Street fundraiser

Street fundraising consists of various ways of asking for donations on behalf of a charity. Those asking for donations may be paid employees of the charity (or more commonly a private contractor working on behalf of the charity), or they may be volunteers.

Face-to-face fundraising, which includes street and door-to-door fundraising, has in recent years become a major source of income for many charities around the world. The reason the technique is so popular is that charities usually get a very profitable return on their investment (often around 3:1) because the person is asked to donate on a regular basis. By securing long term donations, charities are able to plan future campaigns in the knowledge that they have a guaranteed amount of money to work with.

Face-to-face fundraisers also serve to raise awareness of small charities and highlight the importance of new campaigns in larger, more well known organisations. The primary role of a fundraiser is to secure financial support, but charities also consider it an effective way to reach people and share important information. It is known to be particularly effective as a method of engaging young people who may not normally consider themselves interested in the charity's work.

The regulations made by the Charities Act 2006 in the UK led to significant changes to face-to-face fundraising. From 1 April 2008, professional (paid) fundraisers have been required to disclose to the public that they are paid, and fundraising agencies have been required to disclose the donor recruitment costs involved in that campaign.

UK Legislation covering street F2F Charity cash collections on the street – the type usually done by volunteer ‘tin rattlers’ – need a licence from the council (or the police in London) under a rather arcane act of Parliament that dates back to 1916, the Police, Factories etc (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916. However, an issue arises when determining whether soliciting Direct Debits during F2F street fundraising is covered by this act. The act states specifically that licences are required for collections of money, whereas Direct Debits are not considered to be money in law: they are ‘promises of money’ at a later date.

F2F conducted door-to-door by visiting householders is covered by a completely different act, the House-to-House Collections Act 1939. Unlike 1916, this is generally held to cover F2F Direct Debit fundraising because it states that a licence is required for the collection of ‘money or other property’.

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Wikipedia