The British Red Cross carries out street, door-to-door, private site, office and telephone fundraising. To help make sure our fundraisers are knowledgeable ambassadors for the Red Cross, we hold frequent training sessions to teach them about our history, ideals and projects.
We also closely monitor our campaigns to ensure our representatives adhere to all regulations and codes of conduct as set out by the Fundraising Standards Board, Institute of Fundraising and Public Fundraising Regulatory Association.
Door-to-door fundraising
Street fundraising
Engagement fundraising
Private site fundraising
Telephone fundraising
Door-to-door fundraising is one of the most effective ways of recruiting supporters to the Red Cross. Our fundraisers knock on doors to talk to people about our work and ask them to support us with a regular gift. Hundreds of thousands of people agree to do so every year.
We started door-to-door fundraising with external agencies in 2004. It has allowed us to reach people we haven’t been able to through other methods such as mail and television.
The agencies we are currently working with are Appco Fundraising Initiatives and HOME Fundraising.
How to recognise a door-to-door fundraiser
Street fundraising involves speaking to people in the street about our work and asking them to support it with a regular gift. It is one of the most cost-effective ways to recruit new direct debit supporters. The supporters we recruit are worth about £110 each to the charity in the first year of their support and a large number will support us for many years to come.
We started street fundraising in 2001 and we now manage it with a number of external agencies as well as our very own team of in-house fundraisers.
The agencies we are currently working with are Together Fundraising and Real.
How to recognise a street fundraiser
Engagement takes place in the street and is managed by several external agencies.
After the initial conversation on the street, people who give their details are sent an email explaining more about the Red Cross’ work. A few days later, a telephone fundraiser calls to discuss our work before inviting them to become a regular giver.
Engagement fundraising gives the public the chance to learn more about the Red Cross and whether they would like to make a commitment to our work before setting up a regular gift.
The agencies were are currently working with are GoGen, NTT Fundraising, Real Fundraising, and Together Fundraising.
How to recognise an engagement fundraiser
Private site fundraising is carried out in conjunction with external agencies, which pay for space on a private site, such as a supermarket, shopping centre, train station or any other privately owned site frequented by the public. Our fundraisers approach members of the pubic and encourage them to make a regular donation.
The fundraisers are employed by a variety of agencies, often the same agencies as our door-to-door fundraisers, and have similar training and disciplinary procedures.
The agencies we are currently working with are Fundraising Initiatives, Together Fundraising and Care2Give.
How to recognise a private site fundraiser
For over ten years, the British Red Cross has been contacting its supporters by phone to ask for regular support by direct debit, which helps us plan ahead and reduce the number of postal appeals we need to send.
Working with several professional telephone fundraising agencies, we are able to reach thousands of our supporters every year, to welcome and thank them and provide an update on our vital work, as well as asking for their support. For many this is an opportunity to learn a great deal about who we are and what we do.
We also occasionally contact supporters to ask them to support our general or emergency work with one off donation by credit card. In these instances, the fundraiser will only ask for confirmation of credit card details and not any other personal information like date of birth or home address.
If asked, the caller will for peace of mind be able to confirm back a supporter's unique reference number, which is printed on the letters of appeal we send, and will also be able to verify the address we have a supporter registered at, along with the value of the last donation made to the British Red Cross.
Currently all of our telephone fundraising is undertaken by partner agencies who may record their calls for monitoring and evaluation purposes and to ensure the highest quality for our supporters.
In 2011 we were very pleased to be awarded the ‘Best Use of Telephone’ award at the Institute of Fundraising Awards. The telephone remains one of the most cost-effective fundraising tools for the British Red Cross and we are grateful to all our supporters who take the time to speak to us.
Meet our fundraisers