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Tuesday Jul 11, 2006
Chugging begins at home
Chugging (or 'street fundraising') is, for many, the unacceptable face of charity. On Upper Street where YouthNet is based you can't walk for fifteen seconds without being accosted by on over-friendly student-type with a desperate grin asking you if you care about children dying/cancer/global poverty etc.
The trouble is that it works. According to Andrew Moffat of the Mental Health Foundation last year chugging brought in over £12m for UK charities. And, since most people are signing up for direct debits, that figure underestimates the true value of this most direct form of fundraising.
Moffat has now decided to take his street fundraising in-house which is a brave move. As with any direct selling, most people are happier when it's kept at arms length from the more genteel activities of the organisation. But Moffat is convinced that chugging is also a way of engaging the public, not just getting their cash.
Starting our own street fundraising team has not been easy. We have had to challenge some of the usual misconceptions within our own staff. Time has had to be spent discussing why we are fundraising this way and the benefits it brings. Happily, we seem to have convinced everyone to the extent that some existing staff members are now looking forward to going out themselves and helping the new team fundraise.
I think more charities should follow suit. Let's see senior managers out on the street in branded anoraks confronting the general public with their clipboards. Even better, replace the normal banal ice breakers at charity meetings with a quick chugging session on the local high street.
Posted by Tom Green ( 10:06 AM ) Link to this post Comments[1]