Checkout Charity: What happens to donations collected by stores? (CBC Marketplace)

we're checking out the checkout counters at some of Canada's biggest stores racing for that moment when wallets are out and pressure is on do you want to make a small donation do you want to add a dollar and donate to level reading just about everywhere you go these days they're looking for an extra loonie or shoes the question usually comes right after would you like a bag and do you have air miles this big donations look like a rescue today it's all in the name of doing good but it's leaving Samantha kept Jackson feeling bad my first thought is oh no as soon as I see that there was a campaign going on I think oh brother here we go again we're with her in line at a metro grocery store all around us shoppers are being asked to give money to a school breakfast program called two knees for tummies not today Samantha's dreading her turn I'm not a Grinch I'm not a Scrooge I believe in charity I donate to charity she says this type of check out charity creates too much pressure to give you're going on shame you're going on humiliation you're going on catches people by surprise what will she do when the question comes her way boys what is this stay tuned Jia yeah she's got a cart little questions you'll want to hear Samantha heads kids have her own pour altogether three still at home she jokes it feels like 5,000 everybody come to the table dinner's ready she knows the challenges of raising a happy healthy family she writes a blog about parenting issues and that's where she first shares her views on check out charity what kind of reaction have you gotten from people when you've been critical of this practice I have for the most part gotten complete support by people who have said to me write on this is exactly how I feel I'm glad someone finally said it this has been going on too long she does worry though people might think she's mean-spirited when in fact she just wants to give wisely you can go to 4 places on a Saturday and go to the grocery store the drugstore the liquor store and you know the hardware you know Home Depot or whatever all four of those people will ask me for $2.00 and when you're busy you're a mom you're you know you're running around you're getting groceries the last thing that you're thinking about is having to answer questions so that gotcha factor is what kind of stops see when you tracks and your first response is oh okay sure sure I'll give you some money without even thinking about it and I think that we need to be able to think about it before we make these decisions about donating to charity we take a charity drive of our own and by our count at least 30 big chains ask for donations at the point-of-sale stores such as winners and Walmart Costco and Canadian Tire Shoppers Drug Mart export check some campaigns are year-round others such as this one at Global pet foods just a couple of weeks there's a thankless donations local animal rescue today they call it show us your heart raising money to feed and spay or neuter animals at local shelters Cheryl put me down for two dollars which like you tell your peas name on heart per minute sure you can put your pet's name on a heart in the window a gesture meant to publicly recognize your contribution while making you feel good about giving but it seems most Canadians don't feel too charitable towards check out charity a survey by Ipsos read for a toronto marketing firm examining donations at the cash register suggests nearly half of us 44 percent feel pressured to give others feel inconvenienced embarrassed even angry almost two-thirds of those surveyed 64 percent have refused to donate at the checkout with all that tension at the till why keep asking simply put check out charity is one of the most effective ways to seek donations just think of the millions of us who go through checkout lines every day at places such as the liquor store even when most customers say no Ontario's liquor stores ask enough to raise more than 1 million dollars last year for Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children Sick Kids Foundation is one of the biggest charities in the country but you got a wonder aren't they tainting their image with a tactic so many Canadians don't like Ted Gerard is CEO of Sick Kids Foundation as a fund raiser the only way that you raise money is by asking people to give and whether or not that's at the checkout or around a board table or in a letter if you don't ask you don't get money he says check out charity isn't going away our view is that that direct one-on-one ask between the you know person at checkout and the person who's buying something is an effective way because we do believe that people give to people we saw one survey that about two-thirds of the people who are asked didn't like this method of raising money they feel pressured to give and that's not really what charity is supposed to be about do you understand how they feel I would say that it is really really important for people if they are feeling guilted in any way again to say no that's not our motivation in asking you to give and it's certainly not the feeling that we want you to be left by but we have to look at the results that we receive every year from this kind of check out charity and it's in the millions of dollars so really very successful how does that compare with some of your other fundraisers the check out charity versus other ones well it's one of the more substantial ones so it works and charities rely on it but why do stores do it when even their own employees admit folks don't like it we run into this Metro cash here people are like in a hurry especially at lunchtime or dinner rush you know they don't want to be bothered and that if so Street survey shows people are bothered 62% of respondents are against the idea of stores asking customers to donate even more 67% say it's usually not clear what if anything the store is contributing Samantha Kemp Jackson is one of those who wonders what the stores get out of this I have to say that for many of the charities that I've been asked to donate to I've not heard of 3/4 of them she says the lack of accountability bothers her the most I want to know how the money is being allocated I want to know how much of my $2 is going to administration how much of my $2 is going to overhead how much is actually going to the the person or persons or organization and they don't tell you that at the checkout counter there's no accountability with our cameras rolling samantha steals yourself with questions many of us want to ask don't have the time or maybe the guts to do it not much to go on at the checkout on Sam's tax question the Canada Revenue Agency tells us companies that collect donations from you and me on behalf of a charity are not entitled to a tax break but what about Sam's other questions where does all the money go and what is in it for the stores opening we check out the financial books of Canada's biggest bookstore chain does checkout charity exhaust you're good we'll make you feel bad about doing good tell us on Facebook or Twitter I'm inside a big-box retail store looking at the widespread fundraising tactic called checkout charity we've got big questions about those little donations would you like to make a donation to observe finish this sport check store is part of the Canadian Tire Empire and it's jump start foundation they constantly ask customers to help get needy kids into organized sports one in three families cannot afford to get their kids into sport that's heartbreak now a father Duncan Fulton is also a vice president of Canadian Tire Corporation and a big believer in check out charity we have a survey of Canadians talking about check out charity and most don't really like it very much they feel embarrassed by it they feel pressured how do you respond to that we found that our customers really embrace Jump Start and overwhelmingly our customers love the fact that were involved in the community they love the fact that we engage employees and that and they respect the fact that we're trying to engage them in that as well Fulton says about 10 percent of customers donate when asked he says that's high the campaign raises about five million dollars a year for jump start but does it also raise the company's profile there's another aspect of this kind of a program which is what they call the halo effect I mean you're collecting the money and you're have this big program but you're getting kind of the glory - so does this help drive the success of the company doing these sorts of things you're gonna in the larger sense I think I'll leave that up to the customers to tell us I mean this is I really mean it when I say this is being in our DNA so it's not something we do for brand it's not something we do for marketing it's just it's what we do as a company Fulton insists that halo effect has nothing do with helping the company's bottom line and assures us every dollar collected goes to the kids over at Canada's biggest bookstore chain the plot thickens you are at a dollar and donate to level reading indigo zone love of reading foundation helps put books in school libraries the chains been raising money this way for a decade now doning out one and a half million dollars a year it's Heather Eastman from the Indigo love of reading foundation I'm actually calling today to say that your application for a love of reading grant has been accepted schools are thrilled to get the grants all built on transactions like this Indigo's own website makes it clear though schools must use the donations to buy books only at company stores since this is charity doesn't seem fair that schools can't shop for the best price anywhere hi I'm Jennifer the director of the indigo lover Freedom Foundation you'll see Jennifer Jones on the foundation's promotional video but not on TV with us she's unavailable for an on-camera interview but is willing to speak by phone with our production team in our research we discover a surprise twist in the foundation story schools that receive grants are forced to buy their books at retail price just like you and me so the foundation gives the money to the schools okay the schools use the money to buy books at indigo at retail ergo indigo profits in the sale of the books to the schools correct I see your point um well it is over teens the margin of the book it actually reinvest that back in the foundation in a lot of different ways Jones says any profit from sales to schools helps run the foundation we push for precise numbers proving that get this she doesn't have any and we have no No if we really really tried maybe and put a lot of resources and time into it maybe we can get into the nitty-gritty of the finances but I'm not sure that actually would would bring up much value to anybody we asked Indigo's chief financial officer for that nitty-gritty she says the company doesn't profit from its foundation but won't provide some basic information it's golden agree such as how much the chain receives in customer donations each year and what percentage of that cash ends up where it's supposed to samantha Camp Jackson would simply like stores and businesses to stop asking but since that's not about to happen like most Canadians she'll just say no I actually feel fine about it but it's taken me a number of years and it's taken as I said this proliferation of being asked to get me to the point where I'm so fatigued by it that I just say no or I say no thank you but I say no and I don't have any qualms about doing it at this point it's a very personal decision donating to charity and I actually believe in donating to charity but I want to donate to those charities that I have actively sought out I've researched and I've given the money to of my own freewill not because I happen to be at a grocery store or you know drugstore they asked me bottom line if you don't like check out charity learn to live with it or learn to say no what bugs you with the check out take our survey and see what other shoppers think at cbc.ca slash marketplace you

Channel: CBC News

Views: 856,045

Rating: 4.7586541 out of 5

Keywords: CBC News CBCNews CBC broadcasting media public broadcasting news Canadian News, Canadian Broadcasting Corportation (TV network), CBC News Network, CBC News.ca, charities, charity, cashiers, retailers, shopping, Indigo Love of Reading Foundation, Indigo books

Id: QwY5z8lpznY

Length: 14min 16sec (856 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 20 2015