International aid charity will drop the controversial practise
One of the country’s leading charities is to ditch cold calling in light of negative media reports concerning the controversial practice.
Save the Children said it would stop cold calling customers after it was one of the charities criticised in the wake of Olive Cooke’s death.
The charity said it will publish new guidelines on Wednesday.
Charities use cold caling either via doorstep visits by fundraisers or by phone call to their mobile or landline.
The technique has been found to be controversial because of the way salespeople pressure the customers into signing up.
Chief executive Justin Forsyth said: “We have to get the balance right between raising much-needed money with making sure members of the public, who want to help us save lives and give every child the chance to learn, feel respected and valued.”
“Our passionate and dedicated supporters are the beating heart of our organisation and we recognise that the way we work with them has to improve,” he said.
It was also working with the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB) and the Institute of Fundraising (IoF) on a review of fundraising practices said Forsyth.
Charities have come under sustained pressure to review the way they fundraise after fundraiser Olive Cooke died two months ago.
A regular charity donor as well as a loyal volunteer, it is thought Olive was pressured by a host of leading charities in the months before her death - receiving up to 260 “begging” letters in one month.
There have also been calls for the three leading fundraising bodies – IoF, FRSB and the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association – to combine into one entity and for regulation to be enshrined in new legislation.
Aninvestigation by Third Force News uncovered the practices used by fundraisers working for private firms on behalf of major, household name charities - including flirting with people on the street and operating an unwritten "don't tell, don't see" policy in pursuit of cash.
We alsolifted the lid on the toll the relentless drive to hit targets has on the fundraisers themselves.
