Actor and campaigner Samuel Johnson slams charity mugger 'dogs'
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Actor and cancer campaigner Samuel Johnson has taken aim at charity muggers — known as "chuggers" — who ask for donations on the street, calling them "snakes" and "dogs".
Speaking to Channel Nine's Today Show, Johnson said he had no time for the aggressive tactics of street fundraisers.
"Chuggers are slugs, they're dogs," Johnson said.
"I've really got no time for them to be honest. They're snakes. Sharks."
Johnson was on the program promoting Play for Purpose — a new charity formed with the aim of disrupting commission-based charity fundraising.
Virtually all face-to-face fundraising conducted by agencies is commission-based.
But a report released last year by the ACCC found that, assuming an average of 12 times the monthly donation as a fee to the fundraising agency — and the donor giving for around five years — approximately one year's worth of donations actually went to the agency rather than the charity.
Fundraising agency Appco Australia stated in a press release last year that over the average three to five-year period, "the one-off fee paid to Appco Australia equates to approximately 9 per cent to 30 per cent of the total donation".
Johnson said although such agencies were not doing anything illegal, donors should be wary.
"If you're not prudent about how you give, if you don't know about the organisation you're giving to, then I'd be pretty cynical about how much is ending up at the cause," he said.
Johnson has been a fierce campaigner for cancer research and was last year named Victorian Australian of the Year for his work.
In 2013-14 he rode 15,465 kilometres around Australia on a unicycle — a world record — to raise funds for the Garvan Research Foundation.
He and his sister later founded a new organisation, Love Your Sister, which has raised more than $7 million for cancer research.
Actor and campaigner Samuel Johnson slams charity mugger 'dogs'
"Chuggers are slugs, they're dogs," Johnson said. "I've really got no time for them to be honest. They're snakes. Sharks."
this is a lot of animals
Chuggers are all of the above
Chuggers are wyverns
Or cherubs
Take your pick
he's not wrong. you should not be giving beggers money, homeless or not. instead of cash give them food, water or clothing. watch 90% of them refuse, the others are legit and suffering.
One of them called me an arsehole when I was 14 because I ignored her
My dad told me a story once about hanging out in the parking lot after a Rage Against The Machine concert and being approached by a homeless woman who asked for food money. My dad offered her as much of the sandwiches he and his friends had brought, but she got angry and stormed off. I think this is pretty common.
Wait are we talking about beggars or the people on the high Street trying to get you to set up direct debits with their charity? Cause we call the second one chuggers in the UK
The article mentions getting people to sign up to donate over several years, so unless it's some pretty fucking convincing homeless people I'm guessing it's the latter.
Almost definitely the second.
They're awful in Australian cities, you can't take a train without a moderately attractive woman flirting with you and then segueing into, "By the way, if you care about animals/the environment/kids with cancer/etc, you'll fill out this form with your bank details to set up a recurring payment to our charity organisation right now"
It’s also bad when they set up outside of shopping centres. I do donate to charity, but I don’t give out my bank details to anyone on the street nor anyone who knocks on my door.
If you're someone who has a hard time saying no you could end up with about 10 standing orders after a few hours on the high street, best to pop some earbuds in and avoid eye contact
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