Charity Guilt Trip

[Stormtreader]

In the UK these are "chuggers" - charity muggers.
I had one once call me a "tight b**ch" as I walked away, I was so shocked it didnt occur to me til afterwards that I should have gotten his name and reported him.

[Twik]

I think that the problem with people canvassing for charities is that they are not operating on the same principles as people in their daily lives. This is their job. And unfortunately, many times for their job, they are trained not to take "no" for an answer, while at the same time trying to create an atmosphere that keeps the "mark" treating them like friends, who it would be rude to refuse.

When a previous poster says "It was like she didn't hear me," that's because the canvasser is trained not to think, "Oh, she says she can't contribute, too bad!". Instead, s/he is trained to think, "Hmm, what strategy can I use to make them change their minds?"

There are polite canvassers out there, certainly. But there are also a lot of shady companies whose only interest at the end of the day is that they get lots of money out of the people they call. While one must not be overtly rude to such people, one needs to switch from "Oh, this guy called up and refers to me by name in every sentence, it would be rude to end the call before he does," to "This is a commercial call - he really has no interest in my wellbeing, and it is not rude to say I'm not interested and hang up."

[MrTango]

I tend to regard people canvassing for charities in the same way as street-corner petition hawkers and those people in malls who agressively try to sell everything from plastic shoes to annoyingly-scented hand creams.

I refuse eye contact, ignore anything they say, and keep walking.

[Portugal79]

my friend who did donate to a charity was accosted on the street by one of the "chuggers" as there known in the UK. (it stands for charity muggers), when she explained she already donated to the charity. they then asked her to donate more. she went home cancelled her direct debit to the charity. fired off an angry letter to said charity that her reason was, she didn't appriciate the charity requesting more then she could afford and now donates to a more appriciate charity

[Birdie Wife]

I work for a large charity in the UK and the powers that be made a decision a few years back to contract out some direct marketing to a professional firm - these are the people who stand in the street with the clipboards and stop people walking by and try to get people to sign up to a monthly donation.They don't work for the charity, they work for the marketing company, and they are target-driven, not charity-driven. We started getting a lot of complaints because of this, and the average time that people signed up for dropped quite dramatically.

For right or wrong, they are still working under contract for us, but my charity is managing them a lot more carefully now than they were, and if they get a complaint, it goes straight back to the marketing company and action is taken. If you're unhappy with the conduct of these marketers, please, please, take the details of when and where you were and take it back to the charity so they can do something about it. Their conduct reflects badly on the charity, which is taken very seriously indeed.

[Wench]

I never knew they were called chuggers but I have had a couple of interesting experiences.

One bloke about ten years ago tried to guilt trip me into donating to charity by saying his girlfriend was unemployed and was using her benefits to support three different charities! 

I also had one man  following me down the street taunting "I'm following you."  I told him if he carried on followng me I would report him to the police as stalking is a crime.  He sooned backed off and tried to make out he was only walking in the same direction as me.

I believe that these chuggers do more harm than good and can do a lot of damage to a charity's reputation.  Its one thing for them to ask for money in a tin but for my bank details  - no way!  Also the fact that they are getting paid £8.00 an hour can leave a sour taste in my mouth.

[gingerzing]

Whilst on the phone with this particular charity, I stressed how upset I was about the situation. The lady on the phone told me "we don't like our staff to pressure people, we will deal with him". I don't want him in any trouble as he is working for a fantastic cause, but feel you need to be careful how you go about requesting money from people.

When the person is so aggressive that it gives the charity a black eye, something needs to be done.  Now that could be a re-training session or something else. 
Had I been the one that he said "Just Don't Buy Bread" I would had seriously just walked away.  Or muttered something about buying bread is for rich people, I am lucky to get crusts.   

And to the ones who hurl insults, I will take names and numbers.  Or at the least, say "yup I am.  And you aren't helping your cause."

[DuBois]

I tend to regard people canvassing for charities in the same way as street-corner petition hawkers and those people in malls who agressively try to sell everything from plastic shoes to annoyingly-scented hand creams.

I refuse eye contact, ignore anything they say, and keep walking.

Same here, I just will not engage solicitors of any kind, be they beggars or chuggers (I'm in the UK) I will occasionaly buy a copy of The Big Issue (which is a magazine for the homeless, sold by the homeless) but that's about it.

[magician5]

I rarely see charity solicitors on the street, but I am not very mobile so I never go to the downtown big business areas of the city any more, or to any malls.

However, I get very angry when, despite being on the national "do not call list", I get a call (doubly infuriating when it's a stupid robot call) that solicits money. Under this law, political candidates and charities are still allowed to cold call. I'll give a grudging "pass" to nationally-known mainstream charities, but when they're clearly scams it's just insulting. "May I speak with Mr. [Mispronounced}? This is John Doe of the Metropolitan Police Widows' Fund (Who? Ask my cop cousin, they don't exist, at least not around here) and you can help the orphans..." [click]

Many of these in-name-only charities solicit money, and the "educational activities" they claim to perform are no more than how-not-to-get-burgled paragraphs printed on the back of their receipts, and of course the sale of the mailing lists they generate are worth even bigger bucks to them.

[jedikaiti]

One other thing- most of the people out on the streets soliciting for you to sign up to regular payments are paid by companies who then take a cut of the donations before passing on the rest to charity. They have targets to meet, which is why they can be so pushy. If you decide to donate to a charity, contact them direct and make sure you Giftaid your donations if you are a UK taxpayer so they can get the most from your gift.

This is also true for a number of telemarketing fundraisers. In fact, sometimes it's worse - the company promises to raise $X for the charity, and KEEPS ANYTHING MORE THEY GET.

I flatly refuse to donate to any organization that won't give me printed documentation of their mission & where the money goes before I promise a single penny. If they say "We'll send you brochure with your <insert reward here> if you pledge $Y or more," I reply "I'm sorry, but without evidence to the contrary, I must assume you are a con artist and hang up now. Goodbye."

[rachellenore]

All you have to say is "Not today, thanks" and walk away.

It's not your fault that random bad things happen, and you don't have to be the one financing these support efforts.

[elephantschild]

My brother, at the time not long out of college and living in an unfamilar city, had a job interview with a company that -- on the surface -- sounded like a great job doing meaningful work for a charitable organization. He went to the interview and was offered the job. Great!

Then he walked into his first day of work, and discovered that he was supposed to be doing things like that fellow the OP had to deal with. He was to accost people on the street, not to take no for an answer and give all these sob-story reasons for why they had to give him their money.

He quit an hour later. Said he wouldn't have been able to live with himself.

[Raintree]

My personal (non) favourite: "Well for the price of just half a latte a day, you can (insert name of thing they want you to do)."

Yeah well I don't buy a latte a day. It's too expensive. I make my coffee at home in the morning and that's it. Why are they assuming I can afford a latte every day?

[toontownnutter]

I just politely say no thankyou. If they ask again I'll pretend I'm deaf. If they ask a third time I'll tell them I don't speak English (in a broad Aussie accent). Not ehell approved I know but I have issues with being too polite to say no so it's best nipped in the bud quickly before they get a chance to convince me or guilt me.

I never donate to charities who contract the direct marketing. Why would I donate when the person asking me doesn't think enough of the charity themselves to give their time for free?

[Winterlight]

I tend to regard people canvassing for charities in the same way as street-corner petition hawkers and those people in malls who agressively try to sell everything from plastic shoes to annoyingly-scented hand creams.

I refuse eye contact, ignore anything they say, and keep walking.

This, combined with big sunglasses and headphones.

My personal (non) favourite: "Well for the price of just half a latte a day, you can (insert name of thing they want you to do)."

Yeah well I don't buy a latte a day. It's too expensive. I make my coffee at home in the morning and that's it. Why are they assuming I can afford a latte every day?

They've read David Bach's books and know about The Latte Factor is my guess.