Originally Posted by
pittpanther
What legitimate charity asks its volunteers to also canvas and raise funds? I would expect a legitimate charity to be happy to have volunteers, and to handle fundraising through a separate branch, staffed with people that are professional fundraisers.
My mom volunteers at Salvation Army - they don't ask her to beg for money from her friends. They don't even ask her to stand with a kettle and bell at Christmastime. If you want to volunteer to raise money, that's one thing. But if you volunteer to work with foster children, a charity should be happy to have the help, and not be asking you to also raise money.
I notice the original posting didn't even bother to name the charity (which would allow us to look it up, warts and all). Until proven otherwise, sounds like a scam to me.
Ehhh...depends on the size of the charity and what the mission of the charity is. Our group (animal rescue) is rather large but not national, we do expect our Board members to be heavily involved in fund raising since without funding we can't do a darn thing. Some people can only donate time, resources, or professional services - it's all appreciated and works out great in the end.
The Red Cross asks its volunteers to get involved in fundraising events on a regular basis.
As for the OPs charity, if they need to pay someone to keep the good going (we have plenty of vet bills....) then I hope OP has great luck with it! I will tell you, a nice fundraising idea is a charity garage sale, I do one every year and its a lot of fun and people really, really enjoy it. Plus, you don't have to invest much to get it going. Hit Craigs list to ask for donation drop off on a certain day, put flyers up and in your neighbors mail boxes, you'll get a ton of stuff. I even get my grill out and sell hotdogs for 1.00 donation and people just drive by and get hot dogs sometimes. Win/win - no begging, just fundraising
