I feel it is necessary to point out a few facts about so-called chuggers or face-to-face fundraisers for the benefit of your reader James Stephenson (letters, April 20).
Mr Stephenson accepts that these people can be mildly irritating but he fails to see (because why would he - it's not disclosed) that they cause significant loss of business to the retailers whose shops they choose to stand outside.
He is possibly also unaware that they are not volunteers but are paid to collect donations (around £100 per day). Their fee is in fact taken from the donation and can be as much as 90 per cent of that donation in the first year, falling off in subsequent years - unless, of course, the subscription is cancelled, which it often is.
Mr Stephenson is probably also unaware that the Brighton and Hove Business Forum has had numerous meetings with the Professional Fund Raisers Association (PFRA) to agree amendments to their voluntary code of practice. This code, incidentally, requires operatives to disclose the fact they are being paid.
If people gave direct to Oxfam 100 per cent of their donation would go to the charity. This I think is the point that David Lepper was making in the article that moved Mr Stephenson to write in.
I would like to suggest that people such as Mr Stephenson who feel strongly about charities and want to see them flourish get out and encourage everyone they know to set up direct debits directly with their favourite charities and cut out the chuggers who are currently taking the lion's share of the donation.
- Soozie Campbell, city centre manager Brighton and Hove Business Forum
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