New report condemns chugging in Wendover

Chugging is the worst and most damaging form of charity fundraising there has ever been – says a new report.

Charity Aid asked every council in the country about chugging and the responses revealed that many councils regard chugging as “aggressive harassment” of the public. They want to ban it but the government doesn’t.

Chugging (short for charity mugging) is the practice by paid professionals of stopping people in the street to ask for charity donations.

“Chuggers now siphon off more than the first £100 of a donor’s money – without telling them this. These parasites now take over £100m a year from donations which were intended for charity,” said Charity Aid Chairman Peter Quinn. “They’ve brought words like intimidation and hard sell into what used to be a noble calling. Volunteer groups are unanimous in opposing it and some have disbanded in protest.

The report was commissioned by Charity Aid in June 2014, and included responses from councils throughout England. The site news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8946145.stm shows chuggers keep the first £112 of a person’s donation. Chugging now takes over £100m a year from donations which were intended for charity and the PFRA admits on its website that chuggers keep the first two years of a donor’s money and over half of donors cancel inside a year. The PFRA’s main income is the 75p it takes from each new donor.