Charities pay huge sums to firms that employ so-called 'charity muggers' who stop people in the street and try to persuade them to donate by direct debit. But the charities often don't see a penny of this donated money because the 'chugging' firm charges are so high. Controversial tactic: Chuggers are used by many of Britain's leading charities to boost donations Last year, 750,000 people signed on the dotted line, giving an average contribution of £90 a year. But a BBC investigation has found the charities are often paying the companies, in effect, £100 or more for each signature they collect – meaning in many cases the company is paid more than the charity will raise from that donor in the first year. And many of those signed up by these sub-contractors do not complete 12 months of donations. Research shows that more than half the people who sign direct debits pull out before the end of the first year. As part of the investigation, BBC's Newsnight contacted 20 leading charities. The British Heart Foundation confirmed it paid the equivalent of £136 per signature. Cancer Research UK said it paid an average of £112 to recruit each donor and in total paid face-to-face fundraisers £3million a year. Guide Dogs said it paid out nearly £2million annually. Save the Children, Great Ormond Street, Amnesty and others also pay millions. They agreed but – with the exception of the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK – they refused to say how much they paid to sign up each donor Many charities said they could not disclose these figures because of commercial confidentiality. Mick Aldridge, chief executive of the Professional Fundraising Regulatory Association, said: 'Some charities might be paying £50 or £60 per donor, some might be paying £100 or £120 or possibly even more. 'It may look to the outsider – to the uninformed outsider – as if all of their first-year donation is going to go to a third party but that's not the only way of looking at it. 'And in my view, and in the view of most charities, it is not the most transparent and constructive way of looking at it.’ He added that overall the charities get £3 to £4 back for every pound they pay the subcontractors, which he said was an excellent return on an investment. In response to the Newsnight investigation, Cancer Research UK said face-to-face fundraising was just one of its cashraising activities and that the costs were outweighed by the money raised. Many charities, like Guide Dogs and Save the Children, said that door-to-door fundraising is the most ‘cost-effective way’ to recruit regular donators, while Christian Aid said it found face-to-face fundraising was also one of the best ways ‘to engage members of the public’ in its work. Betty McBride, Director of Policy and Communications at the British Heart Foundation, said: 'Over half of people signed up in this way begin a long term relationship with the charity. 'Their regular giving enables us to support vital long term activities such as heart research. This support is gold dust for us because it means we can plan our grant research programme. 'It’s a fantastic relationship based on trust. The initial investment pays off time and again and helps us to fight heart disease. 'Over a three year period, every £1 we spend on fundraising generates another £3 at least.'
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The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1306567/Fees-high-street-chuggers-eat-millions-donated-charities.html
Tens of millions of pounds donated to charities every year by the public through 'chuggers' seldom get further than private fundraising companies, an investigation has revealed.
Revealed: How fees for High Street 'chuggers' are eating up the millions you donate to charities
Newsnight also asked the 20 charities whether they believed they should be open with their donors about the fundraising costs.
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WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic, anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or religion, or any other stupid article, it does not mean that I support them. It just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be absolute. That does not mean again of course that I agree with anti-Jews, antisemites, racists of any kind or anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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