The Scottish Sun launched an attack on face-to-face fundraising at the weekend, directly confronting fundraisers on the streets in a tongue-in-cheek protest against the "nationwide nuisance".

Dubbed the 'Chugg of war', Sun reporter Kenny Angove donned a branded t-shirt and cap and "turned the tables" on street fundraisers in Glasgow, approaching them and pestering them to subscribe to the newspaper. The event was written-up in a joint report by Angove and fellow reporter Stephen Houston.

"You can't walk down a busy street without being stopped by pests with bright jackets and cringeworthy patter," the pair said, "so we decided to turn the tables and see how they like being hassled."

The report is the latest in an apparent amplification of animosity towards the fundraising technique which is used by over 100 charities and 20 fundraising agencies registered with the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA).

Toby Ganley, head of policy at PFRA, disagreed that there has been increased anti-chugging sentiment, saying that: "Media interest tends to come in waves - every time we sign an agreement there tends to be some media activity.

“It’s not our job to change perceptions about fundraising, we can’t change the news agenda. We regulate the activity, we try to ensure that professional standards are demonstrated and we take action where they are not. I would like to think that the more standards improve, the less of that sort of media attention there would be but I don’t think that’s necessarily the case," he added.

Macmillan fundraisers end efforts

Not all negativity has been generated by the press, however. Elsewhere in the UK last week, a fundraising group raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support for over 30 years has shut down in protest at the charity's use of "high pressure" door-to-door fundraising. The 15 committee members of Macmillan Cancer Relief (Aldeburgh and District) voted unanimously to end its fundraising efforts because of the "fundamentally unacceptable" practice, the Telegraph reported.

Committee chairman Bernadette Eklid is reported as saying: "These workers were calling on doorsteps in the evenings and using high-pressure selling techniques to try and persuade people to sign up for direct debit payments.

"We got a lot of complaints from people who were contacting us because they knew we were the local fundraisers.

"We regard the practice as being fundamentally unacceptable as it put unfair pressure on people, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, in their own homes."

Past protestations

Last year Shelter Scotland was forced to apologise after a number of its face-to-face fundraisers were found to board a commuter bus in Edinburgh asking for passengers to commit to a direct debit, sparking a number of complaints.  

Local politicians too have had their share of anti-chugging sentiment. Late last year a London councillor told civilsociety.co.uk that he was forming alliances within other councils to collaborate on an outright ban of street fundraising across London. Islington Councillor Paul Convery said face-to-face was "annoying" and "damaging to the brand" for charities and said that the impetus for street fundraising came from the for-profit agencies, and not the charities. 

Scottish MP George Foulkes called for the regulation and licensing of street fundraising across the whole of Scotland during a Scottish parliamentary session in February last year. 

An increasing number of councils across the UK are entering site agreements with the PFRA to limit the number of street fundraisers and the places and times in which they may undertake their practice. While there are already over 40 site agreements in England and Wales, the PFRA only secured its first Scottish site agreement in Glasgow, where Chugg of War was staged, in March this year. 

Meanwhile, however the anti-chugging movement does not appear to have produced a strong dent in the social media world. While a number of groups have been set up on Facebook calling for the end of charity chugging, none has managed to amass more than 118 'likes'. A Twitter user named 'chuggerwatch' who calls for people to alert followers when street fundraisers are on duty has amassed 568 followers.

PFRA outlines its arguments for street fundraising in a page on its website entitled "Do you object to 'Chuggers'?" Listing a number of common challenges to face-to-face fundraising, the PFRA rebukes each point in turn and asks "Do you still object to chuggers?"