When Charities Get It Wrong

I have been someone who gave to charity from the moment I understood the meaning of the word as a young child. Whether it was putting change in a collection pot, holding a collection pot on behalf of a charity, sponsoring people individually and sponsoring events through my business, volunteering, regularly buying the big issue, donating to specific causes or helping to organise charitable events, I’ve done it. I have found being charitable to be its own best reward and it is nice to know that I am helping people and creatures less fortunate than myself and I intend to go on doing so for as long as I’m able.

However, it is with sadness that I must now tell you that there will be some charities I will no longer donate to or support, such as Save the Children, Oxfam and the RSPCA. Why is this you ask? Well I am growing increasingly weary and irritated by the current trend of large national charitable organisations to use guerrilla marketing tactics and high pressure sales tactics to obtain donations. Firstly there are the tabard wearing young people who accost the general public for direct debit donations in the streets and shopping centres around towns. How is it that it is illegal to shake your collection pot to gain attention to your cause, but it’s okay to physically put yourself in the way of someone who obviously is not wanting to stop and talk to you and not give up until they have physically passed you by.

I find I have to either be incredibly rude to get my point across with a strong no whilst continuing to walk at a rapid pace or adopt my travelling mien where I don’t make eye contact, ignoring them completely and continue walking. I expect touts in foreign countries where it is the culture, but this is Britain and I don’t appreciate it in my own home, especially when they are canvassing for charity, which should be something that people choose to freely give not feel harassed to do as a duty! I find it disrespectful of my privacy, incredibly invasive of my personal space and highly presumptive that their charity is one that I want to support.

There are so many charities and worthy causes out there, but it is foolhardy to think that you could support every single one and most people pick and choose charities that address issues that most concern them. When I see traditional charity collectors out on the street I give my change to those charities which I care the most about. The difference between traditional charity collectors and the canvassers is that the charity collectors leave the choice to engage with them and donate up to me. It’s an important distinction, because it is my time, my choice and my money that these canvassers are trying to impinge on. I can see their tabards, I can see their clipboards, and surely it is not a hard leap to think that if I wanted to give to that charity I would approach them myself, in my own time and in my own way?

The other main issue with the canvassers is that there isn’t just one of them, oh no they seem to travel in a pack of at least three, fanning out along a street or shopping area thus ensuring that they have both sides and each end of the road covered for maximum accosting! The result being that if you are incredibly unlucky you are accosted by all of them in the space of just ten minutes.

I’ve taken to not going into my local town centre without headphones on and I find myself weaving in and out of certain areas instead of meandering as I would like to just so I can avoid being accosted. Just today I saw one representative of the RSPCA accosting people who were sat down relaxing on a public bench! The problem is also that it’s not just in the large cities or once in a blue moon that this sort of marketing tactic takes place, but quite regularly now, which means I find shopping in my town centre a much less enjoyable experience than I once did.

Compounding my grievance with these charities is their use of harrowing, exploitative imagery, with stirring music and inflammatory words on their advertisements. The just £2 a week or £10 month calls to arms and then should you sign up to regularly donate they are always badgering you to give more. I think charity is an important part of modern societies and that we should encourage and support it, but at the same time there are so many different charities out there that it is not possible for the average person to donate to every single one and the hard sell and marketing tactics don’t take this into account. I’m sure they are raking in the cash and perhaps that’s the only important thing here, but I thought charity was about more than just money?

I will continue to support local and national charities that have not gone down the hard sell and guerrilla marketing route. To local town and city councils I would urge that you think more carefully before allowing this kind of canvassing for support in your shopping centres for fear that it might put other shoppers off coming into town, further driving a move towards online sales. I’d like to stress that Oxfam, Save the Children and the RSPCA are not the only charities that use guerrilla marketing and hard sell tactics, but are the charities that in my area are the most prevalent and therefore the first that came to mind for the purposes of this article.

And lastly I would like to say please do not stop being charitable, with your time, effort, resources as well as your money. There are plenty of wonderful charities and causes out there, but perhaps we the public need to send a message that guerrilla marketing and the hard sell should not be part of charity.

Wealie x