively.

We've had the Red Cross round our estate a couple of times, not had Merlin yet.

I'm not sure the rules regarding door to door collections for charities will apply with simply going round with direct debit forms.
It is however one way to get people to sign up for individual giving, and a little more personal than simply sending you a mailshot.
I'm given to understand the income potential from door to door signup is somewhat higher than mailshots too.

Martin

Representative of Merlin called at our house Tues night - very polite - explained all about the charity - he was armed with DD mandates and there was some pressure for me to fill one in at the time. I resisted - not because I disliked the idea of donating to this charity - but because I dislike the idea of "cold calling" on the telephone and this seemed like another manifestation of that. Are there guidelines for charities about this sort of thing? Do other charities do this kind of "house to house" visitation armed with DD's? Any comments about this kind of trawling for custom or am I being overly sensitive?