Charities are reporting being turned away from door-to-door fundraising agencies as they are operating at full capacity, according to newcomer AAP Fundraising.

Demand for all face-to-face fundraising services is outstripping supply, said Gareth Moore, director of the face-to-face company, as he announced that AAP has begun a campaign for the Refugee Council ahead of Refugee Week and is due to start a prospecting campaign for Marie Curie Cancer Care next month.

Moore told Civil Society that AAP, which will begin door-to-door fundraising for its owner the Aspinall Foundation in July, has been repeatedly told by charities that the large, established door-to-door fundraising agencies have been forced to turn away business because they are operating at maximum capacity for the remainder of the year.

“It’s fair to say there is more demand than capacity within both door-to-door and face-to-face," said Moore. "But I know from speaking to potential clients on the door side that they’re approaching long-established suppliers operating on the door side and they’re being told that they have no capacity for the year. There seems to be a significant shortfall in capacity on the door side,” he said.

AAP, which is currently operating 14 street teams with 60 staff, said it had always intended to launch its door-to-door service after establishing street fundraising.

“There was definitely an issue of capacity in the market this year. Charities have realised from the research that has been done during the financial crisis that face-to-face donors have performed very well compared to other recruitment channels. The volume of acquisition has really not been affected and retention similarly has not been affected in the way that it was once feared it would be,” he said.

“So I think charities are putting their money where they know they can get the solid returns from and a low risk to their investment – and that’s resulted in more demand than capacity this year.”