Giving to Charity - Responses

Sully

Hey all,

After speaking with a friend who works for a voluntary ambulance service (Order of Malta, Tramore) she was telling me that when they go out collecting (only recently) for donations to their ambulance service some people give rude responses and refuse to give any money. I was supprised at this reaction, as the service in Tramore if called gets to you quicker then waiting for one from the city.

One reaction was "I dont give to charity." and slammed the door. Another was "I dont believe Tramore needs an ambulance service, go away". And others (more out the country) said "Tramore has an ambulance service?". Note, this service has been around years and has been called to many emergencys localy as well as being present in events.

I was supprised at this kind of reaction by people, espically to a service that could save your life.

On collecting they are in full uniform and the ambulance is with them, so there is no doubt its "genuine".

Has anyone else had a similar experience, or expressed similar response to callers to your door?

Stephen

To be honest, people coming to my door uninvited would piss me off, no matter what their cause is, but I wouldn't be rude to them unless they were pushy or chugger-like.

Dyr

To be honest, people coming to my door uninvited would piss me off, no matter what their cause is, but I wouldn't be rude to them unless they were pushy or chugger-like.


just to recap

Dont be at yourself

To be honest, people coming to my door uninvited would piss me off, no matter what their cause is, but I wouldn't be rude to them unless they were pushy or chugger-like.

Binomate

To be honest, people coming to my door uninvited would piss me off, no matter what their cause is, but I wouldn't be rude to them unless they were pushy or chugger-like.

_feedback_

I'd be of similar thinking to stephen ...

To be honest, people coming to my door uninvited would piss me off, no matter what their cause is, but I wouldn't be rude to them unless they were pushy or chugger-like.

LovelyTom

Yeah, I was collecting money on daffodil day, and there were so many people just giving cheeky and abusive responces to being asked if they would like to help cancer... it's crazy...

humanji

To be honest, people coming to my door uninvited would piss me off, no matter what their cause is, but I wouldn't be rude to them unless they were pushy or chugger-like.


Man, gotta lay of the good stuff...

Gran Hermano

To be honest, people coming to my door uninvited would piss me off, no matter what their cause is, but I wouldn't be rude to them unless they were pushy or chugger-like.

raido9

It pisses me off when people go around pubs collecting money. I understand its difficult collecting enough funds for any charity, but I go to the pub to relax and not be pestered by people asking me for money.

Not a big fan of people calling to my door either.

No problem with people out on the streets!

Ballerina

its probably the fake or "in-your-face" charities that give all charities a bad reputation tbh,some people just hate all charities that stop them in the street because of a bad experience with one.
however im surprised at the reaction to such an obvious and worthwhile cause such as the ambulance service and particularly Daffodil Day,where you know they're not fakes!!

Stephen

Boards seems broken this afternoon. I'm not mental, honest.

_feedback_

I'd be of similar thinking to stephen ...

Boards seems broken this afternoon. I'm not mental, honest.

Elessar

Im really suprised by that. I'm in the Order myself. I didn't realise that places like Tramore used the corps to attend to emergency calls? Where are the health board ambulances?

It's a bit shocking the way people are treating the fundraising, I guess they're just thinking along the lines of "oh no, more c*nts looking for money". To be honest, I'd probably be the same if I was in their position (and didn't know about OMAC myself). I wouldn't be rude about it though. They might want to send out some flyers/information leaflets to local residents telling them about the Order and what they do, that would help curb that problem. (In fact, HQ sent out recruitment posters to all units not too long ago.)

Thankfully here in Dublin, we can keep to shopping centers and the like to fundraise.

barrett1965

Stephen wrote:

To be honest, people coming to my door uninvited would piss me off, no matter what their cause is, but I wouldn't be rude to them unless they were pushy or chugger-like.

Thought I'd join in.

No. seriously, the O of M is a great organisation. My family have been involved with them for years. They do great work ferrying the elderly to social events etc, not to mention their other regular medical activities.

digitally-yours

To be honest, people coming to my door uninvited would piss me off, no matter what their cause is, but I wouldn't be rude to them unless they were pushy or chugger-like.

Honestly ! we mean it wne we say To be honest

Stephen

Damn right. Tbh.

stipey

Yeah, I was collecting money on daffodil day, and there were so many people just giving cheeky and abusive responces to being asked if they would like to help cancer... it's crazy...

This reminds me of Jimmy Carr's line about being stopped in the street by a chugger asking him if he could "spare 5 minutes to help cancer research".

Carr's alleged response was "I can, but we won't get a lot done in 5 minutes".

GG66

Some people are just plain rude in any case, but people are gettign fed up with door to door callers.

You've no idea what is going on in any particular house at the time that you call (4 children screaming for dinner, Ireland doing terrible in the Eurovision).

Remember you're entering into someone's personal private space and they're entitled to be rude to get you off their property. Not that I think they should be rude.

I don't know what your approach is but in case you just say, I'm fundraising for O of M when they open the door, you could try educating them a little rather than directly asking for money.

For eg.

Hi, I'm from ...... Are you familiar with O of M? Did you know that our service was called out to x number of emergency calls this year in Tramore? It's an invaluable community service and we're looking for the support of the community etc.

Try to make it personal, mention a local response that they may know about..

galah

well, here's a particular gem from Galway...

Friends of mine were doing a fun-run-mini-marathon to collect some money for a local charity. They approached a "lady" on the prom in Salthill and asked her for a donation for a good cause - the response?

"Leave the prom to ourselves".

Lovely, really. A simple "no, thank you" would have done the trick...No need for this kinda reply, really...

Jesus Wept

Pushy Chugger-people piss me off like my door, unless they were uninvited, but I wouldn't be honest to them no matter what their cause is coming to, or Rude would be to.

Stephen wrote:

To be honest, people coming to my door uninvited would piss me off, no matter what their cause is, but I wouldn't be rude to them unless they were pushy or chugger-like.

What he said.

Sully

Elessar wrote:

Im really suprised by that. I'm in the Order myself. I didn't realise that places like Tramore used the corps to attend to emergency calls? Where are the health board ambulances?

Yup, they have been doing for a long time now. Tramore is such a big place, its needed. We have our own Fire Service (government funded of course) here as well. Health Board take longer to get out, and sometimes (but rarley) pass on a call to Tramore to attend.

If Tramore cant take it, they inform the Health Board. If an extra ambulance is needed, they inform the Health Board. But the majority of the time in Tramore locals call the O of M cause they get there quicker and they pretty much are trained similar (if not the same) to the Health Board.

They have done LOTS for Tramore over the years and in fairness its ignorant for people to be ignorant to them. They collect like once or twice a year at most all dressed up in uniform. Its in-your-face obvious what they do so most are generous and give them money (sometimes, a lot of it!).

You dont realise how valuable these services are until you use them and to loose it would be terrible for the town. Its badly needed, and they even have an extra one (well a Jeep afaik). Their Ambulance is pretty new and very modern.

It's a bit shocking the way people are treating the fundraising, I guess they're just thinking along the lines of "oh no, more c*nts looking for money". To be honest, I'd probably be the same if I was in their position (and didn't know about OMAC myself). I wouldn't be rude about it though. They might want to send out some flyers/information leaflets to local residents telling them about the Order and what they do, that would help curb that problem. (In fact, HQ sent out recruitment posters to all units not too long ago.)

Agreed. If you dont want to give money simply say "no" nicely. They aint gonna push for it. They are not like the non-nationals selling paintings forcing you to buy a painting, and not leaving you alone until you do.

Thankfully here in Dublin, we can keep to shopping centers and the like to fundraise.

They never seem to do that here as much as the Voluntary Cliff Rescue do. Must find out why.

Sully

Stephen wrote:

To be honest, people coming to my door uninvited would piss me off, no matter what their cause is, but I wouldn't be rude to them unless they were pushy or chugger-like.

Fair enough if thats your opinion, but what about the Ambulance service? Wouldnt it be a useful service to have and to give charity to? They are driving around in an Ambulance and are dressed up in their full gear - its clearly obvious what they do and I personaly think its rude to turn them down some bit of money but even so, to be very rude to them is another thing.

Wouldnt it be useful to call on if you needed an Ambulance asap - the Health Service take ages to get out from the City and only during the Summer do they actually drive around the town, and stay as close as possible in case of a call out.

They are not pushy. They are not raising money to fund their education. They are simply in need of money to keep a life-saving service running.

randylonghorn

Chugger / hire-me-to-rattle-a-tin types coming to my door would get very short shrift.

However, people who volunteer their time to provide a community service, and to fundraise for that service ... that's a very different thing.

I do think though that there are so many of the former around everywhere in the last few years that they have pissed everyone off, and we are inclined to react to everyone the same way without really thinking about it.

sm123_irl

You have to remember that these are isolated incidents and they are generally new people to the town who have no idea about the service offered or the history of the unit

monument

I don’t mean to step on the possibly good intentions of people who fundraise, but the way I see it is becoming increasingly unacceptable to fundraise in this type of in-your-face way, whether it’s turning up on your doorstep uninvited or getting in your way on the street.

I.S.T.

monument wrote:

I don’t mean to step on the possibly good intentions of people who fundraise, but the way I see it is becoming increasingly unacceptable to fundraise in this type of in-your-face way, whether it’s turning up on your doorstep uninvited or getting in your way on the street.

The problem is the people collecting are on comission. I know they have to be paid but people working on comission are downright annoying. Ever go into one of those clothes shops in town where the salespeople are on comission? What a complete pain in the ass.

Jimoslimos

Sully wrote:

Fair enough if thats your opinion, but what about the Ambulance service? Wouldnt it be a useful service to have and to give charity to?

I've said it before and I'll say it again - that's not charity, a better description would be an investment or perhaps an insurance policy against your own future ill-health.

Peyton Manning

Well I live in an apartment, and they never call round to apartments so cant say I know what its like.

However something that really does annoy me is when I go shopping in Waterford, they are always some people collecting at City Square Shopping Centre. Ok, it would be one thing if they stood the side or had a wee stall inside somewhere, but they camp out on their little chair and table in the middle of the entrance, which is a very small entrance. That really pisses me off :mad:

logic

#Elites wrote:

people are rude because every day people come up to then for charity.

i just say "sorry got no change"

Have to agree there, and its not just once a day. there in supermarkets, standing outside newsagents, stopping you on the street, knocking on your door, etc. I have direct debits set up to charities of my choice, not much but its something.