I received another call from Children’s Cancer Recovery Foundation.
This time I could tell it was an automated call. The responses were close to but not quite responsive to my questions. There was also a momentary delay between my question and the response which was longer than a human operator would take.
The “caller” self-identified as “Vanessa” from AC Services. I asked her to repeat the charity name and then her name to make sure I got it. I’m guessing this would be the same caller that William Barrett “spoke” with.
The pitch was to provide gifts to children in the hospital being treated for cancer. I asked how much of the money raised goes to help children. She said 15% of the money raised will go to help children and the other 85% would go to pay bills to keep the program and organization running.
I said that isn’t a very large percentage. After a moment delay the response was asking if they can count on my response.
I asked for information on the organization to be mailed to me. She gave the web address.
I asked again for something in the mail. After a pause, perhaps two or three seconds of silence, she said well, okay, I understand and hung up.
Of note for future blog posts: There was not one syllable of discussion of holist treatment of cancer, awareness of cancer, or any possible education effort. One hundred percent of the call was fundraising.
I assume that AC Services is the same company as Associated Community Services listed in the CCRF 990.
Yes, that “Vanessa” really gets around. A characteristic of nearly every such cold call I get purporting to be on behalf of a charity is the effort by the caller to get me to verbally commit to some kind of cash pledge before mailing me any kind of literature. I assume this is so if I fail to fulfill any pledge I make, I will get a follow-up pitch vaguely hinting that I have breached an legally enforceable agreement for which I could be sued. Occasionally, I have said I will make a pledge conditioned on the receipt of literature satisfactory to me. Not a single charity I have said this to has ever sent me a pledge card, because they know that such a conditional pledge is legal unenforceable, and they don’t want to waste their postage.
In addition, there is a moral commitment that could be the basis for a followup pitch. Many folks would write a check since they said they would.
I wonder how the contracts are written. Are the telemarketers paid based on calls made and calls completed? Or on committments received? Or on cash collected? That could create a motivation in some direction.
Thanks for you comment.
According to CCRF’s annual filing for the year ending 12/31/2011 with regulators in New York State, “Vanessa’s” boss, Associated Community Services, received “55% of all gross proceeds.” Here’s a link to the page from which the filing can be downloaded: http://bit.ly/10ORkt8 . The 55% figure is on PDF page 2.