Charity collectors will have to sign up to a new code of conduct before taking to Manchester's streets, under plans being explored by city centre chiefs.
The moves are aimed at tackling the practice of 'chugging' – charity mugging – which shoppers have complained leaves them feeling harassed and intimidated.
City centre bosses, who believe their code will be the first of its kind in the country, want to work alongside charities to draw up the charter. It will lay out guidelines on how fundraisers should conduct themselves and is also expected to assign designated areas for street collecting and limit the number of people and organisations doing it on any one day.
It follows complaints from members of the public that they feel harassed by the large number of collectors who congregate in key shopping areas such as where Cross Street meets Market Street and on Deansgate at its junction with King Street. Other hotspots include Piccadilly Gardens and St Ann's Square.
The idea has come from city centre management company Cityco. Cityco's operations director, Gary Ellis, said: “We're really keen to work with charities on this to find an organised way of working that benefits everyone. Visitors to the city centre have to be our first concern. What we don't want is to have two or three groups on one day, causing an obstruction and having people feel intimidated as they're going about their day to day business.
“We don't want to deny organisations the opportunity. They do very worthwhile work and we hope this will benefit them too, by making people feel more able to approach them or stop and talk. We will look to agree locations where they can operate and limit the numbers each day, perhaps on a timetable type basis. We could even look at advertising on our website who will be collecting that day. We will also have to consider what happens if they break the code of conduct.”
City centre spokesman, Coun Pat Karney, added: “This is something that could work well to the benefit of everyone. We get mixed views on charity collectors – while people really support them, a lot complain about feeling harassed so it's finding these new ground rules where everyone's happy. We will call charities in for a summit at the town hall. We will also explore with them the possibility of extra training for collectors where that's required.”
Charities' fundraising activities are monitored by bodies such as the Institute of Fundraising who have a code of practice which sets out guidelines on how public places are used for collecting. It also addresses the manner in which people are approached and the techniques used including warning against behaviour that could be considered harassing. Many charities use agencies to recruit collectors who must undergo training before they are sent out fundraising.
Harriet Roberts, of Oxfam, who only send out street campaigners - asking for pledges of support rather than money - said face-to-face fundraising was a key tool for charities but it had become apparent that it was getting too much for some members of the public.
Ms Roberts, who is Oxfam's community fundraising manager in the north of England, said: "We welcome initiatives which aim to make any street-based fundraising and campaigning as easy and as pleasant as possible for the public. Street-based activities are important for charities and for members of the public who want to get involved - but it is also important that they are conducted as transparently and professionally as possible. At Oxfam we value what the public thinks and says, and we would be happy to cooperate on setting up a charter to ensure that engaging with the public on charitable issues can carry on in the city centre in the smoothest way possible.”
Council to crack down on ‘charity muggers’
September 17, 2010
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Ban them fullstop they are a complete nuisance, I already give to the NSPCC vis direct debit but these people really do harass you until of course you tell them to xxxx xxx
they're everywhere now and i give to none of them. i give direct to charity and thats what i tell them. this sort of collecting is open to fraudsters.
clothing collections are the next thing to stamp down on. im currently getting at least a collection bag a day through the door. enough is enough!
I literally stopped going shopping in Manchester some years ago and shop elsewhere now. I find the City Centre an intimidating place and do feel harrassed and bullied by collectors, people stopping you for opinions, Big Issue Sellers etc. You cannot seem to walk a few yards without someone trying to stop you.
I'm happy to give to the charities I want to but these people who expect you to hand over your bank account details in the street are the most aggressive at all. I won't be back in Manchester until this is controlled. Let's hope it works.
I don't have a problem with giving some cash, but what I do object to is the presumption that I will give up my bank details to a stranger just because they're wearing the same colour t-shirt as the rest of the group, and wear an easily-knocked-up ID card.
As it happens, my wife and I also prefer to help people who help themselves, so people selling big issues often get a brew, and sometimes a hot breakfast.
They do annoy me a little but you can always just say "no". It's a word I find very effective, far more so than the traditional hands in pockets, i-pod on, eye's averted method.
However, they have to work on Market Street etc as they are the busiest. Perhaps they ought to tone down the more blatant in your face tactics a little and accept that one "no" is enough but also I feel that many members of the public could do with being a little less rude towards them. It can't be the easiest task and it is a very necessary job.
M.U.F.C. lead the way yet again.Ban them from Old Trafford and the rest of Manchester follows.
you can't walk from Printworks to St Anne's square without getting harassed by one of these people .....every single say !! It really winds me up.
GOOD. These people are the bane of my life. Just go away. I've already been harrasssed by ALL of your colleagues.
The worst ones are the ones who go "Woah woah woah you look like a crazy kind of guy" when in actualy fact, I just look quite normal.
They all skip towards me in the same way and all have the same dance/wave combination.
i'm constantly being targeted by NSPCC collectors when i am in MCR with my family.
i tell them straight: "I've got my own kids to pay for. eff off"
they look at me as if i've just murdered their mother.
get them off the street, and they'll be back knocking on everyone's door when you've just sat down to eat your tea.
They annoy me so much. I hope they get rid of them as soon as possible.
I sometime pretend to be on the phone. That works too.
I must say I have never been aware of this problem. Mind you, myself and Mrs Hogmorcash are pretty haughty looking so they probably realise they'd be wasting their time even asking. We make regular charity donations by standing order to the Conservative Party and Cheshire Masonic. We're doing our bit!
I feel for these people they are only trying to earn a living. It is the companies they work for that should be blamed. I know that many charities and other companies contract their sales and marketing out to smaller companies who 'self employ' staff and they are put on a commission only rate. You can hardly blame them for being persistent if it means they get paid to eat. The companies obviously have seen a massive footfall in these areas and decide to flood them with these sales people. Unfortunately with rising unemployment expected, I bet this sort of practise will increase
I live and work in the city centre and have to put up with these people everyday. They should be banned, no questions asked. They use bullying tactics and like other people have stated, they are rude/offensive if you dare to say no to them.
On a lighter note, I once paid a homeless person who I often give some money to for 'food' £10 to go up to a particularly rude charity workers every five minutes and ask him for some spare change. When the shoe was on the other foot he wasn't so forthcoming...... Morally wrong: Yes Hilarious: Definitely!
Unfortunately, my girlfriend is too nice and ended up giving her details to one of these Oxfam guys. He wanted £10 a month - she said that was too much and asked if she could just donate £5 a month. He persisted for the tenner, but eventually relented. Lo and behold, a fortnight late, £10 leaves her account. That is tantamount to stealing imo.
The way they jump into your path in an effort to get you to stop and talk to them i sreally annoying too. Just dirty tactics. Tis about time this was regulated.
They are just like door to door window salesmen. If I wan't windows I am capable of phoning a company and getting some installed I don't need badgering. Just like when I want to give to charity I am more than capable to find the ways to do it myself.
Next time I am asked I might flip like the bloke in airplane 2.
Living in the city Centre I am forever being accosted by charities and people asking for spare change. Some time ago I saw two police officers approach three of these collectors and tell them,you cannot approach people and ask for a donation or shake your collecting boxes. If this is still part of the collectiong conditions why do these people still do it.It really annoys me people stopping me in the street and asking for money.Most people give but not all the money you give goes to charity. These so called collectors and their bosses take a huge amount in "Expenses".
Claim to be deaf and dumb. It usually works with these scroungers.
I can't believe when i walk through town. people giving out their bank details to somebody they have never met before. and just because they have a Badge on.
saying they are collecting for some charity. doesn't mean the are legit.
if you want to donate, set up a direct debit with your bank and donate that way.
i'm not saying some are genuine, but there are a hell of a lot that isn't.
i was in a pub near city's ground on saturday before the game. when i noticed a woman coming out of the pub who had been collecting for charity. i would have thought quite a lot of people donated. the trouble is. she is well known in the gorton area for keeping the money herself. and has been done before.
but it hasn't stopped her doing it again.
and people like this spoil it for the genuine ones.
I understand these people have a job to do and in the past i have stopped, chatted and handed over my details and donated but recently working in the city centre and rushing around on my lunch or catching a bus i dont have time to stop and i have to politely say no thank you only to hear abuse shouted behind my back, this is totally unacceptable and has put me off ever stopping and giving anything in future.
we were in Manchester yesterday afternoon and they were all over Market Street, chasing people down the road,harrasing them and jumping in front of them. we managed to avoid them. It is the first time I have been into Manchester for a long time in the week shopping, and I was shocked at the way they were hounding people trying to get on with their day. Most people will give to charity on occasions, but i'm in the same camp as many others have stated, you aint getting my bank account details no matter how much you pester me, unfortunatly,these people know there are those who will cave in and give them over when they really dont want to. I know there are thousands of charities all competing to get our money, but it has gone too far now and its time these people were banned from high streets and banned from door stepping!
45- but still feel 21, gorton,
what you've said is bang on.
go to the charities official website and sign up on their.
yes, they definitely need regulating. i also live on the boundaries of the city centre and am constantly harassed by them. if there was just one charity allowed at a time, that wouldn't be so bad. It's when you've got NSPCC, shelter, friends of the earth all at the same time, it turns what is normally a five minute walk from piccadilly to M&S into an epic of a route. i walk down all the back streets now in the hope of avoiding them.
I realise that most of these collectors are students trying to make a living and it is commission/target based, but they may have more success if charities were restricted to working set areas etc i.e. st ann's square on a saturday or outside debenhams on a wednesday and nowhere in between.
There's far too many of them and it's a daily occurrence. Give shoppers a break from all these charity muggers 7 days a week. It's plain rude the way they jump in front of you with a cheesy grin and expect you to be cooperative. I don't find what they are collecting for offensive, but the number of them and their approach is over the top. Good to hear it's being tackled.