[h=1]Companies offer backpackers free return flights to become street charity collectors in Australia[/h]
BACKPACKERS and tourists are being given free flights to Melbourne to work as charity collectors on city streets.
Charity marketer Cornucopia Consultancy offers to pay $1500 for return flights so Britons, other Europeans, and Americans can work for six months as “chuggers” (or charity muggers) at intersections and footbridges in Melbourne and other capital cities.
Donations are collected on behalf of Red Cross, Amnesty International, Médecins Sans Frontières and The Fred Hollows Foundation.
Funds are split between Cornucopia and the collectors, receiving about 24c in the dollar, and the charity, which gets about 75 per cent of pledges.
Under the “free flights” deal, foreign collectors work for six months and sign up at least three donors a day.
A Red Cross collector in Flinders St. Picture: Mark Stewart Source: News Corp Australia
Collectors are paid their normal commission on donor sign-ups when donors give over their bank or credit card details for monthly donations.
Depending on arrangements with individual charities, marketing companies employing face-to-face fundraisers keep 80 to 95 cents in every dollar donated in the first year — but if a donation subscription is cancelled within 100 days, the marketer receives no fee and the street fundraiser gets no commission.
However, based on an average subscription of four years, companies such as Cornucopia receive 23c to 25c in the dollar in the longer term, and charities about 75 c in the dollar.
Cornucopia, which is based in Queensland, declined to answer questions about its program, including whether the return flight costs are taken from funds generated by *donations, or what the split of donations is between itself and the charities it represents.
Charity workers told the Herald Sun they had been given a free flight to Melbourne but declined to comment further on being hired by Cornucopia.
The marketing group’s website advertises free flights for overseas travellers.
“If you’re an experienced fundraiser, we’ll pay for your return flight to Australia if you work for us for a minimum of six months,” Cornucopia’s website states.
But it restricts the deal to those with a proven record of at least three months’ fundraising and “hitting targets”.
“You obviously have to achieve a certain standard otherwise we wouldn’t be offering you a whole heap of money,” it says.
How the deal works. Source: HeraldSun
Cornucopia says that it provides a “cost-effective” way of increasing revenue for charities and for non-government organisations.
On Saturday, the Herald Sun reported Melbourne City Council had restricted locations where “chuggers” can operate, following consultation with business operators.
Working on behalf of registered charities, street collectors are now limited to 26 locations and can be fined if they repeatedly breach site conditions.
One group was fined $250 after ignoring a warning not to collect outside the approved zones in the past 12 months.
mark.dunn@news.com.au
http://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/companies-offer-backpackers-free-return-flights-to-become-street-charity-collectors-in-australia/story-fnii5sms-1226949855474
BACKPACKERS and tourists are being given free flights to Melbourne to work as charity collectors on city streets.
Charity marketer Cornucopia Consultancy offers to pay $1500 for return flights so Britons, other Europeans, and Americans can work for six months as “chuggers” (or charity muggers) at intersections and footbridges in Melbourne and other capital cities.
Donations are collected on behalf of Red Cross, Amnesty International, Médecins Sans Frontières and The Fred Hollows Foundation.
Funds are split between Cornucopia and the collectors, receiving about 24c in the dollar, and the charity, which gets about 75 per cent of pledges.
Under the “free flights” deal, foreign collectors work for six months and sign up at least three donors a day.
A Red Cross collector in Flinders St. Picture: Mark Stewart Source: News Corp Australia
Collectors are paid their normal commission on donor sign-ups when donors give over their bank or credit card details for monthly donations.
Depending on arrangements with individual charities, marketing companies employing face-to-face fundraisers keep 80 to 95 cents in every dollar donated in the first year — but if a donation subscription is cancelled within 100 days, the marketer receives no fee and the street fundraiser gets no commission.
However, based on an average subscription of four years, companies such as Cornucopia receive 23c to 25c in the dollar in the longer term, and charities about 75 c in the dollar.
Cornucopia, which is based in Queensland, declined to answer questions about its program, including whether the return flight costs are taken from funds generated by *donations, or what the split of donations is between itself and the charities it represents.
Charity workers told the Herald Sun they had been given a free flight to Melbourne but declined to comment further on being hired by Cornucopia.
The marketing group’s website advertises free flights for overseas travellers.
“If you’re an experienced fundraiser, we’ll pay for your return flight to Australia if you work for us for a minimum of six months,” Cornucopia’s website states.
But it restricts the deal to those with a proven record of at least three months’ fundraising and “hitting targets”.
“You obviously have to achieve a certain standard otherwise we wouldn’t be offering you a whole heap of money,” it says.
How the deal works. Source: HeraldSun
Cornucopia says that it provides a “cost-effective” way of increasing revenue for charities and for non-government organisations.
On Saturday, the Herald Sun reported Melbourne City Council had restricted locations where “chuggers” can operate, following consultation with business operators.
Working on behalf of registered charities, street collectors are now limited to 26 locations and can be fined if they repeatedly breach site conditions.
One group was fined $250 after ignoring a warning not to collect outside the approved zones in the past 12 months.
mark.dunn@news.com.au
http://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/companies-offer-backpackers-free-return-flights-to-become-street-charity-collectors-in-australia/story-fnii5sms-1226949855474