Face to face fundraising

We'll be using paid, professional fundraisers who are based all around the UK and will be fundraising on our behalf.

With our new fundraising programme, we are hoping to recruit an additional 20,000 supporters over the next five years.

What is face to face fundraising?

We'll be working with REAL Fundraising and their professional fundraisers. They'll go door-to-door, visiting residential areas to speak to supporters at their home. They may also work from private sites such as shopping centres and train stations. They’ll be sharing information about MS and what we do and asking for support with a regular gift.

We won’t be doing any face-to-face fundraising in public streets. We'll only be doing door-to-door fundraising and private site fundraising.

Why have you decided to do face-to-face fundraising?

Face-to-face fundraising is a cost-effective way to raise vital regular funds and raise awareness of MS and our work. It's a very important and highly effective part of the fundraising programmes of many charities. It will enable us to reach areas all across the UK.

It allows fundraisers to have one-to-one conversations with members of the public to raise awareness of the work we do as well as find new supporters. It's the only channel of fundraising that allows us to have these one-to-one conversations with people on a large scale all around the UK.

The other added benefit of face-to-face fundraising is the opportunity to further raise awareness of our brand. All fundraisers will be in branded clothing and our private site fundraisers will have branded banners and stands. We'll also be signposting people to our national and local services, including volunteering and our local groups.

There will undoubtedly be some reservations about this method. It can feel intrusive. It’s likely to result in a higher number of enquiries into our Supporter Care Team from people checking the identity of the fundraisers. And, potentially, a small number of complaints.

We've chosen to work with a fundraising agency, REAL Fundraising. They have a comprehensive training programme and fundraiser monitoring in place. They also have a lower-than-average complaint rate. We'll be monitoring the campaign closely during its four-month pilot period. And we’ll carry out mystery shopper tests to ensure the fundraising is to our high standards.

Where will you be fundraising?

We'll be doing private site and door-to-door fundraising across the UK. The locations will be chosen by our fundraising agency based on areas where they already have fundraising teams.

From Monday 5 to Sunday 11 February, our fundraisers will be in:

• Birkenhead
• Liverpool

How can I tell if they’re a genuine fundraiser?

Our face-to-face fundraisers will be wearing an ID badge, MS Society branded t-shirt or jacket and will be using a tablet to enter supporters’ details.

Our fundraisers will never ask for a gift in cash or ask for sponsorship for an event.

I have another question which hasn’t been answered?

If you've still got questions or would like to speak to us about this campaign, please get in touch with our Supporter Care Team at [email protected]