Face-to-face fundraising is the practice whereby individuals solicit regular donations from people in public places, either by approaching people on the street or in public spaces such as airports, malls or businesses, or knocking on the doors of private dwellings (known as door-to-door).
Face-to-face fundraising involves a regular gift as opposed to throwing coins into a bucket or signing up for a one-off donation.
The practice, which is sometimes referred to as ‘chugging’ (charity mugging), is often controversial and has over the years attracted criticism from politicians, the media and public alike. However, charities insist it is a profitable form of fundraising.
Face-to-face is regulated by the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association.
The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association has officially endorsed the word ‘chugger’ by announcing it will use it in engagement with stakeholders, “when appropriate”.
More details have emerged about what a collaboration between the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association and the Fundraising Standards Board will mean for collating face-to-face fundraising complaints.
The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association board will consider a motion to provide more advice and information about face-to-face complaints to members following a suggestion at its AGM.
Charities could be facing the best year on record for doorstep-recruited donor retention and street fundraising attrition figures have remained stable according to the latest figures on face-to-face attrition.
Face-to-face fundraisers signed up 15 per cent fewer donors in the last financial year, according to figures released by the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association today.
The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association will mark ten years of regulating face-to-face fundraising with a new website and strategy that sees it tackle negative perceptions of the method.
Celina Ribeiro wonders why it is that neither of the major fundraising conventions this year has devoted more than one session to face-to-face fundraising.
The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association will team up with the Trading Standards Institute to map out all the cold calling control zones in the UK to help charities decide which areas are safe to fundraise in.
Charities are reporting being turned away from door-to-door fundraising agencies as they are operating at full capacity, according to newcomer AAP Fundraising.
Fundraising is all about getting people to do what you want, but who is influencing the influencers? This year’s 50 Most Influential Poll shows that many of the same faces are still holding sway in the sector. Celina Ribeiro reports.
Face-to-face fundraising is often seen as a job taken up between jobs - short-lived and of relatively limited use in terms of career development. Not so, says Rory White, who speaks to a number of former street fundraisers who have moved on to fundraising positions within charities.
Charities could be denied access to the edited electoral register, used to target and verify donors, according to the Institute of Fundraising.
SeeAbility, the blindness and eye care charity, is to spend £1m over the next three years on a new strategy to acquire new individual donors.
Stephen Pidgeon sought to defuse the row between the Institute of Fundraising and the face-to-face community over a comment he made on a YouTube video promoting an Institute direct marketing event, by issuing a public apology – of sorts – at the start of the day’s proceedings.
In the dreamy world of the great unwashed, fundraising is an activity charities undertake at zero cost, run by an army of passionate volunteers and which is conducted in a way that most suits the personal tastes and habits of each individual member of the public.
Save the Children has signed on to become the first client of new face-to-face company AAP, the trading arm of the Aspinall Foundation.
Face-to-face fundraising is not the most popular of fundraising forms, it has to be said. But a community in Norfolk has lumped poor old street fundraisers with public urination and prostitution as local public nuisance.
The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association has called for meetings with Norwich City Council officials after reports that face-to-face fundraisers are causing concern among local businesses and shoppers.
It’s unfair for people to complain about 'chuggers' or charity telephone fundraisers - charities have as much right as any other form of business to solicit interest.
Speaking at the Institute of Fundraising conference 'Ready for the recovery?', the shadow minister for charities, social enterprise and volunteering Nick Hurd laid out three areas that a new Conservative government would help the voluntary sector.
The PFRA is aiming to establish a ‘core group’ of charities for its annual attrition survey after low participation levels in the first two years.
The sector needs to set priorities in face-to-face fundraising, but it doesn’t mean prioritising one set of donors above another, says Rupert Tappin
Homelessness charities have a tough task in competing against 'cuter' organisations for donations, but does that mean they have to shock and appall to win public sympathy at Christmas time?
Conservation charity the Aspinall Foundation has set up its own face-to-face fundraising company, with a key player from Face2Face Fundraising at its helm.
A new face-to-face fundraising company has been set up by key figures from Dialogue Direct, which collapsed last month. Real Fundraising was formed on October 28 - the day after Dialogue Direct announced it was being forced into voluntary liquidation as a result of an outstanding tax bill, according to Companies House records.
The PFRA will be keeping an eye on its agency members following the collapse of one of the biggest operators in face-to-face late last month.
The PFRA is calling for charities to collaborate on a definition of ‘rogue’ fundraisers and debate on the best methods available to prevent rogue practice. The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association has proposed three different systems designed to crack down on ‘rogue’ fundraisers – originally defined largely as face-to-face fundraisers who sign up phantom donors – after it established a working party to look into the issue last month.
The Institute of Fundraising has suggested Wandsworth Council to take its complaints about street fundraising to the Fundraising Standards Board, even though the FRSB does not have jurisdiction over such complaints. Following last week’s clash between the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA) and Wandsworth Council over the presence of face-to-face fundraisers in Tooting, the Institute stepped in to support the PFRA in its stance against the council.
The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association has hit back at public attacks on face-to-face fundraising by two London councils. Westminster City Council last week reported it had renegotiated its draft agreement with the PFRA, while Wandsworth Council condemned the organisation for failing to respond to its concerns regarding the practice in Tooting.
A charity has backed a Guardian journalist’s Twitter campaign against face-to-face fundraising. Ben Goldacre, author of the Bad Science column in the Guardian, begun a flurry of Twitter messages on Thursday when he tweeted that "Charity muggers mean your experience of walking down the street is defined by having to say 'no' all the time. This is really corrosive".
