NGO fund-raisers carry personal approach to doorstep of homes

In addition to face-to-face campaigns operated on the streets of cities, the fund-raisers of some non-governmental organisations have increasingly started to carry the personal approach to the doorstep of homes.
      The fund-raisers of Greenpeace started ringing doorbells mainly in the Greater Helsinki area at the beginning of last year, while UNICEF has also gathered some experience of the new strategy in Turku, Tampere, and Helsinki.
      Thanks to positive experiences from its 40 days of doorstep fund-raising, UNICEF now plans to increase its door-to-door campaigning, while WWF is also considering this kind of personal approach.
     
”The aim is to turn this into normal campaigning without separating face-to-face fund-raising on streets from door-to-door campaigns. A person could do day shifts on the street and doorstep fund-raising in the evening”, notes Susanna McGlynn, who is in charge of face-to-face fund-raising at UNICEF Finland.
      At UNICEF, fund-raisers are paid by the hour, while Greenpeace adds a small bonus to the hourly rate, depending on the results.
     
UNICEF fund-raisers started going from door to door in Helsinki’s district of Ruoholahti at 6.00 p.m. on Monday evening.
      Soon they noticed that people were split over door-to-door campaigning. Some were suspicious or even annoyed, saying that it is going a bit far. However, others found this kind of personal approach positive and nice, as at home people have more time.
      The two-hour tour brought two new supporters who are willing to donate monthly.
     
According to McGlynn, the UNICEF office has received no feedback relating to door-to-door campaigning, while fund-raiser Maija Suomela from Greenpeace affirmed that ”Definitely there has been more positive feedback than negative reactions”, and the aim is to continue doorstep fund-raising.
      However, many other NGOs are still considering their attitude towards door-to-door campaigning.
      For example, neither Amnesty International nor FinnChurchAid are interested in door-to-door fund-raising - at least not yet.
      WWF reports that ”we have discussed the matter and are monitoring the situation”.
      Legislative counsellor Jouni Laiho from the Ministry of the Interior believes that if this kind of door-to-door campaigning increases, people will become more aggressive and turn against the fund-raisers.
      However, if the new way of fundraising disturbs people, the organisation in question will be asked to change their campaigning method, Laiho notes.
     
In principle, door-to-door campaigning is legal, provided that a permit has been granted by the police or the State Provincial Office concerned.
      However, a property management or a private person can forbid all fund-raising and peddling in the building, if they find such activities too annoying.
      The traditional Finnish door-to-door campaigns include fund-raising for war invalids and veterans, as well as the Joint Responsibility Fundraising Campaign, which is arranged by Lutheran congregations in Finland every year.


Links:
  Greenpeace
  UNICEF
  WWF
  Ministry of the Interior
  Amnesty International
  FinnChurchAid