Charities - are they allowed to do this?

Young man (17-19yo) knocks at the door seeking donations to 'Save the Children'. Only £1.85 a week says he - seemed like a con, was it likely to have been?

When told no, suggested all our neighbours had been more generous.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield
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Seems a bit of an odd figure - why £1.85, I wonder.

Did he have any ID with him?

Charities do seem to ask specific amounts these days though.

See if there's a "Save the Children" website somewhere that might help.

Reply to
Frank Erskine

More than likely although he should have had an ID card to prove who he was.

More fool them then and does not say much for him with such a cheap jibe.

Reply to
ericp

So what are you going to D-I-Y about it:-)?

Get a sign up like mine. "No sales reps, bible bashers or hawkers - Thank You"

The pests soon stop knocking.

Adam

Reply to
ARWadsworth

Wouldn't have got anything here.

If not a con, it is insulting, it is misuse of private information and probably a very inefficient means of raising revenue. I look on anyone trying that as a blackmailer. And probably in line to receive some payment himself.

Any charitable donations I may make are direct to the charity and, if possible, use whatever Giftaid tax benefits are available.

Reply to
Rod

ARWadsworth wrote on 11/01/2010 :

Had such a sign up for a few years. They read it, then decide it doesn't apply to them. Too be fair it was dark when this one called.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

Probably related to GiftAid, for each £1 donated by a taxpayer, the charity actually receives £100/78.

Still £1.85 x 52 x 100/78 works out at an odd amount (£123.33/year) maybe the chugger earns the £23.33?

Reply to
Andy Burns

Frank Erskine presented the following explanation :

I have just checked, and there is no such amount mentioned that I could see. I phoned them and they were 'not very helpful', so I have now emailed them.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

There are quite a number of genuine door-to-door charity collectors. It's illegal for them to collect money at the door, so they get you to sign up. They earn quite a commission for each person they sign up.

There are also lots of people trying to get hold of your bank and/or card details. The amount suggested here is designed to be too low for you to worry about, but it's also rather too low for the charity to be interested in after they've paid the collector's commission, so I think it could well have been an effort to obtain banking info.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Is that a recent "law" ? cos Oxfam or one of the other big charities used to deliver envelopes round our way and then collect them later when you had stuck some cash in them .....but that hasn't happened in a while .

Reply to
Usenet Nutter

Authorised house to house collecting is quite legal: I collected during Christian Aid Week for many years. I'd rather hand over a fiver to someone I didn't know than my bank details.

"If you thought being hassled by charity fundraisers in the street was bad enough, how would you feel if they started appearing at your front door? Charities that seek to sign up monthly donors are increasingly shifting from pavements to doorsteps ..."

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Reply to
Tony Bryer

iirc!!

Reply to
Usenet Nutter

I've had callers from other charities, generally requesting direct-debit payments of around £2 per month.

I don't think that's what they want. If you sign up they have your contact details and they know that you are a soft touch. You should expect to get lots of begging letters from the charity. They will also sell your details to other charities who will also plague you.

Reply to
Bernard Peek

In message , Usenet Nutter writes

Yup, and they still do.

Reply to
chris French

It is illegal to operate a door-to-door or on-street collection unless you have a permit from the council (some charities have a Home Office exemption) (or the Metropolitan Police in London). Permits are usually issued for designated areas and limited periods, and most councils will not allow more than one collection in any area per week.

In England and Wales the relevant legislation for street collections is Section 5 of the Police, Factories etc Miscellaneous Provisions Act

1916 and the Charitable Collections (Transitional Provisions) Order 1974 and for house-to-house collections is the House to House Collections Act 1939 or for direct debit fundraising the Charities Act (1992) Section 60 part 2

Owain

Reply to
Owain

Don't know details, but one of them was being interviewed on the telly a couple of months back about their work, and he said it was illegal for them to accept money on the spot, and their task is to get people signed up for a continuous payment. However, it would take best part of a year to pay his commission at the proposed rate, so this doesn't sound genuine to me.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

That was a major irritation to me. I supported a number of charities by standing order precisely because I understood that it helped them to know that £x was coming in each month, rather than being dependent on the vagaries of one-off appeals. One that really annoyed me said something like "we know that in August donations fall off so we are asking whether you can make an extra gift", to which my response (not sent) was that if they knew that receipts fall off in August they should budget accordingly.

But why do they send out all this bumpf? Because it delivers.

Reply to
Tony Bryer

Yeah, exactly the sort of behaviour likely to get themselves in people's good books so that they will be inclined to help them. Not.

Pete

Reply to
Pete Verdon

Harry said that the guy said he was seeking donations *to* save the children, not that he was *from* Save the Children. Pretty much QED IMHO

Reply to
Graham.

Kenny Everett on London's Capital Radio during their 'Help a London Child' fund raising appeal, somewhere back in the eighties.

"Oooo, I'd like to be that child. Imagine, you could all be raising that money, for me!!!"

Or some equal silliness, I can't remember it exactly - but close ;-)

Reply to
Adrian C

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