Our charity collectors are vital

2:20pm Friday 17th August 2012 in Your Letters

I READ with interest and dismay the reader’s letters in the August 9 edition of the Messenger entitled ‘Please ban them’.

As chairman of the Altrincham and Sale fundraising group for the Christie, and I feel sure that many other charities will agree with me, I strongly object to the description that Altrincham town centre collectors regularly harass people outside Marks and Spencer.

Trafford Council will only allow one collection per charity per annum. Thus regular harassment by any single organisation would be impossible.

There are strict instructions from the council that, among other things, ‘No collection shall be made in a manner likely to inconvenience or annoy any person, no collector shall importune any person to the annoyance of such person and a collector shall remain stationary’.

The money raised in these street collections is a major contribution to the much-needed funds of charities and as the Christie annual collection in Altrincham averages about £1,000 on a Saturday, it is obvious that the majority of the public, unlike your other contributor, appreciate this.

All money raised by the, unpaid, stand-outside-in-all-weathers volunteers goes towards the research into the development of the prevention of, the early diagnosis of and the treatment of all types of cancer.

I hope not, but it is not impossible that as cancer now directly affects one in every three people, that the curmudgeonly letter writer may at some point have cause to be grateful to these volunteers and wish that perhaps they had dropped a little something in the bucket and held back on the complaints.

W Barry Jones Chairman Altrincham and Sale Fundaising Group for the Christie

Comments(1)

Altrincham shopper says...
6:54pm Mon 20 Aug 12

Having read the complaint in the August 9 edition about charity collectors outside M&S followed by the above letter a week later,it appears there is confusion between the fundraisers and collectors. The fundraisers are people with clipboards who directly approach shoppers hoping to get them to sign up to a monthly direct debit on the spot to the charity they represent. There are usually three or four of them found in the area around M&S. I myself have often been approached by these people. The charity collectors on the other hand have charity buckets or collecting tins and don't approach anyone. There is actually an item in the news today about the fundraisers who approach people, 'New rules for charity fundraisers'.Chariti
es now face fines of at least £1000 if their street fundraisers breach rules designed to protect members of the public. The restrictions mean that fundraisers, typically referred to as "chuggers", cannot follow a person for more than three steps. The introduction of the scheme follows a year long trial. It will be enforced across the UK by the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association(PFRA). I hope this clears up the confusion as I understand the concern of Mr W Barry Jones in the letter above and the collectors for The Christie.

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