The Case Of The Dead Poppy Seller

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-32748923

Poppy collector Olive Cooke 'exhausted by charity requests'

A 92-year-old woman found dead in the Avon Gorge last week had been "exhausted" by requests for money from different charities, a friend has said.
Poppy seller Olive Cooke was found two days before the 70th anniversary of VE Day.

Her friend Michael Earley said she had been "under pressure" from requests, but she had also suffered ill health.
The PM called her an "incredible woman" and urged fundraising regulators to look at how they could have helped her.

David Cameron, who presented Mrs Cooke with a Points of Light award last year for being the UK's longest-serving poppy seller, also said she had "worked tirelessly for the charities she supported".
He said: "I know there is a code that is meant to protect people from feeling pressured by charities and I hope the Fundraising Standards Board will look at whether any more could have been done to prevent this."
Responding to the tragedy, fundraising organisations said they would see what lessons could be learned.

(continued, Cameron who is high up in advertising and now looking into the case? on a scam list?

[Xamonas Chegwé]

As soon as you give to one charity, EVAH, the others start bombarding you with sob-story letters! About 20 years back, I paid money to the British Heart Foundation using my debit card after a collection at work and I received scores of begging letters from various charities over the next few months. I still get crap from the BHF about once a month. Here's the thing though. I never once agreed to receive any mail from either the BHF or their "associates" - I simply provided the usual details that one gives when making a payment by card - numbers, name address. I'm pretty sure there are (or were) some heavy duty Data Protection Act violations going on in the charity sector - but hey, it's charity, so you just ignore them... unless you're a 92 year-old woman that simply cant...

[cronus]

As soon as you give to one charity, EVAH, the others start bombarding you with sob-story letters! About 20 years back, I paid money to the British Heart Foundation using my debit card after a collection at work and I received scores of begging letters from various charities over the next few months. I still get crap from the BHF about once a month. Here's the thing though. I never once agreed to receive any mail from either the BHF or their "associates" - I simply provided the usual details that one gives when making a payment by card - numbers, name address. I'm pretty sure there are (or were) some heavy duty Data Protection Act violations going on in the charity sector - but hey, it's charity, so you just ignore them... unless you're a 92 year-old woman that simply cant...

She was a 'independent poppy seller' working alone. My theory is over the years she'd maybe fallen fowl of the natural human business angle on her venture. Upon receiving her award she started doing all the self-accounting and guilt tripping thing. At the same time the scam artist charities where on her case making her feel even more miserable. When they stopped her direct accounts, thinking they were helping, the interest on all those odd fifty pences over the years accumulated in her soul and she wen't from moral austerity to moral bankruptcy pretty quick. Then the inevitable....consequence.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

As soon as you give to one charity, EVAH, the others start bombarding you with sob-story letters! About 20 years back, I paid money to the British Heart Foundation using my debit card after a collection at work and I received scores of begging letters from various charities over the next few months. I still get crap from the BHF about once a month. Here's the thing though. I never once agreed to receive any mail from either the BHF or their "associates" - I simply provided the usual details that one gives when making a payment by card - numbers, name address. I'm pretty sure there are (or were) some heavy duty Data Protection Act violations going on in the charity sector - but hey, it's charity, so you just ignore them... unless you're a 92 year-old woman that simply cant...

She was a 'independent poppy seller' working alone. My theory is over the years she'd maybe fallen fowl of the natural human business angle on her venture. Upon receiving her award she started doing all the self-accounting and guilt tripping thing. At the same time the scam artist charities where on her case making her feel even more miserable. When they stopped her direct accounts, thinking they were helping, the interest on all those odd fifty pences over the years accumulated in her soul and she wen't from moral austerity to moral bankruptcy pretty quick. Then the inevitable....consequence.

If you saw the report on TV, she had dozens of Direct Debits set up and pretty much every penny she had was going out to various charities every month!

Once you're on their database and are a known "giver", every fucking tin-rattler in the country is on your case!

[cronus]

As soon as you give to one charity, EVAH, the others start bombarding you with sob-story letters! About 20 years back, I paid money to the British Heart Foundation using my debit card after a collection at work and I received scores of begging letters from various charities over the next few months. I still get crap from the BHF about once a month. Here's the thing though. I never once agreed to receive any mail from either the BHF or their "associates" - I simply provided the usual details that one gives when making a payment by card - numbers, name address. I'm pretty sure there are (or were) some heavy duty Data Protection Act violations going on in the charity sector - but hey, it's charity, so you just ignore them... unless you're a 92 year-old woman that simply cant...

She was a 'independent poppy seller' working alone. My theory is over the years she'd maybe fallen fowl of the natural human business angle on her venture. Upon receiving her award she started doing all the self-accounting and guilt tripping thing. At the same time the scam artist charities where on her case making her feel even more miserable. When they stopped her direct accounts, thinking they were helping, the interest on all those odd fifty pences over the years accumulated in her soul and she wen't from moral austerity to moral bankruptcy pretty quick. Then the inevitable....consequence.

If you saw the report on TV, she had dozens of Direct Debits set up and pretty much every penny she had was going out to various charities every month!

Once you're on their database and are a known "giver", every fucking tin-rattler in the country is on your case!

...my mum, cogent to the end - she never missed a trick with money. Never saw her give to a charity unless it coughed something back. Newspapers built up at the end, scam letters less so.

[cronus]

....then my mam was half Scottish.

[JimC]

Heroin dealers are poppy sellers...

[rainbow]

....then my mam was half Scottish.

Thank you, it explains a lot.

[laklak]

They badger me all the time, even though I never give them a penny. Screw 'em. Charity begins at home, and I'm at home.

[Svartalf]

I'm only occasionally badgered... of course, I give nothing (too poor to), so I get caught only in major campaigns when they use the directory or something, I'm not in anybody's file of easy marks.

[mistermack]

I have a vague recollection of some charities using self-employed marketers, who got paid a commission on what they could extort. They often work for more than one charity, so if you give to one, it's the same person having a go to get money for another charity. That's how your details get shared. It's one person, representing a dozen charities, and getting a cut from every penny you give.

[Seth]

When I give to the poor, I give to the poor, directly, in cash or goods, and don't give them my name or address. Giving to a "charity" is just another word for supporting tax-exempt bureaucrats and scammers.

[cronus]

When I give to the poor, I give to the poor, directly, in cash or goods, and don't give them my name or address. Giving to a "charity" is just another word for supporting tax-exempt bureaucrats and scammers.

Best way. When they rebuild after disasters they always give to businesses first - logic being they are supporting infrastructure rebuild - never give to people who've lost families and the like. When did you ever hear a businessman turn down free money?