An anonymous fundraiser’s guide on how to avoid being hassled...
I appreciate that members of the public find themselves feeling harassed but my advice is to remain calm. It doesn’t help anyone if it becomes a highly charged situation.
You have the right to opt out if you are receiving phone calls, but you have to have the conversation where you say “thanks but no thanks and please remove me from your call list”. All the companies who make the calls are legally obliged to follow this – but you have to be very clear, you need to not say I’d rather you called back or something like that.
You have to say in plain language that you want it to stop and be removed. A lot of people are too polite and say things like I’m not too sure just now, maybe call me another time when they actually don’t want to be contacted.
The fundraiser is not raising millions and they are not conmen. Most are doing it, at least in part, because they think they are helping people
For door-to-door, increasing numbers of people have no cold call signs, that’s always an option, but right at the start of the conversation, be polite and say you’re not interested and they should leave you alone. A lot of people try to be nice and think “I’ll at least give them the time of day”. That is often the fundraiser’s isle of calm after you’ve had 20 people in a row telling you where to go.
But the problem is once you start chatting the fundraiser is trained to go in their methods – build rapport, make a pitch. It’s best to state you’re not interested right at the start.
From a street point of view, just don’t stop – because for a fundraiser the key thing is getting a member of the public to stop. Fundraisers are told they are not allowed to follow people – I myself maybe followed for 10 seconds then I left it. Members of the public are best to be polite, calm and firm and not tell people to fuck off or start shouting and accusing them of wild things.
It would be better if everyone realises that the fundraiser is not raising millions and they are not conmen. Most are doing it, at least in part, because they think they are helping people. We should all treat each other like human beings.
Read TFN's related articles Through the eyes of the fundraiser and The secrets of the charity fundraiser based on our investigation into what life is really like for charity fundraisers.
