Hi all,
My wife got stopped by a person on the street seeking sponsorships for 'Medecins Sans Frontieres'.
All well and good and one of the more 'worthy' causes in our eyes. Anyway, she got signed up to become a 'Field Partner' which is essentially a recurring monthly donation. All sweet, however on later reviewing the little slip of paper that she received there is a section that says the following.
Details of Payment to Trader: Expenses incurred in the collection of your pledge are paid to Cornucopia Consultancy PTY LTD. They receive a one off payment for undertaking this vital fundraising activity. Thee fee will be approximately 105% of the first years pledge, and over the average length of the pledge, estimated at 5 years, this amount is approximately 21% of the total pledge amount.
Now as my wife had signed up for $20 per month donation, this means this consultancy firm is raking in over $250 from our 'donation' if we leave it. Upon some further digging, it appears this company has a very 'interesting' business model, offering free flights to Australia for people overseas to come and work for them for 6 months on a reduced pay/commission model. Seeing that they can rake in $250 from one persons donation, it quickly becomes apparent how they are able to do this. I've told my wife she should call up and cancel the monthly donation, as MSF effectively is getting nothing of it and if she actually wants the charity to get any money, she would be better off donating directly through the MSF website.
The thing that gets me even more frustated is that if someone particularly generous signed up to this and gave say $100 per month, the consultancy firm would receive that entire amount $1260 over the first year. This business model is clearly not in it for the charity!
This brings me to my next concern…
On the form it has the following statements
1. I confirm I am at least 21 years of age.
2. I look forward to supporting Medecin Sans Frontieres Australia with this ongoing pledge for two years or longer
3. I would like to increase my donation by the Consumer Price Index on the 1st of September each year
(All of which have a little spot to sign).
Has she locked herself into some sort of dodgy 'contract' or would she be within her rights to call up and cancel? It does say on the back of the form in the direct debit agreement 'Should you wish to cancel, defer or make alterations to your direct debit please call…. so I am hoping there will be no problems cancelling it.
I am more than happy for her to donate this money to a worthy cause like MSF, but it has frustrated me that such a deceptive collection model is being employed by them. What are your thoughts? What should she do?
Never, ever donate to people on the street.