While I prefer to make one-off donations to a charity or two each year directly, the pay-by-the-month option, usually offered by marketing company representatives on busy streets or in shopping centres, is booming.
While I knew the marketing reps took some sort of cut for their efforts, I didn’t realise they stood to gain almost a quarter of someone’s pledges should a signed-up donor end up contributing for four years.
On average, charity donors pledged over four years, which means Cornucopia’s cut is about 24 per cent. A Choice consumer survey found last year that four in five people had little idea of what proportion of their donation reached their favoured charity’s beneficiaries.
This arrangement still suits many of the charities involved however, who would otherwise have needed to divert resources from front-line roles to raise revenue.
Oxfam Australia’s executive director, Andrew Hewett, said street marketing was the backbone of his organisation’s growth. “It has given us assured income, which means we are in a much stronger position to plan and respond to needs as they arise.”
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