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fund raising

longman

Has anyone else been approached by phone by a commercial fund-raiser acting for NAS? It is one of those that takes a third of the money raised for administration. They started by thanking me for supporting NAS, then a spiel about what NAS does for children, and then asked me to go further and make a monthlu contribution. Personally I'm wary of such systems that take a cut for themselves so said I'd think about it and make my own arrangements, particularly as I'm on a pension.

It was odd however to then be asked for my year of birth, and then to be asked to confirm that I had aspergers.

Usually these types of fundraiser look for new sources of funds rather than just going through the existing contact list.

And should they be approaching people on the spectrum, or parents of people on the spectrum in this way?

Chap I spoke to was nice enough, and seemed well enough informed about what NAS was doing, but I was left feeling this wasn't right.  Also I think NAS ought to declare on the website that such phonecalls are being made.

I'm left feeling puzzled why he needed to know my birth year and whether I was on the spectrum.

Could the NAS Moderators shed some light?

  • Thanks for clarifying.

    The caller gave me to understand he was from NAS. It did not become apparent until he asked for monthly contributions that he was from a fund-raising agency. I do think that needs to be made clear from the start.

    In particular his approach was as part of the anniversary thanking people process. If he was from an agency employed by NAS, THAT IS MISLEADING!  It is certainly ambiguous as a fund raising agent would not have been so-involved in the anniversary thanking process.

    He did explain at length that what I understood to be a third of the monthly payment went on administrative costs. He went into detail what these were. If that's not the case things need to be explained more clearly.

    Cannot age be obtained as a band, eg 58-64? Year of birth can be used improperly, and some people would be rightly concerned to be asked that.

    You do not explain why I needed to confirm my autism status for his records.

    It would help if the website under funding explained that such calls are taking place. That gives people reassurance that the calls are genuine.

    NAS needs to handle this carefully. You could do a lot more harm than good if these callers aren't properly briefed and sensitive to the interests of both parents and people on the spectrum.

    Also he only talks about action for children. A lot of the people you are having him call have an adult perspective.

  • Hi longman,

    I've just spoken to our fundraising and supporter care teams. They asked me to pass on the following message:

    "Thank you for taking the time to mention this. We are currently telephoning some people who have previously supported the NAS. We are working with our trusted telephone fundraising agency on this campaign so the activity is genuine and your details are safe. I am pleased that the person who called you was pleasant and well-informed. The fundraiser should explain that they are calling on behalf of (and not from) the NAS and that we are asking for year of birth simply because if we can understand a little more about our current supporters like their age, that can help us to find more people to support the charity in the future. The fundraiser does not take a third of your donation - all of your donation comes to the NAS and will help to fund crucial services like the Helpline. There are costs associated with any fundraising activity but this is not paid for by taking a cut of your donation. If you would prefer not to be contacted in this way in future we are happy to amend our records accordingly - please contact us directly on supportercare@nas.org.uk or 0808 800 1050 so we can take the relevant details from you."

    I hope this helps to clarify matters.

    Best wishes,

    Alex R - mod

  • Thanks for that Scorpion0x17.

    Hopefully it is connected with NAS. Nevertheless if it is NAS they owe me and everybody here an explanation.

    If it isn't, or if I don't here from NAS first thing, I shall have to raise the matter with the police. Which could be embarrassing if it was a genuine call.

    As you rightly say the really odd thing is being asked for my birth year. If that's a genuine NAS fund raiser the whole thing looks very fishy and highly irregular.

    Cheers

  • longman said:

    Don't think I gave away any other personal details, but its the year born bit that does worry me, as that can be used by fraudsters.

    Yeah, that's the bit that concerns me.

    I'll 'report' your post, just so it brings it to the attention of the mods a little quicker (hopefully).

  • Don't think I gave away any other personal details, but its the year born bit that does worry me, as that can be used by fraudsters.

    The approach seemed convincingly on the back of the anniversary thanking people for their support messages, but any con could have picked up on that. However if so most people phoned wouldn't probably understand why they were being thanked, so it leads me to suppose that the caller was working from an official NAS list. But then again, how secure is that list?

    He told me a lot about what NAS was doing for children including new legislation coming through to facilitate diagnosis and reduce the delays. But he didn't seem to know much about the adult side.

    Then when the donations bit came in and the one third going to his organisations' costs I realised I was talking to a fund raising agent, not someone from NAS. That needs to be made clear from the start.

    NAS has a regular payment arrangement already which takes only 3% for admin. Do they need a fund raiser who takes a third?

    NAS needs to be careful about this. Mishandled approaches to existing supporters could do a lot of harm.

    While his request for my year of birth worries me, and the need to confirm my autism status, which I probably wouldn't have done but for being off-guard after a long conversation that seemed genuine.

    But thinking back the caller misled me into thinking he was from NAS, and clearly he was from an independent fund raiser.

    Could NAS come back to me on this because it may be I need to notify the police about a scam.