In Oz I usually just say nooooo as I stride past. Last year in Auckland I smiled and told them 'No charity mugging' like they were naughty children. Both my siblings in NZ are vulnerable to guilt trip scams and I have had to cancel monthly donations they've been sucked into. When they ask you a question to get you into conversation and also start saying yes it's morally appropriate to answer 'No, I fucking hate trees' and really it doesn't matter if they are Greenpeace or Kiddy Cancer in Africa. Hope you feel better soon. I've read here on substack creatine helps with dehydration, I'm a little suspicious about the arginine though.
They are in the UK on most high streets in major towns and cities. I don't give anything to the charity / NGO / Industrial complex. They operate a racket, are politicised and many have been instrumental in pushing DEI and especially gender woo woo. Better to help direct - donate through FB groups or send remittances directly to people in poorer countries. Just 100 € or $ can be enough to get someone started with a small business and enable them to pull them up from themselves up from the absolute pits.
These kind of people exist in North America as well- but they tend to be called different names. They aren't as much of a threat here because would-be customers can bully them as much if not more than they can lay out the bullying, and the laws against soliciting and canvassing are very sternly enforced.
Greenpeace are the worse. Organized charity collectors suck.
Here in NZ I've done volunteer charity collecting for the Salvation Army and the Scouts. No harassment. Very polite sausage sizzling and old people with poppies. It's the ones with clipboard and sign ups that make me swerve and dodge. And they always target me because I have dreads and they think I'll be sympathetic to their cause but I've seen how Greenpeace lie and manipulate the media and I fucking hate them.
If they’re not selling Girl Scout cookies, I’m not interested. Most of my giving these days goes through my local Facebook Buy Nothing group. Just this morning I gave a back relief rocker cushion, barely used, for free. I give canned goods to local food drives and clothes to the homeless. I’m suspicious of anything that smacks of a corporate operation. When I start collecting Social Security next year, I intend to pick a Substack writer or two and start a paid subscription. Your story reminded me that in the 1970s, you couldn’t pass through an airport without being collared by the Hari Krishna folks. They were so annoying. At least the Catholic monks make and sell fudge, brandy, and fruitcakes and they don’t get in your face to do it.
Girl scout cookies are not an Aussie tradition though occasionally local schoolkids will fund-raise for events. I have a little laminated sign at my front door that advises not to knock if you’re soliciting but adds "If you’re a genuine charity you can take a punt but I'm not promising anything".
Wow, that’s truly horrible. It’s a an outright assault. And, worse, a fervently religious contemptuous assault. I’m sorry that happened to you. Bravo for standing up.
We don’t have chuggers in the US. I’m not sure that kind of “charity work” would work here. People simply would not give. And, most certainly would stop visiting malls they are already not visiting.
Forcing people to redistribute wealth to charitable institutions, which are mostly set up as hierarchical corporations that sieve money to the top leaders and “operating funds” leaves about 60% of your donation actually going to the cause. That’s what is required by law. If you Google it, though, the big charities like Red Cross report 90% directly to the cause, but it’s not entirely true. Salaries at the top can be astronomical. Sentara Health had the highest paid CEO of any US nonprofit organization, with an estimated salary of $33.22 million. Red Cross “reports” its CEO at $1 million.
In America, charitable giving is a huge multi-national global business enterprise funded by the wealthiest who receive huge tax breaks and incentives for donating. Charities are part of the 1% wealth scheme. I donate locally and directly to people and projects I can see and participate in at a local level. As are old adage goes: charity begins at home.
It really felt like an assault, thank you for your kind words. Charities, it seems, are big business. And I'd no idea chuggers weren't an American challenge till today .
Sadly, they probably won't think twice because they're really care especially If they are getting paid. When I see someone tending to be a dick to me, I make note of it and then I call their work and complain. Some may see that as a waste of time, but I see it as me having the right to do what I want to do.
I actually did call the charity they were representing to complain, when it was all over. Have not received the email response promised. At least I tried!
In Oz I usually just say nooooo as I stride past. Last year in Auckland I smiled and told them 'No charity mugging' like they were naughty children. Both my siblings in NZ are vulnerable to guilt trip scams and I have had to cancel monthly donations they've been sucked into. When they ask you a question to get you into conversation and also start saying yes it's morally appropriate to answer 'No, I fucking hate trees' and really it doesn't matter if they are Greenpeace or Kiddy Cancer in Africa. Hope you feel better soon. I've read here on substack creatine helps with dehydration, I'm a little suspicious about the arginine though.
They are in the UK on most high streets in major towns and cities. I don't give anything to the charity / NGO / Industrial complex. They operate a racket, are politicised and many have been instrumental in pushing DEI and especially gender woo woo. Better to help direct - donate through FB groups or send remittances directly to people in poorer countries. Just 100 € or $ can be enough to get someone started with a small business and enable them to pull them up from themselves up from the absolute pits.
These kind of people exist in North America as well- but they tend to be called different names. They aren't as much of a threat here because would-be customers can bully them as much if not more than they can lay out the bullying, and the laws against soliciting and canvassing are very sternly enforced.
I wish they were strictly enforced here, but sadly they seem to be simply accepted.
Greenpeace are the worse. Organized charity collectors suck.
Here in NZ I've done volunteer charity collecting for the Salvation Army and the Scouts. No harassment. Very polite sausage sizzling and old people with poppies. It's the ones with clipboard and sign ups that make me swerve and dodge. And they always target me because I have dreads and they think I'll be sympathetic to their cause but I've seen how Greenpeace lie and manipulate the media and I fucking hate them.
Greenpeace should be declared a terrorist organization.
I don't know enough about them to know if that's true, to be honest.
I've had run ins with Greenpeace in Aus too, not recently, but I remember.
If they’re not selling Girl Scout cookies, I’m not interested. Most of my giving these days goes through my local Facebook Buy Nothing group. Just this morning I gave a back relief rocker cushion, barely used, for free. I give canned goods to local food drives and clothes to the homeless. I’m suspicious of anything that smacks of a corporate operation. When I start collecting Social Security next year, I intend to pick a Substack writer or two and start a paid subscription. Your story reminded me that in the 1970s, you couldn’t pass through an airport without being collared by the Hari Krishna folks. They were so annoying. At least the Catholic monks make and sell fudge, brandy, and fruitcakes and they don’t get in your face to do it.
Girl scout cookies are not an Aussie tradition though occasionally local schoolkids will fund-raise for events. I have a little laminated sign at my front door that advises not to knock if you’re soliciting but adds "If you’re a genuine charity you can take a punt but I'm not promising anything".
Wow, that’s truly horrible. It’s a an outright assault. And, worse, a fervently religious contemptuous assault. I’m sorry that happened to you. Bravo for standing up.
We don’t have chuggers in the US. I’m not sure that kind of “charity work” would work here. People simply would not give. And, most certainly would stop visiting malls they are already not visiting.
Forcing people to redistribute wealth to charitable institutions, which are mostly set up as hierarchical corporations that sieve money to the top leaders and “operating funds” leaves about 60% of your donation actually going to the cause. That’s what is required by law. If you Google it, though, the big charities like Red Cross report 90% directly to the cause, but it’s not entirely true. Salaries at the top can be astronomical. Sentara Health had the highest paid CEO of any US nonprofit organization, with an estimated salary of $33.22 million. Red Cross “reports” its CEO at $1 million.
In America, charitable giving is a huge multi-national global business enterprise funded by the wealthiest who receive huge tax breaks and incentives for donating. Charities are part of the 1% wealth scheme. I donate locally and directly to people and projects I can see and participate in at a local level. As are old adage goes: charity begins at home.
It really felt like an assault, thank you for your kind words. Charities, it seems, are big business. And I'd no idea chuggers weren't an American challenge till today .
Sadly, they probably won't think twice because they're really care especially If they are getting paid. When I see someone tending to be a dick to me, I make note of it and then I call their work and complain. Some may see that as a waste of time, but I see it as me having the right to do what I want to do.
I actually did call the charity they were representing to complain, when it was all over. Have not received the email response promised. At least I tried!
Right, that's the same way I feel when I do it too.
It seems to have been encouraged more in recent years too :(