Often the people who stand at information stands in the city center do not work for the organization at all – but are paid agency employees. picture alliance / Daniel Kubirski | Daniel Kubirski
The people at the information stands of NGOs are often not members at all, but work for agencies that earn millions every year by collecting donations.
So-called face-2-face fundraising on the street is indispensable for many non-profit organizations, but it costs a lot of money.
The agencies are booked by the organizations and paid for their work – with money that also comes from donations.
If you walk through the German city center, you will occasionally see people collecting donations for a good cause. It is mainly younger people who do so-called fundraising there, mostly for a good cause: protection of the rainforest, humanitarian aid, education for children. But fundraisers don’t always work for the organization whose jacket they’re wearing when they go fundraising. They often work for agencies — and they earn millions from the donation business.
The reason why NGOs work with agencies is simple: for many non-profit organizations it is not worth setting up their own donation teams. The costs are too high and the need for fundraisers varies greatly within a year. Therefore, NGOs often fall back on agencies that make their fundraisers available for individual donation campaigns.