I’ve just been cold-called by someone trying to fundraise for BCC. (Well, I say cold-called, but actually they had my details as I’ve attended a couple of BCC events in the past. However, I didn’t realise this would mean I’d now be on their fund-raising database!) So I was just wondering how people feel about this.
I have to say, I am very much against it. I realise that in the current economic climate, it’s really tough for charities to raise the necessary funding, but I find this really intrusive and off-putting. Not least of all because when I told the caller I was very much aware of BCAM because I have secondary cancer, he replied that he was very sorry to hear of my diagnosis, but that I must therefore realise how important it is to give money to BCC!!! No apology for contacting me at such a difficult time!!!
What concerns me even more is that they are obviously targeting those of us who’ve used their services, many of whom will already be donating and/or fundraising to “give something back” if they are able. But those same people are also more likely to still be struggling with treatments, dealing with recurrences, secondaries or even be dying or dead, often involving major financial difficulties, and I just feel it’s completely insensitive and inappropriate for BCC to be going after us for money.
Am I being too sensitive here?! I’d love to hear what others think.
I think I’m offended on your behalf. If nothing else, they need to coach their callers to be one heck of a lot more sensitive. I know they do need money, but most of us, with our related health problems, seem like a poor bet for a donation. And they run the rist of really upsetting us, which seems counter to what their goal should be.
This is a difficult one though, Anglefalls, cause I, at least, really rely on their services, so I want them to raise money. What’s everyone else think?
This is really tough but I will give my opinion if you dont mind. Since my diagnosis and mx in July 2010 I have done much fund raising for BCC holding a Pink Friday in 2011 and a very successful Strawberry Tea this year which raised over £745 .I am the big 50 next year and I am hoping to organise a Breast Cancer Ball asking for donations instead of presents.
The problem with this is that once they know you are willing to support the cause the charities can bombard you with stuff and you can feel overwhelmed by it, giving a monthly donation, then being sent raffle tickets to sell and the latest one is the BC Lottery. I know they need to raise money and Yes they know we need their services so we have to try and help them as much as we can , but remember we can always say NO.
Some of the callers can be very insensitive but I guess there job is difficult and can be soul destroying if they do not get a " sale ". I walked past the Big Issue man today and he begged me to buy his magazine. I looked into his eyes and saw total despair . I could not walk away. He looked so sad.
We are all so different and that is what makes the world such an exciting place. We cannot all be the same . We just have to try and cope the best we can. Sending everyone positive vibes and big hugs. Love Tracy xxx
I wasn’t aware of Breast Cancef Care doing cold calls. It might be worth checking if they do. I know I wouldn’t be without these forums or the Helpline and information booklets and that all takes money and like lots of smaller charities this is very tight. Unlike the big boys they can’t afford TV adverts.
You could ring the Helpline and ask them.
A lot of scams mask themselves with collecting for breast cancer. My mother often has clothes bags put through the door…they are not for BCC just criminals or fraudsters making a large amount of money.
I have just noticed there is a feedback section on the website under “about us”. You could make your point on it.
When I was finishing my last year at university I asked a couple of my friends what job they were looking for and both replied Charites as according to them (and what proved right at the time) this type of job pays big bucks and gives good career options. I can remember being shocked at the time as naively I thought everyone working within this type of job would be totally altruistic.
I’m feeling over tired and unable to answer in depth - one word to describe how I feel about BCC’s fund raising approach (if indeed it REALLY was them who called)
I contribute a small amount on a regular basis to a few charities I have chosen to support. It makes me feel uncomfortable when these same charities write to me, thanking me for my support but also asking for an extra donation. Maybe I’m not doing enough but I’m doing all I feel I can afford to do.
I realise collecting for charity is a career choice for many people: a young man knocked on our door the day after my final chemo and was very polite but persistent enough to persuade me to agree to donate £5 a month. I think I agreed mainly to get rid of him so I could go and sit down! I had a call from a representative of the charity a couple of days later to check with me he had made it clear he was being paid for his work and also to ask if he had been polite, so everything was done ‘above board’ and it is a very worthy charity. I’m ashamed to say I let the direct debit stay for a couple of months then cancelled it because I wanted to make my own choice about which charities I support. There are so many charities desperately in need of support and I can’t help everyone. Nowadays I refuse to engage with cold callers at all, though I’m always ready to donate a few coins whenI see people who have obviously given their time for free holding a collecting box.
Yes i knew it was breast cancer awareness month and yes I have contributed specifically during this time both time and money and do contribute to Breast Cancer on a regular basis as i am luckily in a postion where I can give my time and small amounts as appropriate. But yes I agree entirely with the ‘cold calling’ - I was called by someone saying they were from Cancer Research UK -(I did the race for life earlier this year). This ‘gentleman’ started the conversation by the usual ‘and how are you today’ and then got quite pushy for me to sign up to donate on a monthly basis. I am annoyed by this as whilst I am able to give small amounts on an ad hoc basis I don’t really want to be drawn into a ‘contract’ where I am obliged to donate a regular amount every month and I told him so - he then upped his game and got even more determined ‘to sign me up’ and it was clear he was on commission! I asked him if he worked for Cancer Research UK and he said no - he said he was ringing on their behalf - he did tell me the name of the company but have forgotton. I had to be very assertive and say NO many many times before he got the message and I left the call feeling a bit ‘quilty’ for not ‘signing’. I think its appalling that my details were passed on by Cancer Research UK and that they target people who have been through the experience of having/knowing someone with cancer and part of the call is to ‘ask’ why you were involved. To be honest its none of their business and I have told Cancer Research have I feel about their methods.
I hang up as soon as I realise the person on the telephone is not a friend or the hospital. I used to try to talk my way off the line politely, but these callers are trained to get 'round you, and I was sucked in more than once, so now I don’t take the risk. I don’t say anything except, as I am hanging up (i.e., I am not listening to what they are saying), “Sorry, I’m not interested”. I want to decide on my own which charities I can afford to sponsor without the “help” of cold callers.
Sadly, it must work, or these organisations wouldn’t do it, so our complaints probably won’t make any difference, except to make us feel better!
I had a chat with Charlotte Beaton from our fundraising team about this and we wanted to say how sorry we are that you felt uncomfortable with the call, and that the person who called you didn’t handle things in a way that felt appropriate. The only calling we’re doing at the moment is to promote the Breast Cancer Care weekly lottery which has just launched, and which we hope will be a valuable fundraising stream to fund our services.
Before the call campaign began, BCC staff personally trained the team as to how to speak to our supporters, and the people who use our services, as making people feel uncomfortable is the last thing we want to do, so we’re so sorry that you did. We have passed your comments on to the call team manager, so he can speak to the team. If you email us further details about the call to charlotte.beaton@breastcancercare.org.uk we can investigate further and speak to the person who called you.
Thanks for letting us know about this, it is really helpful as we’d hate for anyone else to feel as you did.
Also, just to add, if you definitely don’t want to receive any fundraising communications from Breast Cancer Care, just get in touch (the email address above is fine) with your details so we can make sure you don’t.
I HAVE A VERY SIMPLE SYSTEM FOR COLD CALLERS ON THE PHONE OR AT THE DOOR - I SAY ‘NO THANK YOU’ VERY FIRMLY, THEN PUT DOWN THE PHONE/CLOSE THE DOOR IN THEIR FACE. I DON’T CONDUCT ANY ‘BUSINESS’ FROM COLD CALLING AS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE.
grumpy
It’s reassuring to hear from Leah, but I join in at feeling on Angelfalls’ behalf. I’ve not been called by BCC, but have on a few occasions by CRUK after doing race for life. I too find it inapproriate - things by post like raffle tickets I can decide in my own time but intrusive calls which maybe wake you when you don’t need it, or catch you at a low moment just anger me and I give the caller short shrift these days. Like some others above, I’m fortunate enuf to be able to give to a few charities, mainly animals and cancer charities, but I choose who and how much I give, I’m not willing to be harassed and in all honestly it’s likely to have the opposite effect for me - I do support the BCC lottery but no longer give to CRUK - heard too many things about heavy admin costs they incur for me to be comfortable to do so. The same applies to my other favourite charity cats protection - one has to protect one’s familars!! - I give direct to my local branch rather than the head office then it goes direct to cats. And if anyone wants to see how I spend my spare time when fit enuf, have a look at my just giving site, breast-cancer-car (no e)!
Just a general response on cold calling that some people may not be aware of. There is a free service called telephone preferencing that reduces (if does not totally stop) cold calls. If you sign up and then someone cold calls you, action can be taken. I am signed up to it and get very few such calls… when I say I’m signed up to it they hang up PDQ! NB if you have given a charity your phone number that probably constitutes consent to be called.
More info here: Telephone Preference Service
Yes I knew it was breast canceer awareness month as on the day i was referred by my GP every shop and advert seemed to jump out at me…seem to highlight everything… even macmillian are advertising and doing door to door x
Thanks to everyone for your replies and for your response on behalf of BCC, Leah.
Again, I realise that times are tough for charities and that BCC may feel it needs to pursue a more aggressive fundraising approach in order to safeguard services. However, I am really dismayed at this approach and clearly I’m not alone in this, as many of the posters here appear to agree.
It’s not just that the person calling “didn’t handle things in a way that felt appropriate”; I feel that it was entirely INappropriate to contact me at all! I object to being specifically targeted by telephone when BCC had already contacted me by post and sent me lottery tickets (which went straight into the recycling bin). I am currently living on benefits as a result of my secondary dx and the financial difficulties which arise as a direct result of a cancer dx are very well documented, so why does BCC feel it is acceptable to approach cancer patients and ask them for money?
Prior to my secondary dx, I was a volunteer with BCC for a number of years, so I know that many people who use these services, their families and friends, all give a great deal of time, energy and money to fundraise WHEN THEY ARE PHYSICALLY AND FINANCIALLY ABLE because most people want to “give something back”. It seems very unfair, then, to blindly target service users with no regard to where they may be in terms of tx and stage of their disease. If they are struggling when they get a call, of course they’re going to feel uncomfortable, whether BCC wants them to or not. So unless BCC knows for certain that a supporter’s family member, friend or a service user is moving forward from tx and currently NED (and how can BCC know that for certain?), I would suggest that I won’t be the only one to be made to feel as I did because I won’t be the only person who is contacted when they really should not be. My issue is not with the person who placed the call. He was just doing his job. My issue is with the fact that BCC feel it is appropriate to contact cancer patients in this way. Saying that BCC doesn’t mean to cause upset is not acceptable because clearly the decision to fundraise in this way is going to cause upset. But perhaps the amount of money raised will justify the means?
I would also add that, having read the thread about the BCC lottery, I would have thought that it would be more appropriate and cost-effective to market it via this website in the first instance, so that service users know about it, are able to sign up for it IF AND WHEN THEY CHOOSE and could also “share” it with friends and family via social media. But posts on that thread highlight the fact that it is very difficult to find and virtually impossible to sign up on the website. I would have preferred that this was addressed before resorting to the cold-call approach.
Hi Angelfalls, my goodness I completely agree with your entire above post. It is totally inappropriate that you were even called in the first instance.
x
Thanks, Belinda. Sorry my post is so long, but I feel really strongly about this (as you can probably tell!!), and wanted to make my point crystal clear. Thanks for wading through it all!
Just a quick update to let you all know that I’ve e-mailed my details to Leah so that BCC can amend their database and hopefully, I won’t be contacted again.
I guess from the lack of response to the concerns I’ve raised above, that BCC intend to continue with this particular method of fundraising, regardless of how many cancer patients and their family members they may upset. So if you don’t want to be “cold-called”, I suggest you contact BCC and ask them not to contact you for this purpose.
I only hope that others in similar or even more difficult situations than my own won’t have to go through this, although I find it hard to believe that I’ll be the only one to be contacted in this way at a totally inappropriate time.