I worked for a company like that in Toronto. It depends on the company doing it how much goes to the charity. Some even have commission, some don't. You can look at a break-down of where your donation goes to on a respective charity's website, generally, or, if you ask the people looking for donations, they should have one. if they don't, steer clear. Some companie sare also a lot more aggressive doing it than others, and this reflects on the charity, since they know full well the tactics used by the various companies that do this stuff. When I did it, we just stood on the sidewalk and said hi to people and asked if they had a moment to talk.
Also, a lot of charities these days (i.e., the majority), are trying to steer people away from one-time donations and move to monthly donations. It isn't limited to public solicitors. Besides that, giving one-time donations to people working on the street isn't safe, unless it's done with a CC. I used to have tons of people try to give me cash. Yeah, give me cash and let me get robbed or mugged, or give that cash to some guy working that won't think twice about stealing it.
As an aside, most people doing that work are paid for it, and aren't volunteers. There are reasons for this -- people on a payroll that are accounted for is a safer route than giving CC information to volunteers, can be held to a higher standard, and can more easily be held liable for anything untoward.
A legit company that is doing this, at least in Toronto, has a permit for a certain area of the city in which to work in that day. Not sure how it works in Calgary.
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Last edited by HPLovecraft; 06-10-2011 at 12:21 PM.
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