CaRT 'Friends' goes bust

THOUGH kept very quite, we can reveal that Canal & River Trust's main agency for recruiting chuggers (people who accost passers-by to give money) CM Fundraising, has gone into liquidation.

This is partly being blamed by CaRT for its failure to meet its target of 7,000 donors during its first year. CaRT's plan was to recruit and retain 70,000 regular donors at the rate of 7,000 per year during its first ten years but  recruited just 2,164 'Friends' in its first year, writes Allen Richards.

Will lose £1.5m

'Friends' are regular monthly givers, recruited by 'chugging companies' or 'face to face agencies' as CaRT prefers to call them. CaRT's plan is that 70,000 regular givers will account for for 58% of the £4.3m it hopes to obtain from all charitable sources by 2022/23.

However, high costs in the early years of the Trust mean that that it will lose £1.5m in its early years and it predicts that it will not start receiving any net income from charitable giving until 2016/17.

Blame

CaRT is placing part of the blame on its poor performance on a delayed start for the Trust saying that 6,000 of the 7,000 first year target would have been recruited between April and September. CaRT had originally planned that the Trust would start in April 2012 but it did not start until July, some three months later.

It also blames the main agency it was using, CM Fundraising, for poor performance. Although CaRT has made no announcement that its main fundraiser has gone into liquidation.

It was these two factors that caused CaRT to restate its 7,000 target as 3,000. However, even the reduced target will not be met.

Top company?

CM Fundraising had previously been stated as being one of the top companies in its field with such prestigious accounts as RSPB, The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, The Woodlands Trust , Dartmoor Preservation Society and Soil Association.

However, narrowboatworld has twice voiced concerns regarding the company (A silly chugger?) and ('Friends' target now halved).

Target still 7,000

CaRT says it reconsidered how it attracts regular givers and how it uses chugging companies over the winter period. It has engaged the services of three chugging companies for 2013/14 one of which uses a different remuneration model that is not 'results based'.

The target for 2013/14 is again 7,000.