OxFizz has been asked to pen a piece for the new UnLtd youth social enterprise newsletter, and we’ll link to the finished article once published.

In it, we tackle the issue of charity fundraising, and specifically street fundraising, which some critics term ‘chugging’ (‘charity mugging’).

OxFizz was set up to promote a new form of fundraising, challenging the funding fatigue which some people think exists in the UK, by bringing back the voluntary to philanthropy. Our primary focus is on being positive about the future possibilities of expansion within philanthropy, but we do also worry about the wider long-term damage to the third sector caused by over-zealous and pressurising fundraising methods some charities use in search of funds.

Yet there are some in the sector who mount a spirited defence of street fundraising. An ex-fundraiser gives a balanced and personalised account of his time in the industry (and with the increasing resources poured by charities into fundraising, it is an industry) here, as does another fundraiser here. And the official regulators of face-to-face fundraising, PFRA, note the reasons why charities use this method (which includes street-fundraising and door-to-door collections):

If the statistics are correct, it seems the economic rationale is sound - though it needs to be remembered that it can take several years of donor’s direct debits to accumulate before a charity recoups its initial investment. As Intelligent Giving suggest, speculating to accumulate within charity fundraising is a necessary evil, though it is important for charities to keep an eye on how they can reduce expenditure.

But the wider implications on public trust and confidence in the sector are potentially damaging, as mentioned in a previous OxFizz blog posting. Criticism of face-to-face fundraising is anecdotally rife - as one member of the public puts it: