Most, if not the vast majority of, fundraisers are paid. They are either salaried staff of a charity or they work for a direct marketing/creative agency, a strategic consultancy, a capital appeals/major donor consultancy, street/door fundraising agency (a ‘professional fundraising organisation – PFO), or telephone fundraising agency that is contracted by a charity.
Most charity direct mail, telephone and street/door direct debit fundraising is contracted to third party agencies. A good deal of capital appeal work (for new art galleries or hospital wings and the like) is also outsourced.
‘Chuggers’ are far from exceptional in being paid because most fundraisers are. If there is an argument not to pay chuggers, there is an argument not to pay any fundraiser. Objections to chuggers being paid ought really be consistently applied to all salaried/contracted fundraisers. But if charities were not allowed to pay fundraisers, their voluntary income would collapse and their beneficiaries would suffer as a result.
Many people who complain about chuggers receiving payment often compare them to volunteers who do the occasional bucket collection. This often leads them to conclude that chuggers, even though they are out five or six days a week for eight hours a day, should also do it for nothing. However, a more accurate comparison is not between chuggers and volunteer 'tin rattlers' but between chuggers and call centre staff or direct marketing agency employees.
F2F is a valuable and cost-effective source or regular income for charities. They just would not be able to find the same level of support using volunteers (if they could they would).
Street fundraisers are paid an hourly wage; they do not work on commission, though they can receive bonus payments. Door fundraisers can be paid a wage whereas others are paid according to how many donors they recruit.
The charity pays the fundraising agency directly an agreed fee for each donor recruited.