Professional Fundraisers

As readers of my past blogs will realise, I have little time for professional fundraisers, and I have explained previously why the WLT has not signed up to the FundRaising Standards Board. Some time back, I read in the May issue of Professional Fundraising, that "more than a third of Fundraising Standards Board members have failed to submit obligatory complaints figures to the regulator".
And while I am writing about complaints, a couple of days ago Vivien received a massive envelope from the Red Cross, all very personalised, with cards, address labels and a pen, and a lapel badge -- it must have cost quite a bit to produce, and clearly the intention is to embarrass recipients into donating to the Red Cross. But only a couple of days previously we happened to have been to a local Red Cross Fundraiser in our village hall. So my immediate reaction is very negative indeed towards the Red Cross. I have always disliked giving 'free gifts' as an incentive for charitable donations, and like organisations that indulge in 'chugging' immediately put them on a black list for donations. And I wonder how many other people react in the same way. The problems is that these forms of fundraising do produce some results, and they are often fairly immediate, which is why professional fundraisers like them. But how many legacies and big donations are lost by the organisations indulging in such techniques? Any one else got views or experiences?