We all have an idea of what ‘harass’ means colloquially but we suggest that many people actually define being approached by a fundraiser as 'harassment'. When they then use the term ‘harassed’ in describing their encounter with the fundraiser, it’s natural to assume this refers to obstruction, aggressive language or behaviour, etc.
The offence of “harassment” is strictly defined in the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and must arise from a course of conduct (ie: in relation to a single person, on two or more occasions). The courts have said that for the Act to apply the conduct must be “grave”, “oppressive and unreasonable”. In Scotland, to commit an offence a person has to additionally intend to harass a person. We hope you would agree with us that it is clear that street fundraisers are not committing the offence of “harassment”.
In any case there are very, very few complaints against F2F fundraising. The latest figures from the Fundraising Standards Board for 2010 show that there were just 312 complaints to member charities about F2F fundraising out of a total of 12,945 complaints about all fundraising methods. And these 312 complaints are just 0.18 per cent of all donors signed up through street F2F during 2009/10 – it's impossible to say what percentage of the number of people actually approached by a 'chugger' this represents, but it's clear it is going to be minuscule.
Of course, this is not to say that some fundraisers don’t break the code or overstep the mark. We run a mystery shopping programme and receive complaints so we know that they do. But we also know that unprofessional behaviour is rare.
If you have been treated badly by an F2F fundraiser, that is unacceptable and we would urge you to complain to the relevant charity. However, we’d respectfully suggest that the very act of fundraising is not the same thing as ‘harassment’.