Revealed: how charity doorsteppers twist your emotions for money

After the reporter went door to door for GOSH in London, it emerged that the charity had failed to notify the Metropolitan Police, breaking a requirement of a government-run scheme.

The GOSH Charity said it was “deeply concerned” by our findings and pledged to fully investigate. It self-reported to the Fundraising Regulator, which opened an investigation, and the charity has reported the findings to the Charity Commission as a serious incident.

The commission, which regulates charities, said it was assessing information received and working with the Fundraising Regulator to determine next steps.

Last year the Fundraising Regulator opened an inquiry into the use of subcontractors by charities for door-to-door activities, after concerns about compliance with the fundraising code.

The Fundraising Regulator said it had seen a significant rise in the use of subcontractors by fundraising agencies and needed a better understanding of how the arrangements were created and monitored.

It said: “We are grateful to The Times for bringing this matter to our attention. We are concerned by the evidence presented, which we are now assessing.

“We are disappointed to see the practices outlined in The Times’s investigation, which echo concerns we are addressing in the market inquiry, opened in October last year.”

It said charities must ensure fundraisers work in an “open, honest, legal and respectful” manner and abide by the Code of Fundraising Practice.

The regulator warned last year that complaints to charities about “increasingly disliked” door-to-door fundraising had risen by 110 per cent in 12 months. It said the practice was booming, in part, due to greater numbers of people working from home since the Covid pandemic.

In a previous online declaration, GOSH Charity revealed it was paying more than £1.5 million to a marketing agency to raise more than £3 million — half of the figure collected. The charity, which had income of £107 million last year, said the figures were now out of date and took them down.

IBA Global said it operated a “strict policy of reasonable persuasion only” on doorsteps and said that the instances highlighted by The Times had been “taken out of context”.

Trip to Paris for the top performers

On a blustery afternoon, 40 fundraisers were about to head into the cold on behalf of two much-loved children’s charities — GOSH Charity and the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS).

But the atmosphere was more akin to a sales floor, with fundraisers split into teams and competing for most new customers. They wouldn’t be paid an hourly wage, instead earning commission for every donor they convinced to sign up.

An image from the IBA Global website. Recruits are told they can earn up to £650 a week, but they are working solely on commission linked to sign-ups

Lawrence Lenzi, the managing director of IBA Global, one of the companies present, said he would fund a social night for the first team in his firm to hit their sign-up target. He added: “I can tell there’s going to be a bit of competition going on today.”

The young fundraisers, mostly in their teens or early twenties, were also reminded of another incentive — a trip to Paris for top performers.

A senior fundraiser then addressed the group, letting slip a “very cheeky” tactic he used while collecting for the NDCS: creating the impression he was deaf.

Describing attempts to communicate with people in upstairs windows, the Brazilian-born fundraiser raised his hand to his ear to imitate not being able to hear. To laughs, he said: “They come to their door — ‘I’m so sorry, you’re deaf’. [I say] ‘No, by the way, I’m not deaf. I’m working on behalf of them’.”

The senior fundraiser, said to hold the office record for the most sign-ups in one day, clarified to the group: “I’m not bloody deaf!” But illustrating his point again, he gestured to his right ear, looked up to an imaginary window and pointed to the leaflet he was supposed to be holding.

He explained: “I go to the door and they can be very late out. Why? Because of the empathy to talk to you … ‘Let me see what the poor soul wants’.” He added to the group: “Am I going to sign the person up? I don’t care! My job is to be heard.”

Charities pay agencies, agencies use subcontractors

A Times reporter went undercover at IBA Global, a marketing company in Dalston, east London, training as a door-to-door fundraiser.

The Fundraising Regulator said complaints to charities about door to door fundraisers doubled last year to 4,056, citing poor behaviour from third parties and subcontractors.

Charities can pay agencies to carry out door to door fundraising on their behalf. Agencies can pass the fundraising to subcontractors. Last October the regulator began an inquiry into the use of subcontractors, scrutinising compliance with the Code of Fundraising Practice.

Organisations such as the GOSH Charity agree to abide by the voluntary code on registering with the Fundraising Regulator.

Lawrence Lenzi, the managing director of IBA Global, explains sales tactics to recruits

The Times applied for a job as a “brand ambassador” at IBA Global, which is not registered with the regulator and which advertised a “salary” of £350 to £650 per week. However, on starting, trainees signed an 11-page agreement outlining they were self-employed, while pay was commission-based.

Fundraisers earned either £35, £40 or £45 per new donor, depending on whether the customer donated £10, £12 or £15 a month to GOSH Charity. There were bonus payments for a fundraiser’s first, fifth, 12th and 25th sign-up.

The Code of Fundraising Practice says commission pay must not be used unless other sources have been “explored and exhausted” and measures taken to avoid excessive payments.

GOSH Charity said fundraisers on its campaigns should not be paid anything other than performance-based pay, linked to the quality of their work. This was different to commission pay in the fundraising code, it said, and helped ensure there was never an incentive to pressure people.

IBA Global fundraisers were promised extra money for recruiting “quality” long-term donors, but their signed agreement specified “commission-based payment” for sign-ups. GOSH Charity said it was investigating the matter.

‘Take customers on an emotional rollercoaster’

During training at IBA Global’s headquarters, 25 new recruits were told they could be earning up to £130,000 in about two years. Lenzi, who spent Christmas in the Bahamas, earned £750,000 last year, they were told.

Other charities the company said it worked with included the RSPCA, British Heart Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, Unicef, World Vision and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. All those charities, except Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, later denied ever working with IBA Global.

During a brief session on the Code of Fundraising Practice, trainees were instructed “legally and ethically” to follow the rules. They were presented with the “numbers for success” — knocking up to 120 doors per shift — and told the “trick” was not losing enthusiasm while remembering that success was “a matter of when”.

IBA Global trainees raised funds for GOSH Charity, supporting the world-renowned children’s hospital in Bloomsbury, London. A second marketing firm in the building raised funds for the NDCS, which is already under regulatory investigation over its use of marketing firms.

GOSH treats 750 seriously ill children each day. The charity raises funds to support children and their families, for refurbishment of buildings, new medical equipment and research. Its door-to-door fundraisers were told to take customers on an “emotional rollercoaster”.

‘When I look in people’s eyes, they get me’

During a session on GOSH’s lifesaving work, the senior IBA Global fundraiser who addressed recruits about his deafness tactic revealed how he could make himself cry.

He said: “When I look in people’s eyes, they get me.” Taking off his glasses — his eyes glistening — he continued: “I control my brain towards my emotions. It takes time, but I can look at you here and I can make my … I’m crying.”

He said he could “switch” back to cheeriness, adding: “I’m moving on. Because I care. And when you care, people do everything for you.” A younger colleague later claimed that the senior fundraiser could “force himself to cry”.

The same senior fundraiser also revealed how he answered for new donors when getting informed consent to be contacted by the charity. He said: “If you go up to someone [and say]: ‘Phone call?’ They are probably going to say no. You’ve got to say the right things.”

Role-playing, as if talking to a customer, he said: “‘They only contact you once a year to let you know what your support has been [sic] done over the last 12 months. Is that all right, yeah?’”

He repeated to the group: “‘Is that all right, yeah?’ … I don’t even wait for him to say yes or no. I already answer for him.”

The Jones theory — also called ‘the sheep factor’

The Code of Fundraising Practice says charities must get “informed and unambiguous” consent through a “positive action” to use a donor’s data for direct marketing communications.

GOSH Charity said it endeavoured to cover regulatory requirements on consent in training. IBA Global recruits were expected to turn up as early as 10.30am each day for unpaid training and to go through their pitches to customers — before going out to knock on doors until 8.30pm.

Fundraisers were taught tactics like psychological motivator the “Jones theory”, based on the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses”. It was used to persuade people to follow others in donating.

Fundraisers were encouraged to mention to customers on doorsteps that their “community” had been “coming together as a collective” to donate to GOSH Charity.

Explaining the Jones theory — also called the “sheep factor” — the senior fundraiser used the example of customers choosing a busy restaurant over a quiet one. He said: “Which one is [sic] the best food? The full one, right? I’m going there. Monkey see, monkey do. This is the Jones theory.”

The Code of Fundraising Practice, while accepting that “reasonable persuasion” is allowed, warns against placing “undue pressure” on people.

The Chartered Institute of Fundraising, exploring “undue pressure”, says fundraisers should ask themselves if they are “implying” the donor “should give” as “others in their community have”.

GOSH Charity said its training makes clear fundraisers must not put undue pressure on people, adding that it did not teach the Jones theory or sheep factor.

One junior IBA Global fundraiser urged recruits to “never apologise” to customers. He added: “Never give them an option … in sales never use these words: ‘If you can’, ‘sorry to disturb’ — never say these.”

Ask a question to regain control of the conversation

The Times reporter went door to door on behalf of GOSH Charity, shadowing fundraising mentors in south London, north London and Hertfordshire. One mentor jokingly referred to the reporter as his “bodyguard” to customers.

After one knock he said he had “Jones’d” — used the Jones theory — by saying “a few people asked me to pop back in an hour or two” when asking a busy customer if he could return later.

The reporter was also taught about dealing with “blocks” — attempts by members of the public to shut down the conversation immediately. Fundraisers could carry on talking to “block the block”, the reporter was told, or ask a question to “regain control of the conversation”.

They were also told to pre-empt objections, or reasons from the public not to donate. If a customer wanted to wait to consult their partner, the reporter was told he could say: “Do you think your partner would mind if you decided to help out some kids for a year?”

Fundraisers could not accept one-off donations — as they were looking for longer term donors — but tried to persuade customers to spread the payment monthly by direct debit to enable GOSH to plan its budget.

The mentor would tell those customers that he’d met “a lot of other people” who wanted to give one-offs of “£100 or £150”. He suggested those figures because that was how much he was “actually looking for”.

‘Can you try and help us out for one year please?’

The mentor demonstrated this while fundraising in Hertfordshire, where one woman declined to donate at least four times during a two-and-a-half-minute doorstep chat. She said she didn’t think she could commit herself to monthly payments, only give a one-off.

The mentor thanked her and she repeated: “I can’t commit to every month, sorry.” He persisted, saying that a few people had said they wanted to give a “one-off of £100 or £150”. But she interjected before he could finish, saying: “I can’t do that, sorry, sorry, it’s just the current economic climate, I can’t do that.

“It’s just at the most [a] tenner or something I can give now. Because it’s not just Great Ormond Street, we give to other charities as well. And I’m sorry, I can’t stretch. Sorry.” The mentor tried again, saying: “Can you try and help us out for one year please?”

The woman, confused, responded: “So what are you asking for? For one year, £2.50 a month or something like that?” When told it was £2.50 a week, the woman appeared flustered, exclaiming, “A week!”, before the mentor asked again: “So £10 a month just for one year please. Can you help us with that?” The exchange finally concluded after she told him she was expecting guests.

During our investigation, the mentor pulled out of one interaction so he didn’t hear an objection. He said: “If I hear that now, there’s no point in going back. There’s still an opportunity for a conversation later.”

When questioned on why he rarely asked busy people if he could knock again, he added: “Because they might say no.” He preferred to simply tell the customer that he may see them later.

The mentor also marked someone at a house as a “male cleaner” on his call sheet, giving him the green light to potentially knock again, without them specifying they were.

‘Let’s get some results today’

The Code of Fundraising Practice outlines that when asking for a regular donation, fundraisers must not suggest it is “without commitment” or a one-off.

However, the boss of IBA Global revealed in a meeting there had been an “influx” of donors signing up for monthly donations to GOSH Charity thinking they were a one-off.

Lenzi, who started the firm in 2003, told recruits “this should never happen” and reflected “extremely badly” on the agency. Half an hour later, Lenzi was promising he would pay for a social activity if they collectively got 60 sign-ups that day. He said: “Let’s get some results today.”

One teenager, struggling to make money, told our reporter that she had signed up someone who was smoking cannabis, against charity campaign rules.

Recruits were expected to carry out three gruelling laps of 120 doors at a brisk pace, sometimes walking 10 miles-a-day, before the last door-knock at 8.30pm, after dark.

After the doorknocking session in Hertfordshire, fundraisers got back to the station to discover all trains back into London had been cancelled. The undercover reporter eventually got home at 11.30pm.

The reporter earned nothing from his first four days on the job, which included two half-days of training. He ended up making three sales in total and walked away with £200 — which was later donated to GOSH Charity — for nine days of work.

Fundraisers — who were discouraged from asking each other if they had made money and were warned off sharing “field stories” — were expected to pay for their travel and food.

By the time he quit, the reporter’s feet were sore and it hurt just to get out of bed in the morning. Only a handful of the 25 new recruits remained after nine days.

Attempts to mislead the public are ‘unacceptable’

When approached by The Times, IBA Global said pressurised fundraising was “not permitted” and it operated a “strict policy of reasonable persuasion only”, as detailed by the code. It said this was also dictated by training and guidance from GOSH Charity.

The company said examples of fundraisers’ behaviour provided by The Times appeared “to have been taken out of context and misrepresented”, but pledged to investigate fully. Fundraisers could choose their hours of work, in line with local authority regulation on soliciting hours, the company said.

Lenzi said IBA Global and its fundraisers were “extremely proud” of its work for the GOSH Charity and the “massive impact” on children using its lifesaving services.

The GOSH Charity said donors were contacted within 24 hours of signing up to ask about their experience and that fundraisers received rigorous training. A spokesman said: “We work extensively with agencies to train and support their fundraising staff and require that they fully comply with the Code of Fundraising Practice.

“Without the generosity of our supporters, we simply couldn’t transform the lives of seriously ill children at the hospital now and in the future.”

NDCS said it was “appalled” at allegations a senior fundraiser created the impression he was deaf, adding any attempt to mislead a member of the public was “unacceptable”.

The charity, which is co-operating with the regulator, said its fundraisers received “thorough induction and training”.