I, like many have been deeply saddened to think that hard sell tactics from charity staff has led to a generous lovely lady being led to despair. The telephone scams and bullying approach targeting the vulnerable, and so often the elderly should be stopped. Maybe if the culprits are fined, named and shamed it would stop.

I have been fortunate to have worked for over thirty years both as a freelancer and volunteer within the not for profit sector in various roles, including fundraising and have never resorted, been involved or witnessed such tactics. I believe in maintaining contact with donors but there are better ways of doing so!

As in any business (which charities have become) I have never believed  it necessary to bully people in to buying one’s product/services or beg on behalf of a cause however worthy.

Sadly it is the charities  that suffer as a result of this type of management that should never train sales/fundraising staff to act in this way! Again unnecessary -people buy from people anyway so train your staff to be polite, friendly and respect people’s privacy and choice.

Aside of being appalled at the training of staff, and over zealous management pushing commission based donations we all of course remain furious at how our personal data continues to be ‘sold on’ and abused.

Having donated to Nepal disaster recently, I did receive a follow up call but the staff from UNICEF were polite and not pushy and accepted I did not wish to set up a regular commitment – but I am not certain that vulnerable people are as firm as me generally when dealing with charity staff.

I think some of the larger charities have lost their way and maybe now’s the time to review their strategies and take a leaf out of the smaller charities book who still really value their donors.