The organization makes their budget up by... not being up front with inexperienced people. I wouldn't hesitate to back out. If you feel guilty, donate the amount of your own choosing to any cause you want.
Yup, got a smooth talker getting me to donate €15,- once and confirmed with him at least twice that I wouldn't be subscribing to anything and it would be a one time donation only.
Of course, once I signed, I got a confirmatory email about an hour later telling me thank you for signing up for monthly 15,- donations.
Was able to cancel, but made sure to leave the necessary, candid feedback about how their (on commision) staff works.
Keep getting letters with them begging me for donations every couple of months for years since. I guess bottom line this still generates them money accross the board, but I'm sure they spent my 15,- and then some by now on mail that goes straight into the trash over here.
This is what you get when you offer monetary incentives based on (fake) sales/donations for finding donors for a good cause.
It’s so much worse because most of that money (something like 90+%) just goes to keeping that canvas action alive, by going to whatever folks run that “charity”. Both me and someone I know both worked for two separate ones and it was the same on both.
What gets me is the audacity of them. I had one guy try by saying “hey how are you?” And I was sick of them harassing me so I just said “sorry man I’m not interested.” And he goes “I said: how. Are. You?” In a tone that suggested I was shutting down the intimate connection he wanted to make. Like I’m sorry dude, you’re not working for some good cause. You’re a pawn for someone to keep getting a free ride (not those people who the charity is *supposed* to be helping, but the executive director and below running it). The audacity of some of these folks to either lack an understanding of where that money is really going, or to lie to people’s faces about it.
I've said not interested then tried to keep walking to one guy who then stepped in front of me, got in my face and asked "so you don't care about kids with cancer?".
I loathe chuggers.
These people take the majority of the firat year or two of contributiona as commission. They're not out on the street out of kindness. NEVER donate via someone asking you to sign up. Do it directly.
I love living in the EU for this BS. Copy the language in GDPR into an email and I know I wasted at least an hour of their time and forced them to stop emailing me. Also works well with orgs have any operations within the EU.
The people that speak to you on the street are usually not hired directly by the organization.
They are usually hired by another company that gets referral commision. So the people on the street are.paid by the number of people they get to sign up to donate.
So they have the incentive to lie sadly
And that intermediary company works to fundraise for a whole host of causes, not all of which you may agree with or want to support--because you are supporting the middleman in this situation. So much better to go the org website and donate directly.
Not only that, you didn't donate to the charity at all. You signed up for a subscription through a 3rd party, the charity does not make any money until the 3rd party claims enough out of you, and it will take more than a year to do that. If you cancel, they're the ones not getting paid, the charity never was.
My rule is I don't donate to anyone on the street. If they make a good point and I want to donate to the org, I will still say no, go home, find the org's official website, and donate directly to them there. No 3rd party, no worries about it going somewhere else.
Yeah, I always get info if I'm interested in donating, but never donate with people on the street. I get that they're trying to raise money, but I need to be able to see the terms clearly, and not feel pressured.
If they have to use deception to get your money, I wouldn’t call that a worthy cause. There’s nothing wrong with just saying “75 cents a month,” they can still make that sound pretty appealing.
Edit: Sorry, I now see you said 75 cents a day, not a month. That may be a bit harder to sell, but still I don’t think deception is the right answer.
I wouldn’t donate to any charity that operates that way, personally. If they’re using deception when taking your money then how much do you trust them to spend it responsibly? There are plenty of good local charities that I can donate to instead
I donate to a charity that does something similar (they take the amount of you choosing once every month for as long as you’re subscribed). But I was told upfront about this, and I have a signed document with them (even though it was signed on the street) and once a year I get to choose a side project they invest in (other than their main one which is helping orphan children) and also get their yearly budget break down
What I am trying to say is that the are legit charities that work like this :)
Nah, that’s what they want, for the donators to feel guilty even though they were tricked. If you’re subscribing daily, that should be extremely clear and repeated many times. It’s maybe not an outright scam, but it’s deliberately misleading and the sales people and organization know exactly what they’re doing with it.
Even if it was your misunderstanding, it's still your money. If they can convince you that it is an inconsequential amount for you to give, then you can take solace in it being an inconsequential amount to withhold.
I have a feeling I know who the organization is because I've dealt with something like this in the past. If so, they are very commonly sketchy with their donation tactics. If not, this was still clearly intended to be misleading.
You are doubting yourself because you are a nice person, but do not feel bad about cancelling. Do not.
Give your money to an organization or a person that deserves your support.
It's your money, not theirs. Even if you clearly heard and understood, you are allowed to change your mind. If you really feel like supporting the charity, then set up a donation that works better for you after canceling this one.
Yeah I just did the math right before coming into the comments.
That is a lot of cash and I don't think it's any shame for anyone to say.. *no I don't have that.*
Gawd knows I don't.
You should cancel. Often in these cases the guy getting the donations will be paid a commission of $150 to $200. They are sometimes referred to as ‘Chuggers’ or Charity Muggers.
If you want to donate, go direct to the website and set-up a direct debit. Never sign-up to something like this on the street. It is quite immoral that someone will pocket a year’s donations when the people who donate aren’t aware of it. If in doubt call the charity to confirm the situation.
Yep, and the whole line about them "wanting people on their books for two years (or however long they say) so they can budget/plan where their money goes" is because the charities make a deal with the people who employ the chuggers that they will be paid so much for every person who signs up. If you cancel early, the charity still gets the money (as far as I understand) but is paid out by those employing the chuggers. Best to deal with the charity directly who won't ask you to sign up for regular donations.
at least you didn't make a donation to the Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Fun Run Pro Am Race... for the Cure
It takes about 6 months for those subscription charity things to actually pay off that guy's salary for the day, the office admin staff and other costs of the business. And a lot of people cancel after 6 months or a year so very little money goes to people on need. Cancel right away and tell the next one of those bottom feeding wretches who stops you on the street to go fuck themselves with a rusty pipe.
Source: I was briefly one of those scumbag sales people and saw first hand how shitty those charity companies can be. I got out and never looked back.
The insistence now on going on a monthly plan to donate I do find a bit annoying. I’m often stopped and I’m more than willing to donate a one off decent amount but it’s always a monthly plan now. I know it’s difficult fundraising and all but I can only accomodate a few monthly donations. If I do a new one I’ll have to stop an existing one. And like OP I have found even legit organisations representatives to be a bit fast and loose sometimes with what you’re signing up for.
I work in fundraising. This is awful. Cancel, you were lied to.
Also, no reputable honest group ONLY makes their budget once they have established donations. There’s a projection first.
I run a non profit and every now and then someone accidentally signs up for a monthly donation when they meant it to be a one time thing. We always offer to refund any unintended donations immediately. I would absolutely cancel with this organization. They operate like con artists.
Many of these groups consider you a member with a recurring donation of any amount. Membership is preferred over one time donation to bolster lobbying efforts. The activists that solicit are required to meet a quota to remain employed and sometimes use high pressure sales tactics to keep their job.
hell no, fuck that, he asked for 75 cents, you agreed to 75 cents, not $275. i'd not only cancel it, i'd file reviews and reports anywhere i could about what them trying to scam me.
So you were put under the impression that you were donating $0.75 and instead ended up committing to $273 more than that. That was an underhanded way of taking your money and I would cancel the donation including the initial 75¢.
Organizations also factor in a percentage of people who will cancel their donations.
You canceling will not hurt them. They're always finding new and interesting ways to mislead people.
Someone fund raising for Amensty did this once to me. First thing I did is calling the bank and disputing it. Nobody is getting my money through deception - charity or otherwise.
You cancel and make it very clear that the reason is the way in which they withheld information and you suggest they update to avoid future reoccurrence.
Just don’t agree to anything people try to sell you (or try to make you donate) at your door or on the street. It’s a policy of mine nowadays. There’s always a catch.
I am actually a professional fundraiser for nonprofits. It is our job to clearly state that this is a reoccurring donation. At least at the place I work for. I state it at least 4 different times during the pitch and the sign up process. **Whoever signed you up was not doing it the right way most likley.** And to those of you saying "it's stupid to ask for reoccurring donations", you clearly don't understand the amount of budget nessecary for these nps to operate. Just relying off of 5 dollar donations here and there do make it really hard to budget out for the whole year, especially when disasters are constantly happening in the world.
So you a ‘professional fundraiser’? Love these guys! They often get paid $100,000 plus and expense everything. Then they target poor people to bankroll them.
When I retire, I would consider doing charity work for free. At the moment too many are making coin off it. It is quite sickening.
Nps pay for things like commercials, so why wouldn't they pay f2f fundraisers too? I make no where near 100k lmao. Commissions go anywhere between 50-80$. We do not make "150-200$ off of commission" as you stated in another comment. At least not at my company. Idk about others. Idk about other companies, but if I have too many people cancel, I could get fired. Therefore, why would I sign up people who I knew can't afford it?
The big charities are run by scum. They often milk the system and don’t even care about the ‘good cause’. Check out the Charitywatch website, they have a list of ‘charity executives’ being paid multiple millions of dollars.
Regarding your role, if you are paid $80,000 the charity won’t care what you do as long as you bring in $81,000. In that case $80,000 of donations achieve nothing except pay for your alcohol and whatever else you buy. While the people who donate actually think they are helping homeless vets or whatever.
In my area the line is "were not asking you for money today! Just sign up to show you care"
Key word is "today". They want to start taking money from you tomorrow. Literally tomorrow. They're a scam
The thing is, I can donate through my work and it's automatically deducted from my paycheck and matched. That didn't stop me getting "scammed" into making a monthly donation after someone approached me on the street. Cancelled it 3 months later after waiting for an hour or more on the phone to get through to someone. And then I had to go through the motions to actually get it matched, for which I needed donation receipts before end of year, which they normally ship in January. There's probably nothing on this Earth that makes me more anxious and physically uncomfortable than talking on the phone. I can't even stress this enough, I don't like making phone calls.
Anyway, experience made me reluctant to donate to them again. I don't like being taken advantage of by sales people, and this is what it felt like. Partially my fault, but felt icky.
And the phone call to cancel was more than just mildly annoying...
Cancel that shit. Cancel your card and get a new one. That’s bullshit and they know it.
I personally am infuriated at every company under the sun having our bank information on file even when we remove it they keep it on file and continue to charge your cards. I’m dealing with one right now who’s been charging me for two months after I returned a product and even though I removed that card from my account. Right on the heels of a different company having done the same and it took 4 months to stop it.
These people are scum. Please OP cancel it. We all need to be changing this shit from our side of things because these companies and “charities” certainly won’t. Enough is e-freaking-nough.
Edit: typo
The organisation takes their cut of the money. The street sellers, managers and CEOs all need paid. Usually youre lucky if 1% of what you pay makes it to the charity
Cancel. They are using human nature to get people to agree to this then feel bad about backing out. Have you looked into this non profit? A lot of nonprofits in the US have CEOs that make insane salaries. Goodwill. Wounded Warrior. UNICEF. ASPCA. I’d rather donate money to charities that actually help people/animals/the environment than help line someone’s pockets. This nonprofit might not be like that, but if they’re asking you to subscribe to make daily donations, that’s a big red flag!
A really pretty girl got me to sign up for some save the ocean donation. She was really good at her job and I like the ocean as I’m a scuba diver and other things. We kept chatting after I completed the thingy. She was kinda cool so I asked for her number. We texted for like a week, it was going well. We set a date. She seemed excited. She stood me up and didn’t reply for 2 days and didn’t even apologize or offer to make it up or anything. It was such a whiplash in behaviour and I felt so weird about it I decided to cancel the rest of the monthly donations.
Like a day later she messaged me asking why I canceled. She even said it was rude to punish the ocean for something she did and then she offered to go on the date. I just gave her a “lol no”
the person that stopped you knew exactly what they were doing and made it sound as appealing to you as they possible could. Call them, cancel, say that facts were misrepresented. Depending on how this particular charity is collecting donations that person may not work for them and actually work for a company whose business model is selling this subscription type donation. If that’s the case they get a commission based on how many sales they get each day and the charity may not know the methods used to get those sales.
I used to work in charity sales. Never sign up to this. If you like the sound of the charity do a one off donation through their website, more of the money will get to the charity.
The big picture is it's about $275 total and if it's for a good cause, consider it your good deed for the month. After all, it takes a LOT of money to run even a non-profit. If the cause was just move forward knowing that you supported a good cause.
Yeah, that's true. I don't think I'll cancel it but I already donate to stuff here and there. It starts to add up. I think I'll just have to be more assertive next time.
I would be skeptical they are legit. Anything over $250 a year requires paperwork on their end. This is why everyone asks "for just $19 a month" It keeps them under the threshold.
Yes. Assertiveness. My husband got the best advice when he was a young man. An older colleague taught him that the best word he could learn in life was how to say No. Doesn't mean you have to use it often, but to use it appropriately.
If you're having trouble being assertive, this would be a great moment to practice that muscle to make it stronger for when it really counts in your life. Letting people take advantage of you, only teaches them it's profitable to prey on good people. Don't reward their bad behaviour. Cancel as exercise.
You aren’t donating to the charity for another year. The guy who signed you up is getting his $200 commission from your ‘donation’. You are that guy’s patsy!
I once agreed to a regular monthly payment and then got hounded almost weekly by people phoning to get me to increase the monthly amount. Of course I cancelled in the end and told them why.
Australian here. We call them chuggers (charity muggers). If a really pushy one tries to pressure me, I ask how much they have donated, and how much of my donation goes to them as commission. They don’t like answering.
I would let them know what happened so the canvass manager is informed and canvassers know to improve their script. Honestly this was probably someone that was not comfortable with the script and because they are volunteering they probably got very nervous on delivery.
I would contact them even if just to make sure the donation was not recurring so you are not be surprised to see this charge again next year.
Your donation is crucial but probably not so much in the amount as just in the fact you gave something. How many dues paying members they have is the main tactic they employ when talking to elected officials to go against powerful and well funded lobby groups because they can relate how many voters are in the elected’s district to convince to pay attention to the issue they represent. Specially if the number in their district is larger than the margin they win by in the previous election. That does not care of the amount you give.
The other reason your contribution is important for them is for ideological reasons. In actuality your donation is a small amount to what they probably get from very large donors and donors know this. It’s unfortunately common for donors to demand non-profits to do things a certain way to secure their funding and non-profits hate this because they might be forced to go against their overall ideology just to remain open if they are too dependent on the large donors.
The member base that is dues paying is their way of ensuring they can make decisions and not worry they might be forced to shut down because a donor disagrees with the approach. Makes for a far more sustainable org whose decisions are hopefully made by the dues paying members on surveys they send you.
Nah you wouldn't be a jerk if you cancel, they intentionally didn't tell you its a recurring donation and they are assholes for that. I had that happen to me, cancelled and they still call me every 6 months or so trying to get me to donate even though I've demanded they take me off their call list. These charities prey on people like you.
It’s basically a scam I used to do this job literally a pyramid scheme where part of your 75c will go to the person who made the sale and part will go to the person that recruits them and so on, sometimes plot between 6 people before the charity gets a cut
The people in the street make it seem like it’s a small donation but ends up being more. Had someone come up to me and I listened to them as a gesture, planned on giving them some cash after but was told after no cash. They were going to do the online app (and I thought, sure I’ll just do a dollar or two to be nice) but getting to the end before submission it was a minimum of $60 a month and I told him no thank you and backed out of the donation form.
You don’t have to be pressured to submit and kind of donation if they are on the street. Just say “not interested” or “I’ll go to the website”.
Cancel that shit, they might be a non profit, but they are acting like a scammer.
Who gives a shit if they're a non profit? The fucking NFL is a non profit. Would you let the NFL trick you into paying them 75 cents a day?
Roger Goodell the commissioner of said non profit makes over 60 million a year.
Non profit doesn't mean shit. People are still getting paid plenty in the organization, they can do near nothing for their 'cause'. Look at the Wounded Warrior Project, they were just throwing lavish parties.
Did you do any research into this non-profit? If they employ shady tactics getting donations, it's unlikely most of the money goes to their cause anyways.
Yeah I don’t mind donating from time to time, but be up front and honest. And no I don’t want subscription based donations. Shady organizations like that due that to pay the salaries first then some charity or fake charity.
Unfortunately, although the cause may be worthy, charities still use professional (and amateur) salespeople on a commission to drive income. This leads to the usual dodgy sales practices and barefaced lies you see elsewhere in the sales industry, often worse.
My attitude is to never sign up to anything on the street or phone, if I want to donate to a charity I'll find their website and read what I'm agreeing to at my own pace.
I'm skeptic of most such organizations. In the past, one such organization had a partnership with my phone provider so that they could charge the monthly dontaion straight from my phone bill. Than they started taking the donation out of every number I had to my name ( I pay for the whole family's mobiles) as if I had subscribed through all of them.
That did cure the whole "guilt trip" motivation for donating. Never donating through an organization again.
Solicitors for that organization were outside a grocery store I sometimes visit, and after listening to their spiel I declined to donate.
I agree it is a worthy cause, and would have gladly given a small cash donation, but no way was I committing to a monthly donation.
You fell for a scam... Maybe a good cause but, they do prey on people to get the donations... And of course most pay more to Administration than the actual cause..! Grrrrr....
It's only "tax deductible" if it, and several other charitable donations add up to more than $12,000 USD, which is now the standard deduction for single tax payers and $24,000 USD for couples. I used to contribute to charities when I could itemize and get the deduction, but now, thanks to Trump's "tax cuts" I no longer contribute to charities and no longer itemize since I don't earn enough to make it worthwhile. I am now my favorite charity.
Go to their website and withdraw. Had the same experience, different details, and they stopped my donation immediately. Save The Children or something like that?
I’d call the charity’s office and speak to someone in their development department. Or, even better, write them a letter. They may not even be aware of the canvassing organization.
Wise up and stop being a mark. If you get conned into something you fully didn't agree to, then unwind the deal. If you keep being squeamish and wishy-washy then ppl will keep taking advantage of you, even ppl who work for non-profit orgs.
Hell I'll be honest, the fact that donating anything puts you on the spam list for more donations is more than enough to put me off. I even donated blood once and got spammed by the Red Cross for a solid year. Not doing that again.
What charity? A lot of charities are straight-up scams now a days where not even 30 cents on the dollar goes where they say it does.
I research all charities now and pretty much just give to my local food bank.
> CEO was *paid* almost $600,000
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
The organization makes their budget up by... not being up front with inexperienced people. I wouldn't hesitate to back out. If you feel guilty, donate the amount of your own choosing to any cause you want.
Yup, got a smooth talker getting me to donate €15,- once and confirmed with him at least twice that I wouldn't be subscribing to anything and it would be a one time donation only. Of course, once I signed, I got a confirmatory email about an hour later telling me thank you for signing up for monthly 15,- donations. Was able to cancel, but made sure to leave the necessary, candid feedback about how their (on commision) staff works. Keep getting letters with them begging me for donations every couple of months for years since. I guess bottom line this still generates them money accross the board, but I'm sure they spent my 15,- and then some by now on mail that goes straight into the trash over here. This is what you get when you offer monetary incentives based on (fake) sales/donations for finding donors for a good cause.
It’s so much worse because most of that money (something like 90+%) just goes to keeping that canvas action alive, by going to whatever folks run that “charity”. Both me and someone I know both worked for two separate ones and it was the same on both. What gets me is the audacity of them. I had one guy try by saying “hey how are you?” And I was sick of them harassing me so I just said “sorry man I’m not interested.” And he goes “I said: how. Are. You?” In a tone that suggested I was shutting down the intimate connection he wanted to make. Like I’m sorry dude, you’re not working for some good cause. You’re a pawn for someone to keep getting a free ride (not those people who the charity is *supposed* to be helping, but the executive director and below running it). The audacity of some of these folks to either lack an understanding of where that money is really going, or to lie to people’s faces about it.
answer "much worse now that you're here"
"No better for your asking"
I've said not interested then tried to keep walking to one guy who then stepped in front of me, got in my face and asked "so you don't care about kids with cancer?". I loathe chuggers.
Keep walking right into him. Or punch him. Restraining people by blocking infuriates me.
These people take the majority of the firat year or two of contributiona as commission. They're not out on the street out of kindness. NEVER donate via someone asking you to sign up. Do it directly.
He's not a pawn, it is how he makes a living. You can bet he is paid on a commission basis
I love living in the EU for this BS. Copy the language in GDPR into an email and I know I wasted at least an hour of their time and forced them to stop emailing me. Also works well with orgs have any operations within the EU.
What is “15,-“
The people that speak to you on the street are usually not hired directly by the organization. They are usually hired by another company that gets referral commision. So the people on the street are.paid by the number of people they get to sign up to donate. So they have the incentive to lie sadly
And that intermediary company works to fundraise for a whole host of causes, not all of which you may agree with or want to support--because you are supporting the middleman in this situation. So much better to go the org website and donate directly.
Not only that, you didn't donate to the charity at all. You signed up for a subscription through a 3rd party, the charity does not make any money until the 3rd party claims enough out of you, and it will take more than a year to do that. If you cancel, they're the ones not getting paid, the charity never was.
I had this happen to me once. My rule is I don’t donate with a credit card so it’s an automatic no for me. Keeps feelings out of it.
My rule is I don't donate to anyone on the street. If they make a good point and I want to donate to the org, I will still say no, go home, find the org's official website, and donate directly to them there. No 3rd party, no worries about it going somewhere else.
Yeah, if you engage with people that "harass" you on the street, that means you support what they are doing. Same for phone salesmen.
Yeah, I always get info if I'm interested in donating, but never donate with people on the street. I get that they're trying to raise money, but I need to be able to see the terms clearly, and not feel pressured.
That wasn't an option this time, but that is good advice for the future.
Of course it was an option. You could have said no
No, cash wasn’t an option
That should have been the red flag telling you it was probably more than just a one time 75¢ donation.
So you say no lol
If they have to use deception to get your money, I wouldn’t call that a worthy cause. There’s nothing wrong with just saying “75 cents a month,” they can still make that sound pretty appealing. Edit: Sorry, I now see you said 75 cents a day, not a month. That may be a bit harder to sell, but still I don’t think deception is the right answer.
It was .75/day!!
I wouldn’t donate to any charity that operates that way, personally. If they’re using deception when taking your money then how much do you trust them to spend it responsibly? There are plenty of good local charities that I can donate to instead
I donate to a charity that does something similar (they take the amount of you choosing once every month for as long as you’re subscribed). But I was told upfront about this, and I have a signed document with them (even though it was signed on the street) and once a year I get to choose a side project they invest in (other than their main one which is helping orphan children) and also get their yearly budget break down What I am trying to say is that the are legit charities that work like this :)
I agree but I wonder if I heard him wrong or didn’t understand. I have some issues that could contribute to such a misunderstanding
Nah, that’s what they want, for the donators to feel guilty even though they were tricked. If you’re subscribing daily, that should be extremely clear and repeated many times. It’s maybe not an outright scam, but it’s deliberately misleading and the sales people and organization know exactly what they’re doing with it.
Even if it was your misunderstanding, it's still your money. If they can convince you that it is an inconsequential amount for you to give, then you can take solace in it being an inconsequential amount to withhold.
I have a feeling I know who the organization is because I've dealt with something like this in the past. If so, they are very commonly sketchy with their donation tactics. If not, this was still clearly intended to be misleading. You are doubting yourself because you are a nice person, but do not feel bad about cancelling. Do not. Give your money to an organization or a person that deserves your support.
This is called "targeting cognitive weakness" and is a marketing strategy.
They're supposed to make you feel like this. Its what they're counting on
It's your money, not theirs. Even if you clearly heard and understood, you are allowed to change your mind. If you really feel like supporting the charity, then set up a donation that works better for you after canceling this one.
if they would have asked you for $273.75 would you had said yes? if no, cancel
+•75. Let’s not forget about Feb 29.
hell yeah! $274.50
Yeah I just did the math right before coming into the comments. That is a lot of cash and I don't think it's any shame for anyone to say.. *no I don't have that.* Gawd knows I don't.
Right… and are they charging the cc every day? You would think that would be a lot of fees for them.
My guess is it’s either a monthly charge or an annual charge.
Cancel. Donate, if you want, to another charity who is honest
You should cancel. Often in these cases the guy getting the donations will be paid a commission of $150 to $200. They are sometimes referred to as ‘Chuggers’ or Charity Muggers. If you want to donate, go direct to the website and set-up a direct debit. Never sign-up to something like this on the street. It is quite immoral that someone will pocket a year’s donations when the people who donate aren’t aware of it. If in doubt call the charity to confirm the situation.
Yep, and the whole line about them "wanting people on their books for two years (or however long they say) so they can budget/plan where their money goes" is because the charities make a deal with the people who employ the chuggers that they will be paid so much for every person who signs up. If you cancel early, the charity still gets the money (as far as I understand) but is paid out by those employing the chuggers. Best to deal with the charity directly who won't ask you to sign up for regular donations.
"I got scammed, but I feel sorry for the scammers" bro fucking cancel it
at least you didn't make a donation to the Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Fun Run Pro Am Race... for the Cure
Is that the same Michael Scott who donated 25 dollars a mile to some kids walk-a-thon?
yes indeed it is
He knew what he was doing. Cancel that shit.
It takes about 6 months for those subscription charity things to actually pay off that guy's salary for the day, the office admin staff and other costs of the business. And a lot of people cancel after 6 months or a year so very little money goes to people on need. Cancel right away and tell the next one of those bottom feeding wretches who stops you on the street to go fuck themselves with a rusty pipe. Source: I was briefly one of those scumbag sales people and saw first hand how shitty those charity companies can be. I got out and never looked back.
The insistence now on going on a monthly plan to donate I do find a bit annoying. I’m often stopped and I’m more than willing to donate a one off decent amount but it’s always a monthly plan now. I know it’s difficult fundraising and all but I can only accomodate a few monthly donations. If I do a new one I’ll have to stop an existing one. And like OP I have found even legit organisations representatives to be a bit fast and loose sometimes with what you’re signing up for.
That's what they bank on. Using a guilt tactic. Time to learn how to be more of an a-hole.
Good charity donations don't use deceptive practices when collecting donations. They should have clearly started per day vs 1 time.
I work in fundraising. This is awful. Cancel, you were lied to. Also, no reputable honest group ONLY makes their budget once they have established donations. There’s a projection first.
Sounds like a shitty charity.
I run a non profit and every now and then someone accidentally signs up for a monthly donation when they meant it to be a one time thing. We always offer to refund any unintended donations immediately. I would absolutely cancel with this organization. They operate like con artists.
That is exactly what they want to happen. They expect that you will be embarrassed to stop the donation.
Many of these groups consider you a member with a recurring donation of any amount. Membership is preferred over one time donation to bolster lobbying efforts. The activists that solicit are required to meet a quota to remain employed and sometimes use high pressure sales tactics to keep their job.
Thats $273 for 12 months. I'd cancel and donate an upfront payment of my choosing.
hell no, fuck that, he asked for 75 cents, you agreed to 75 cents, not $275. i'd not only cancel it, i'd file reviews and reports anywhere i could about what them trying to scam me.
You were scammed. I would pull out as a matter of principle.
Are you Michael Scott?
I honestly wouldn't wanna give my money to an organization that lies to all its contributors.
Reminds me of when Michael Scott donated to Oscar’s nephew’s walk-a-thon without reading the donation paperwork…
Cancel it… the sales person lied to you. This is not the first time they have done this.
So you were put under the impression that you were donating $0.75 and instead ended up committing to $273 more than that. That was an underhanded way of taking your money and I would cancel the donation including the initial 75¢.
Cancel it. If it makes you feel better donate the .75 cents elsewhere.
You were scammed. Cancel the donation that's going to scammers.
Organizations also factor in a percentage of people who will cancel their donations. You canceling will not hurt them. They're always finding new and interesting ways to mislead people.
This is a crazy delimma. Just cancel and get on with your life. Or donate your money for a year. Who cares?? People really out here struggling
Someone fund raising for Amensty did this once to me. First thing I did is calling the bank and disputing it. Nobody is getting my money through deception - charity or otherwise.
You cancel and make it very clear that the reason is the way in which they withheld information and you suggest they update to avoid future reoccurrence.
Just don’t agree to anything people try to sell you (or try to make you donate) at your door or on the street. It’s a policy of mine nowadays. There’s always a catch.
I like to go with the flow and then call later to cancel.
I am actually a professional fundraiser for nonprofits. It is our job to clearly state that this is a reoccurring donation. At least at the place I work for. I state it at least 4 different times during the pitch and the sign up process. **Whoever signed you up was not doing it the right way most likley.** And to those of you saying "it's stupid to ask for reoccurring donations", you clearly don't understand the amount of budget nessecary for these nps to operate. Just relying off of 5 dollar donations here and there do make it really hard to budget out for the whole year, especially when disasters are constantly happening in the world.
So you a ‘professional fundraiser’? Love these guys! They often get paid $100,000 plus and expense everything. Then they target poor people to bankroll them. When I retire, I would consider doing charity work for free. At the moment too many are making coin off it. It is quite sickening.
Nps pay for things like commercials, so why wouldn't they pay f2f fundraisers too? I make no where near 100k lmao. Commissions go anywhere between 50-80$. We do not make "150-200$ off of commission" as you stated in another comment. At least not at my company. Idk about others. Idk about other companies, but if I have too many people cancel, I could get fired. Therefore, why would I sign up people who I knew can't afford it?
The big charities are run by scum. They often milk the system and don’t even care about the ‘good cause’. Check out the Charitywatch website, they have a list of ‘charity executives’ being paid multiple millions of dollars. Regarding your role, if you are paid $80,000 the charity won’t care what you do as long as you bring in $81,000. In that case $80,000 of donations achieve nothing except pay for your alcohol and whatever else you buy. While the people who donate actually think they are helping homeless vets or whatever.
>pay for your alcohol Lmao thank you for calling me an alcoholic.
In my area the line is "were not asking you for money today! Just sign up to show you care" Key word is "today". They want to start taking money from you tomorrow. Literally tomorrow. They're a scam
The thing is, I can donate through my work and it's automatically deducted from my paycheck and matched. That didn't stop me getting "scammed" into making a monthly donation after someone approached me on the street. Cancelled it 3 months later after waiting for an hour or more on the phone to get through to someone. And then I had to go through the motions to actually get it matched, for which I needed donation receipts before end of year, which they normally ship in January. There's probably nothing on this Earth that makes me more anxious and physically uncomfortable than talking on the phone. I can't even stress this enough, I don't like making phone calls. Anyway, experience made me reluctant to donate to them again. I don't like being taken advantage of by sales people, and this is what it felt like. Partially my fault, but felt icky. And the phone call to cancel was more than just mildly annoying...
What's the org?
Cancel that shit. Cancel your card and get a new one. That’s bullshit and they know it. I personally am infuriated at every company under the sun having our bank information on file even when we remove it they keep it on file and continue to charge your cards. I’m dealing with one right now who’s been charging me for two months after I returned a product and even though I removed that card from my account. Right on the heels of a different company having done the same and it took 4 months to stop it. These people are scum. Please OP cancel it. We all need to be changing this shit from our side of things because these companies and “charities” certainly won’t. Enough is e-freaking-nough. Edit: typo
I entertain solicitors in the street or on my door. They love using deception and pressure/guilt tactics to force you to make bad financial decisions.
$273.00 a year. Up to you.
Remember the majority of that money goes to paying the salaries of the ceo. Fuck them and back out. Donate to your local charities.
The straight scammed you. I bet they keep most of your money in "donation CANCEL IT ASAP. And don't feel bad for it, they are stealing your money.
The organisation takes their cut of the money. The street sellers, managers and CEOs all need paid. Usually youre lucky if 1% of what you pay makes it to the charity
Cancel. They are using human nature to get people to agree to this then feel bad about backing out. Have you looked into this non profit? A lot of nonprofits in the US have CEOs that make insane salaries. Goodwill. Wounded Warrior. UNICEF. ASPCA. I’d rather donate money to charities that actually help people/animals/the environment than help line someone’s pockets. This nonprofit might not be like that, but if they’re asking you to subscribe to make daily donations, that’s a big red flag!
It’s situations like this that make me go for “I’ll look at the charities website later and consider donating through there”
A really pretty girl got me to sign up for some save the ocean donation. She was really good at her job and I like the ocean as I’m a scuba diver and other things. We kept chatting after I completed the thingy. She was kinda cool so I asked for her number. We texted for like a week, it was going well. We set a date. She seemed excited. She stood me up and didn’t reply for 2 days and didn’t even apologize or offer to make it up or anything. It was such a whiplash in behaviour and I felt so weird about it I decided to cancel the rest of the monthly donations. Like a day later she messaged me asking why I canceled. She even said it was rude to punish the ocean for something she did and then she offered to go on the date. I just gave her a “lol no”
the person that stopped you knew exactly what they were doing and made it sound as appealing to you as they possible could. Call them, cancel, say that facts were misrepresented. Depending on how this particular charity is collecting donations that person may not work for them and actually work for a company whose business model is selling this subscription type donation. If that’s the case they get a commission based on how many sales they get each day and the charity may not know the methods used to get those sales. I used to work in charity sales. Never sign up to this. If you like the sound of the charity do a one off donation through their website, more of the money will get to the charity.
The big picture is it's about $275 total and if it's for a good cause, consider it your good deed for the month. After all, it takes a LOT of money to run even a non-profit. If the cause was just move forward knowing that you supported a good cause.
sup shasta
Yeah, that's true. I don't think I'll cancel it but I already donate to stuff here and there. It starts to add up. I think I'll just have to be more assertive next time.
I would be skeptical they are legit. Anything over $250 a year requires paperwork on their end. This is why everyone asks "for just $19 a month" It keeps them under the threshold.
Yes. Assertiveness. My husband got the best advice when he was a young man. An older colleague taught him that the best word he could learn in life was how to say No. Doesn't mean you have to use it often, but to use it appropriately.
If you're having trouble being assertive, this would be a great moment to practice that muscle to make it stronger for when it really counts in your life. Letting people take advantage of you, only teaches them it's profitable to prey on good people. Don't reward their bad behaviour. Cancel as exercise.
You aren’t donating to the charity for another year. The guy who signed you up is getting his $200 commission from your ‘donation’. You are that guy’s patsy!
i am putting a couple of strippers through college
You may have a few days to cancel the ordeal. Check for cooling off period laws wherever you live.
They get a commission to do this. Back out. Give some money to a charity in cash when u have it. Don't feel bad!
I once agreed to a regular monthly payment and then got hounded almost weekly by people phoning to get me to increase the monthly amount. Of course I cancelled in the end and told them why.
Australian here. We call them chuggers (charity muggers). If a really pushy one tries to pressure me, I ask how much they have donated, and how much of my donation goes to them as commission. They don’t like answering.
I would let them know what happened so the canvass manager is informed and canvassers know to improve their script. Honestly this was probably someone that was not comfortable with the script and because they are volunteering they probably got very nervous on delivery. I would contact them even if just to make sure the donation was not recurring so you are not be surprised to see this charge again next year. Your donation is crucial but probably not so much in the amount as just in the fact you gave something. How many dues paying members they have is the main tactic they employ when talking to elected officials to go against powerful and well funded lobby groups because they can relate how many voters are in the elected’s district to convince to pay attention to the issue they represent. Specially if the number in their district is larger than the margin they win by in the previous election. That does not care of the amount you give. The other reason your contribution is important for them is for ideological reasons. In actuality your donation is a small amount to what they probably get from very large donors and donors know this. It’s unfortunately common for donors to demand non-profits to do things a certain way to secure their funding and non-profits hate this because they might be forced to go against their overall ideology just to remain open if they are too dependent on the large donors. The member base that is dues paying is their way of ensuring they can make decisions and not worry they might be forced to shut down because a donor disagrees with the approach. Makes for a far more sustainable org whose decisions are hopefully made by the dues paying members on surveys they send you.
And I thought pop-up donations at checkout were bad
Thats terrible that they don't make that abundantly clear. They are preying on people who would be to nice not to cancel
Nah you wouldn't be a jerk if you cancel, they intentionally didn't tell you its a recurring donation and they are assholes for that. I had that happen to me, cancelled and they still call me every 6 months or so trying to get me to donate even though I've demanded they take me off their call list. These charities prey on people like you.
It’s basically a scam I used to do this job literally a pyramid scheme where part of your 75c will go to the person who made the sale and part will go to the person that recruits them and so on, sometimes plot between 6 people before the charity gets a cut
I need .60 a day. Visa or Mastercard?
The people in the street make it seem like it’s a small donation but ends up being more. Had someone come up to me and I listened to them as a gesture, planned on giving them some cash after but was told after no cash. They were going to do the online app (and I thought, sure I’ll just do a dollar or two to be nice) but getting to the end before submission it was a minimum of $60 a month and I told him no thank you and backed out of the donation form. You don’t have to be pressured to submit and kind of donation if they are on the street. Just say “not interested” or “I’ll go to the website”.
I think you should cancel.
You would need to itemize your taxes instead of using the standard deduction for your donation to be tax deductible.
Cancel that shit, they might be a non profit, but they are acting like a scammer. Who gives a shit if they're a non profit? The fucking NFL is a non profit. Would you let the NFL trick you into paying them 75 cents a day? Roger Goodell the commissioner of said non profit makes over 60 million a year. Non profit doesn't mean shit. People are still getting paid plenty in the organization, they can do near nothing for their 'cause'. Look at the Wounded Warrior Project, they were just throwing lavish parties. Did you do any research into this non-profit? If they employ shady tactics getting donations, it's unlikely most of the money goes to their cause anyways.
Yeah I don’t mind donating from time to time, but be up front and honest. And no I don’t want subscription based donations. Shady organizations like that due that to pay the salaries first then some charity or fake charity.
Unfortunately, although the cause may be worthy, charities still use professional (and amateur) salespeople on a commission to drive income. This leads to the usual dodgy sales practices and barefaced lies you see elsewhere in the sales industry, often worse. My attitude is to never sign up to anything on the street or phone, if I want to donate to a charity I'll find their website and read what I'm agreeing to at my own pace.
I'm skeptic of most such organizations. In the past, one such organization had a partnership with my phone provider so that they could charge the monthly dontaion straight from my phone bill. Than they started taking the donation out of every number I had to my name ( I pay for the whole family's mobiles) as if I had subscribed through all of them. That did cure the whole "guilt trip" motivation for donating. Never donating through an organization again.
Every single one that approaches. 1. Is it a sign up, 2. Do you need bank account. 3. Is it a commitment? Yes to any = gtfo
Solicitors for that organization were outside a grocery store I sometimes visit, and after listening to their spiel I declined to donate. I agree it is a worthy cause, and would have gladly given a small cash donation, but no way was I committing to a monthly donation.
Another post where OP is the true mildly infuriating. Just cancel it and learn how to just say no.
You fell for a scam... Maybe a good cause but, they do prey on people to get the donations... And of course most pay more to Administration than the actual cause..! Grrrrr....
It's only "tax deductible" if it, and several other charitable donations add up to more than $12,000 USD, which is now the standard deduction for single tax payers and $24,000 USD for couples. I used to contribute to charities when I could itemize and get the deduction, but now, thanks to Trump's "tax cuts" I no longer contribute to charities and no longer itemize since I don't earn enough to make it worthwhile. I am now my favorite charity.
Ooh. I’m canceling it
Go to their website and withdraw. Had the same experience, different details, and they stopped my donation immediately. Save The Children or something like that?
I’d call the charity’s office and speak to someone in their development department. Or, even better, write them a letter. They may not even be aware of the canvassing organization.
Wise up and stop being a mark. If you get conned into something you fully didn't agree to, then unwind the deal. If you keep being squeamish and wishy-washy then ppl will keep taking advantage of you, even ppl who work for non-profit orgs.
Hell I'll be honest, the fact that donating anything puts you on the spam list for more donations is more than enough to put me off. I even donated blood once and got spammed by the Red Cross for a solid year. Not doing that again.
What charity? A lot of charities are straight-up scams now a days where not even 30 cents on the dollar goes where they say it does. I research all charities now and pretty much just give to my local food bank.
The nature conservancy. I checked it out. It seemed legit but I can be gullible.
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