Gangs threaten charity collectors
Howard Lake | 15 November 2006 | News
Charity workers collecting clothes on doorsteps have been threatened by gangs working for bogus charities, Irish newspapers have reported. In one incident the legitimate collector had his tyres slashed and bags of clothes were taken from him.
The Irish Times conducted a random check on eight ‘charities’ collecting clothes and only two could be verified as genuine. It is thought that most of the non charity collectors are actually commercial concerns which can sell the clothes on for profit.
Charities in the Irish Republic act in a legal grey area as there is no register of charities. No arrests have been made of commercial company employees posing as charity collectors. This situation will be addressed in new legislation due for implementation next year which will require that all charities register.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.