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    Charity begins...

    I may have mentioned that, for the last 7 or 8 years, I have been the parish co-ordinator for Christian Aid. In that time, we have gone from 20 volunteers covering about 25 to 30 streets collecting about £1500 to, nowadays, about half of all those amounts. As many of you may know, I ran the Bath Half this March for Great Ormond Street on behalf of my nephew who had to have a major brain operation there last year and raised £1650. The first time I did the half marathon, I did it for Mind as I am a mentalist and raised about £400.

    I have been wondering why there is such a disparity in the amounts collected, let alone the reduction in money to Christian Aid over the years*. There are a few reasons that have come to me.

    Christian Aid is an annual event whereas my marathon runs were one-offs.

    Christian Aid is a massive charity and people have become somewhat suspicious of the increasing professionalisation and corporisation of charities in recent years. However, both MIND and, certainly, Great Ormond Street are also big professionally run charities.

    Christian Aid, being a door to door collecting charity suffers from the recent onset of chuggers calling at people's houses. Although, Christian Aid are volunteers who invariably live on the streets where they collect, people tend not to know their neighbours quite so well nowadays so it is just someone else who knocks on your door, asking for money when you are having tea or bathing the kids.

    The elephant in the room is, of course, that people don't like the "Christian" in Christian Aid. From experience, apparent non-theists seem just as happy to give money to Christians or other theists if not moreso. However, as people don't tend to give reasons for not giving, I can't say for sure that the religious nature of the charity isn't off-putting.

    Another reason is possibly that the donations to GOSH were increased because of the personal nature of the appeal. However, firstly, a lot of the people who gave, probably the greater majority, did not know my nephew. Also, my appeal for MIND was linked to my own mental disorder which included a personal element to the appeal. Indeed, both marathon sponsorships were publicised the same way and collected the same way through Justgiving, Facebook etc. and obviously were raised by me running the same event. As I ran for my nephew after I ran for Mind, the greater amount goes against any novelty of me running the marathon or any giving fatigue.

    The one difference in the two marathons is quite simply, to my mind, that the latter time I was raising funds for not only a 5 year old boy but one who, in the picture on my fundraising page, is very cute looking and smiling. The previous one had a picture of a grizzled middle-aged me which is less enticing. However, the Christian Aid literature also shows young children. The stark truth, however, is those are brown babies who live somewhere else in that there foreign. My nephew is white and, as it happens, very blond.

    I am sure that Christian Aid, like many charities, have done research into what images to use in their literature. From my limited experience, blond white British boys living in a rich country who have a thankfully treatable and temporary condition trump brown children living in third world countries with long-term and less treatable conditions such as hunger, poverty and malaria. I appreciate that this is a truism that we all know. Indeed, at Christian Aid, they have to make a big deal that a fair whack of the money goes to UK cases. I am not saying that Christian Aid should be putting blond white kids on their literature obviously.

    It is interesting, from this, to see how people give money and why. I also find it fascinating the disparity between the four different streets I collect from even when three of them are effectively continuations of the same street.

    By the way, one of the things I can pass on is, if you don't want to give money to a collector, just say "No, thank you". There is no need to think up excuses or pretend to look for money that never turns up as they would prefer to told "no" so that they can get onto the next house as quickly as possible. Well, certainly that is the case for volunteer collectors, maybe not commission-driven chuggers.

    *The year-on-year reduction to Christian Aid is, of course, down to the ageing demographic of the Anglican church - which provides pretty much all the collectors.

    #2
    Charity begins...

    Bordeaux Education wrote: The elephant in the room is, of course, that people don't like the "Christian" in Christian Aid. From experience, apparent non-theists seem just as happy to give money to Christians or other theists if not moreso. However, as people don't tend to give reasons for not giving, I can't say for sure that the religious nature of the charity isn't off-putting.
    Absolutely 100% off-putting. I can't pretend to speak for any other non-God-botherers, but it would never even occur to me to donate to Christian Aid when there are plenty of secular charities around. Well done on your volunteering and fund-raising efforts though.

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      #3
      Charity begins...

      What she said.

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        #4
        Charity begins...

        Yeah, that.

        I mean, I have nothing against your faith, but I don't share it. It may be a failing of mine, but whenever I see an overtly religious charity it does give me pause.

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          #5
          Charity begins...

          Yes, same here. It doesn't matter if it claims to be completely secular in its behaviour, the very fact that it's a religious charity run by a religious organisation makes me pause and wonder if there's anything else going on.

          And I don't want the recipients of my charity to think that because I am backing "Christian Aid" or "Cafod" or whatever, that I support christianity or catholicism or whatever. I also don't want them thinking twice about going into a school paid for by charity, or getting emergency food from a charity, because they're worried that they're not christian. The name itself is a turn-off.

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            #6
            Charity begins...

            Now I don't object to Christian Aid, although I am a bit wary of CAFOD.

            It's Help for Heroes I won't subscribe to - "Guilty By Association".

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              #7
              Charity begins...

              San Bernardhinault wrote: I also don't want them thinking twice about going into a school paid for by charity, or getting emergency food from a charity, because they're worried that they're not christian. The name itself is a turn-off.
              I know that you are talking about the perception of the possibility of not being benefitted if you are not a Christian rather than the practice but it bears clarification that Christian Aid funds projects that help people regardless of their beliefs, work with organisations of all faiths and none and are not, in any way, a missionary organisation: Having said that, I completely understand why people still wouldn't give.

              Comment


                #8
                Charity begins...

                Are your results replicated in other parishes? Is it a nationwide fall in doorstep donations to Christian Aid? If so, it could be societal, though I think it's more likely down to changing ways of giving (the Just Giving in particular) and the multiplicity of other charities.

                If it hasn't been replicated elsewhere, then I guess you need to look at what has changed in your parish specifically.

                I don't think attitudes to Christianity have changed appreciably in 7 years, there will obviously be marginal changes with elderly Christians dying and each new generation more secular than the one that preceded it.

                I think Christian Aid are very good at keeping the faith out, but I'd still give to a secular charity every time.

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                  #9
                  Charity begins...

                  Each year, I'm less and less willing to do *anything* on my doorstep; from charitable giving to signing up for lawn care. The level of door-to-door scamming means that anyone with a clipboard and a laminated name tag is already under a dark cloud of suspicion. Compound that with an appeal for cash and I'm out.

                  *small girls bearing boxes of cookies are exempt from this curmudgeonliness "How much? Gimme ten."

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Charity begins...

                    Etienne wrote: Are your results replicated in other parishes? Is it a nationwide fall in doorstep donations to Christian Aid? If so, it could be societal, though I think it's more likely down to changing ways of giving (the Just Giving in particular) and the multiplicity of other charities.

                    If it hasn't been replicated elsewhere, then I guess you need to look at what has changed in your parish specifically.

                    I don't think attitudes to Christianity have changed appreciably in 7 years, there will obviously be marginal changes with elderly Christians dying and each new generation more secular than the one that preceded it.
                    It's a good point. It looks like, over the last 5 years, door-to-door collecting has maintained around £12-11 million so nowhere near the, at least, 25% we have dropped in the last 5 years. The congregations over the same time over the two churches in the parish has dropped in the same manner so it looks like less parishioners does equal less collectors equalling less streets covered and less donations. Something to think about.

                    I think Christian Aid are very good at keeping the faith out, but I'd still give to a secular charity every time.
                    Yes, I know what you mean but it is good that you recognise that. It is apparently one of the best for spending the least amount of admin nowadays as well.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Charity begins...

                      My dad did delivery/collection of a fairly moderate number of Christian Aid envelopes for many years, and I've pushed his batch through the doors on his assigned streets several times in the past myself when it's been too much for him. Mercifully it was never suggested or asked that I attempted the collecting part, as I absolutely loathe the prospect of going around bothering people for money like that (though I suppose I have a certain admiration for those who can do it), but I didn't have a problem just doing the drop-offs as it wasn't putting either myself or the recipients in a directly awkward situation.

                      Where I live near Cardiff, the collection of the envelopes from doorsteps was abandoned altogether last year. I don't know whether it was becoming impossible to find enough volunteers as everyone shares my distaste for it, whether it was regarded as having become too much effort for too little return, whether volunteers were getting too much hassle from aggrieved doorbell-answerers, or what. Instead envelopes were simply delivered as normal with a note asking for the recipient to drop their donation off at the local church or rectory at the end of Christian Aid week.

                      As you'd probably expect, I gather that donations fell by roughly three-quarters as a result of this.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Charity begins...

                        When we first moved into our neighbourhood, some woman cajoled me into collecting for the March of Dimes. She made out like it was a breeze, and people'd be happy to see me. And it was only 30 houses, from number something to number something, etc etc. By the end of the couple-evenings' work, I fucking hated almost everyone on the street. A few coughed up, but most of them were just plain rude or insulted me with the most pathetic excuses ever. You know, people with BMWs crying they just couldn't afford to give a dollar, etc.

                        I did it for two years and then packed it in. Never again.

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