Charity Netherlands: ‘One-sided reporting about recruitment agencies’
In a response to the item from EenVandaag about the profit that recruitment agencies make when recruiting donors, Goede Doelen Nederland says that it finds the reporting one-sided and over-simplified. The trade association writes this in a message on its website. In that message, Goede Doelen Nederland also explains how door-to-door recruitment is organized within the sector and how supervision is organised.
Charities depend on public support and research, especially when they give a question, the industry association. ‘Whatever method is used by the charity, fundraising costs money. Every charity makes its own. Charity Netherlands takes the position that the choice of the mix of recruitment methods is up to the charity itself. All recognized charities are annually publishing how much of their expenses are spent. We want to say to everyone: know that on average 89 cents of every euro spent by the charity goes to the social cause.’
Recruitment agencies
How are charities checked in the Netherlands. Charities are not the only parties that work with charities. Charities in IT companies, communication and campaign agencies and call centers, recruitment agencies also work for energy and telecom providers, newspapers, public broadcasters and political parties.
Arrange door-to-door recruitment
The item in EenVandaag focused specifically on door-to-door and street recruitment. Specifically for the door-to-door recruitment channel – for which external commercial agencies are created – the sector has made agreements in the House-to-House Werving Foundation about the quality of recruitment and is working with the aim of avoiding over-questioning. There is a code of conduct and any complaints can be reported at various places: to the organizations, the Advertising Code Committee or to the CBF. ‘Charities are professional organisations, they know the market and negotiate sharply about the costs with the recruitment agencies.’
‘Door-to-door donations for a number of charities means having great personal contact with donors and attracting new structural donors,’ continues the trade association. According to Goede Doelen Nederland, most remain donors for an average of five years, as a result of contributing to the continuity of the work of the charity.’
Read the entire message from Charity Netherlands on its site.
Response Central Bureau for Fundraising
The CBF has also written a response and explanation on its site. The CBF writes, among other things, ‘Door-to-door recruitment of donors is regulated by the House-to-house Recruitment Regulation Foundation. This is a foundation that includes the sector organization of charities and the sector organizations of recruitment agencies. This foundation is intended to make good agreements about this way of fundraising. This is about quality and about not ringing the doorbell too often in a neighbourhood. People can in the recruitment schedule see Recognized Charity can ring the bell in their neighbourhood. The CBF is also a supervisor for this foundation.’
The full response can be read on the website of the CBF†