[andolio]

well guess it cant be all bad....i got nothing else to do during my gap year anyway....if part time do you get to pick the days you work?? or do they pick for you?

[andolio]

is wearing regular clothes ok? they said casual, so i dont need to go in shirt and tie or anything right?

[DieWelle]

Regular clothes are ok, and you do get to pick your own days, but I wouldn't recommend Home Fundraising anyway. The chances of actually making any money is pretty slim, because they don't pay for travel to and from the sites, and you'll almost certainly end up paying a fair bit for food. When you factor in all the unpaid hours that you end up doing, you're only really making about 3 quid an hour, so you might be better off looking elsewhere. If you do go for it, good luck to you, but the works hard and you have to be a special kind of person to enjoy it.

[RightSaidJames]

I don't know why charities bother to solicit donations using expensive external agencies like this - typically it takes about 2 years for the charity to make a profit from the minimum direct debit donation, once the agency's fee has been deducted. Furthermore, if someone cancels their DD a few months after setting it up, the charity makes a massive loss.

I really want to get into fundraising, but it seems that the only entry-level jobs are for face-to-face/door-to-door and only with agencies rather than the charities themselves. I'd much rather be working directly for a charity in order to put on events or manage teams of volunteers, but have no idea how to get into it!

[Nat333]

Home Fundraising should pay you for working between 2.30pm (average arrival time in office) and 9pm. Considering the fact that most of its fund raisers on average leave home at 1.30 - 2pm and return home at 10 - 10.30pm, it means that each person works 8 hours effectively but gets paid for 5.

Look at it this way, you have a typical 9 - 5 job in a definite location. You could relocate, and thus reduce your transport costs to even 0 (e.g., by cycling or walking). If during the course of work you have to travel, say to meet a customer, you would get paid during the travel hour, as well as for mileage. I say this from my personal experience.

Assuming for this type of job you were paid minimum wage, say £6.08, each day, you would have about £48, plus benefits such as 28 day holidays, etc.

Home Fundraising pays £35 per day on the condition that you make 7 sign ups per week full time. There's also transport costs to factor in, plus 2 to 4 hours of unpaid hours travelling in the course of the work. This means that the minimum wage 9 – 5 job is by far more attractive than the £7 per hour Home Fundraising arrangement.

Also Home Fundraising expects you to work during bank holidays. Most legitimate, socially responsible companies never coerce you to work during bank holidays. And if you do, you would be entitled to a higher-than-normal rate of pay.

In general, society should get rid of all agencies, intermediaries, etc. They are over-exploitative, and thus unethical. Going out in the rain, snow, cold, etc., using your own precious time, and risking your own health and safety, ought to be compensated for, whether you hit targets or not. At the very least, you are promoting the charity, brand, service, etc, for free, using 1 of the most effective means ever—door-to-door / face-to-face!

There's a price for this, and these agencies are refusing to pay that price. We know for example the millions that telecoms companies, charities, beauty care companies, etc, pay for tv, radio, and Internet advertising. For door to door activities, not only do you advertise and promote, you also potentially make sales or sign-ups.

The companies appreciate the value of this direct medium and pay the agencies hundreds of thousands of pounds per campaign. But, in return, the agencies treat you, its people, as if you are worthless. Whereas, without you going out in the streets, door-to-door / face-to-face, the agencies would be out of business within a month! Yet some of its people are paid on a commission basis only—this is ridiculous and should be stopped.

Lastly, for Home Fundraising, if the targets were so achievable, why don't the chaps in the offices go out in the field, door-to-door, and lead by example? Perhaps by demonstrating how easy it is to hit 2 sign-ups per day others could learn from them and would be better encouraged to give their very best, especially the vulnerable new-comers.

[mink81]

i worked for them and never got paid petrol without having to go in and ask for it and would be fobbed off with the "its someone else's job" line never got paid the right amount. but my wages always went in on time once saw 14 people sacked and 20 taken on in the same day.

[Dude25]

I work at Home Fundraising, and to be honest its not bad but many days i have been soaked all day freezing but sunny is great get a tan pay is alright but i got a pay slip saying "hours i worked: 15" yet i know i worked more than 15 :/ and they didn't pay me properly for first few weeks and the fact they normally dont txt you location and who your with untill a hour before you have to be at office is gay had my shift cancelled because they give me enough time to get 15 pounds for trave then had the check to turn round and say to be fair its only 15.........i was shocked and annoyed because 15 i quite a lot of money and they should told me the day before. and if you end up not feeling well they make you carry on working :/
its not for everyone

[mink81]

yeah I was having a disciplinary due to only getting 4 sign up's in one week though i was told 5 a week is ok. But i was handing in my notice so it was all good. Had text a few weeks later saying i needed to go to breakfast club. I had a new starter working with me he had a probationary review one week in and they got rid even though they say its 4 weeks. Ill miss the people not the job its really a poorly run company

[kware]

I've been working at HF for 9 months now and still adore it. Obviously there are times when you don't wanna be there,but I've been on holiday for the past 2 weeks and just come back, and can't honestly say how much I've missed it.

Not only do you make about £300 per sign up for the charity, you also have the potential to make a difference to every persons lives that you talk to. I've met some amazing people over the past nine months, and it has completely changed my view on the world, especially for the better.

It also looks good on your CV. You meet a wide range of people, who become amazing friends. And another good thing about the company is that everyone starts off as a fund raiser before working your way up, which is easily done.

[mink81]

it has taken over 2 months since i should of had my p60 just got it last thursday. I left over 2 months ago and had to phone the office enquiring where my p45 was was told not to worry about it which i found funny seens as though it was me paying emergency tax and not them. upon phoning payroll i had a woman who found it funny that my p45 was on her desk. utter funting muppets i tell ya. but now i have my p45 and a new job. never ever going back there feel for the people who are there now

[turtl]

Okay i want to clear this up for anyone who wants to work at home fundraising because there are some pretty mixed messages
i started work 3 weeks ago and absolutely love it i wont say which branch in case they read this
BUT
it involves a lot of walking - dont apply if you cant be doing that obviously
it involves talking to a lot of people - dont apply if you cant do conversation with strangers CONFIDENTLY
your 1st two weeks are under probation, you have a probationary review after 2 weeks where you are assessed and if you aren't doing well enough then, as in any job, they will let you go at that point
however, i went in with a terrible sign up average and managed to stay on by convincing them that both myself and the team leaders had faith in my ability i mean they don't expect you to jump in and be top of the office all you need is confidence in yourself and you will do well

i would have thought that any job advertised as door to door fundraising is pretty self explanitory as to what the necessary skill sets are and yet people still come on here and moan that it's a sh*t job etc when, in my relatively short experience of the last few weeks, the people who leave with a chip on their shoulder generally come in expecting to waltz through and get 20 sign ups a night, get through there first night with no sign ups, sore feet and a wet t-shirt, gripe about it and leave promptly posting their dissatisfaction on the nearest forum while the majority of the workforce stick it out take the good with the bad and they are a fantastic group of people and even if it doesn't work out and they don't get past their probation they accept that this was always a possibility, grow from the experience and walk a way with a new bunch of friends

please don't even think twice about applying if you think it would suit you this has been the best 3 weeks of my working life and i hope to be here for a long time yet

[Dee Leigh]

(Original post by felixk1)
#####DON'T APPLY TO WORK FOR HOME FUNDRAISING#######

I was texted by Sarah from home fundraising in one of their branches saying that I had been invited to a group interview on 25th January. I attended the interview and was there for about an hour or so. At the end, they told us that we would get a text if we had been successful and that we would be invited to training. I didn't recieve a text so I assumed that I had not got the job however 1 week later on 3rd February they texted me with a 'reminder that you need to be at the office at 10 tomorrow for training with passport, NI number and bank details'. I was very happy because I assumed that I had been given the job. I went to the training day and arrived on time having been given a lift to Southampton with my Dad. The first thing we did was fill our a new starter form and give a photocopy of our passport and give our bank details for payment. 21 of us were given the training which lasted 7.5 hours. We were given leaflets and guide books which I have now telling us lots of information including our rate of pay - £7 per hour + bonuses. At the end of the day we were told that a some of us wouldn't actually make it to be fundraisers for the company. I was very suprised along with all of the other people. We were told that we would get a text saying if we had been successful or not. No more than half an hour later I recieved a text saying 'sorry to say that you did not pass training with us today'. I then became very angry because we had been led to believe that we had the job after passing an interview so we had wasted money on travelling to the office and also our time. In the end I am glad that I am not working for home fundraising as I hate to think about what they are like about paying people! I have now found a job paying more than what these scumbags were saying they would pay. I am currently talking to the citizens advice bureau trying to get them to pay me.

#####DON'T APPLY TO WORK FOR HOME FUNDRAISING#######

See this is the kind of thing I hate, when employers start to mess you about when it comes to giving the employee the job. Or they get rude. I have had this issue with Abel & Cole and Body Shop. They totally messed me about. As for Home Fundraising, they were not clear about things (e.g. commission).

Luckily I work for M&S now and they didn't mess me about at all!

[Dee Leigh]

(Original post by swarls)
I recently got a job at home fundraising and to put it down to a T is a sales job.

At first i was very excited for it as i thought I'd be making a difference while getting paid and in some ways you are making a difference, but when i went in for the training it soon hit home that you might as well be selling double glazing to them.

In the training you learn about the charity that you have been selected to work for you have to do a presentation about it all and sit in front of slides for a good few hours while some one goes on about how ethical the company is. ( Training isn't paid until 30 shifts after)

The flat rate of 7 pound an hour is true, and is what tempted me to work for them but they want you in the offices at least 1/2 hours before your shift starts which are unpaid so it doesn't work out as that as well as travelling to the location you are on that day. Also you are expected to pay for your own travel to the areas that you are working at.

They also say that it's not a commission based job but you can get a lot more wages in 'bonus' which is just a sugar coated way of saying commission.

They supply you with a script that you are meant to learn off by heart, and you can easily replace the said charities names with some double glazing or other door to door company and it works just the same.


Not knocking the company at all, every one seemed very friendly who was working there, and it did feel like a good atmosphere with all the team leaders and office people but when speaking to the fundraisers themselves it wasn't so up beat, one guy i spoke said he's had disciplinary actions because he hasn't had enough people sign up which i find ridiculous how can it be his fault that no one wants to sign up? If people want to give to charity they will, no one likes being forced into something which is essentially what you are doing if they say no, you have to reconfirm it with them make them feel a bit guilty about it all.

If you can deal hard work, walking about knocking on peoples doors in the cold, getting rejected over and over again and getting the odd 'donor' it's the job for you.

I applied to Home Fundraising and they said this too!

Anyway I was accepted onto the job but I declined it because it wasn't the right job for me. Plus I think it is disorganized to be honest.

[ONLY.THE.TRUTH.]

I have worked at home fundraising in the past and generally it's a fairly well paid job if you're good at it. I only worked there for a few months, but I know people who have worked there for years and it's enough to get by on if you get bonus every so often. It's fairly easy to get bonus but don't expect to get 2 sign ups every day because it does partly depend on who answers the door. There are a few things you need to take into account before you start.
-They take twenty pounds out of your first weeks pay and your second. This is the 'deposit' for your jacket and folder which will probably have been used before and will already be in bad condition.

-You will always be paid one week behind, so if you have training on monday and tuesday and then start on wednesday, you won't be paid that friday.

-If you boss people around on your shift and act like you're amazing even though you probably aren't, they'll probably promote you fairly quickly (even if you aren't actually getting many sign ups)

-If you're going to ask questions, then don't bother asking anybody high up at the office.They're trained to avoid questions and make you think the job is completely ethical and fair. Fundraisers who have been there a while are more likely to give you honest answers.

-The office also try and make out that nothing that goes wrong is their fault, but it usually is.

-They also tend to give people compliments and act very smiley in order to get you to work more hours without being paid, go to areas where your transport won't be reimbursed, make you go to unpaid training. Don't be fooled by this, if you complain in the slightest they will snap, and you will probably almost cry.

-They will give you a handbook probably on your first day of work. Try and read all of this cover to cover as soon as you can. You aren't given a lot of time to do this as you won't get home until about eleven that day, dependent on how close you live, but it actually has a lot of useful information in it. (like the deposit info)

Obviously this will vary from office to office and I can only speak from personal experience, but yeah it's not a great job. When I worked there I found it very difficult to trust anybody, because whenever I said anything to them,they would stare at me for a few seconds and then reply. Anybody that takes that long to reply is probably hiding something or judging you. If you want an easy job then work in a shop or something.

[Dee Leigh]

(Original post by ONLY.THE.TRUTH.)
I have worked at home fundraising in the past and generally it's a fairly well paid job if you're good at it. I only worked there for a few months, but I know people who have worked there for years and it's enough to get by on if you get bonus every so often. It's fairly easy to get bonus but don't expect to get 2 sign ups every day because it does partly depend on who answers the door. There are a few things you need to take into account before you start.
-They take twenty pounds out of your first weeks pay and your second. This is the 'deposit' for your jacket and folder which will probably have been used before and will already be in bad condition.

-You will always be paid one week behind, so if you have training on monday and tuesday and then start on wednesday, you won't be paid that friday.

-If you boss people around on your shift and act like you're amazing even though you probably aren't, they'll probably promote you fairly quickly (even if you aren't actually getting many sign ups)

-If you're going to ask questions, then don't bother asking anybody high up at the office.They're trained to avoid questions and make you think the job is completely ethical and fair. Fundraisers who have been there a while are more likely to give you honest answers.

-The office also try and make out that nothing that goes wrong is their fault, but it usually is.

-They also tend to give people compliments and act very smiley in order to get you to work more hours without being paid, go to areas where your transport won't be reimbursed, make you go to unpaid training. Don't be fooled by this, if you complain in the slightest they will snap, and you will probably almost cry.

-They will give you a handbook probably on your first day of work. Try and read all of this cover to cover as soon as you can. You aren't given a lot of time to do this as you won't get home until about eleven that day, dependent on how close you live, but it actually has a lot of useful information in it. (like the deposit info)

Obviously this will vary from office to office and I can only speak from personal experience, but yeah it's not a great job. When I worked there I found it very difficult to trust anybody, because whenever I said anything to them,they would stare at me for a few seconds and then reply. Anybody that takes that long to reply is probably hiding something or judging you. If you want an easy job then work in a shop or something.

Thank god I didn't accept the job! I was very suspicious about it.

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-S5830

[UnnamedPoster]

I work at homefundraising still, happily make bonus every week since I've started, no previous experience before this..

End of the day some people have got the gift of the gab some don't. Some weeks I make over £1000 (for 25hours - with additional unpaid travel) bothered ? No..so dont be put off by people who do not have the ability to fundraise and therefore give the job as a big no to everyone...

[ONLY.THE.TRUTH.]

(Original post by UnnamedPoster)
I work at homefundraising still, happily make bonus every week since I've started, no previous experience before this..

End of the day some people have got the gift of the gab some don't. Some weeks I make over £1000 (for 25hours - with additional unpaid travel) bothered ? No..so dont be put off by people who do not have the ability to fundraise and therefore give the job as a big no to everyone...

My problems at the time weren't with the job requirements, more the company itself. Everything just seemed a bit disorganised. If everything was made clear to begin with, I would have enjoyed the job a lot more.

[Nat333]

(Original post by UnnamedPoster)
I work at homefundraising still, happily make bonus every week since I've started, no previous experience before this..

End of the day some people have got the gift of the gab some don't. Some weeks I make over £1000 (for 25hours - with additional unpaid travel) bothered ? No..so dont be put off by people who do not have the ability to fundraise and therefore give the job as a big no to everyone...

UnnamedPoster is most likely an agent of Home Fundraising. Don't let him / her fool you!

[Little Bat]

I worked for these people for about a week. Don't believe the hype about earning loads of money, unless you're a natural salesperson who loves this kind of work and has no other commitments in your life. What they don't tell you is that you'll be expected to come into the office around 3 hours before your shift begins, and you won't be home until nearly midnight. So in reality, you're doing a 12 hour day for £35 basic, which is rubbish.

For anyone considering working for the company, or who has worked for them and just wants to read this to compare experiences, here's my own in exhaustive detail:

I applied online because I want a career in charity, and the very next day I received a phonecall from the recruiting officer, who asked me when I'd be free for an interview. I was able to arrange this at a time to suit me, so it was so far so good. I turned up to the interview as arranged; it was in the afternoon and didn't take more than an hour and a half. I was there with perhaps eight or ten other people, of all descriptions. We were then greeted by the recruitment consultant, who was friendly and a fairly nice guy. I expected us to be called separately for a formal interview about why we wanted to work in charity, etc., but it turned out we were all being interviewed as a group. This wasn't exactly an interview, per se, either. We had to speak to each other and present information about the other person, discuss ourselves, etc.. They also give you a short presentation where they really big up the company and talk more about how much money you'll earn. I was told during this interview that even though a shift begins at 3:30 p.m., I would need to be 'available' from around 2:00 p.m., which I thought was fair enough. This also correlates with their website, which says the same thing about being available from 2:00. What a joke this turns out to be! But more on that later.

What they are assessing in this interview is your personality, really. My best advice at this stage, if you really want to go for it, is to let your natural charisma show. Don't be afraid to be yourself and be humourous and assertive. If they ask 'who wants to go first?', it's a good idea to volunteer, for instance. I was one of two or three people from this group who was handed a piece of paper after the interview, which said on it 'Congratulations! You have been successful in your application for a charity fundraising position' and some details on my 'new role'. Now, as others have pointed out in their reviews, this sounds pretty unambiguously like you've already got the job. But in fact they don't decide until after you've done two eight hour training days (unpaid) in a very hot room.
The first day consists of them giving you a powerpoint presentation about how to 'pitch' - i.e. sell - the charity to a prospective donor at the door. The next day, you will be given a booklet with information about a particular charity, and you then practice 'pitching' it over and over again, for many hours, with a partner and in groups. Then you go into a room with your partner and do this infront of the recruitment person, who decides if you have what it takes. You are then split into three groups: people hired immediately, people rejected, and people who are told 'You're almost good enough, but just need a little more work' and to come back tomorrow and do the exercise again to see if you might be successful then. I was in the latter group, and was pretty confused about it, since I couldn't for the life of me see where I could have gone wrong with my 'pitch'. But at this point I was still thinking it was a great company and so I came back next day and did it again, and was hired to begin the next day. (This was fairly confusing in itself, since my pitch was far worse then than it had been the day before, due to my nerves. But nevertheless, they hired everyone who had come back to do it again, regardless of whether their performance had improved, it seemed.)

The next day is when the reality of the thing became apparent, and much of what they'd said about it in training more or less went out the window. This is when I learnt that we were expected to be in the office from 12:30 or earlier every day (after which there's a good deal of waiting around doing nothing before going out), and that there would be 4-6 hours travel each time to and from the cold-calling site. This is how it was every day working there for me, and talking to those who had been there for many months confirmed that it was the case pretty much every day.

Another nasty little surprise was that on my last couple of shifts, they made us work an extra hour of cold-calling, completely unpaid, because of some 'sign-up competition' between districts and the potential to 'earn more bonus'. This was not optional, and it's worth repeating that this was UNPAID, on top of an already exhausting day.

One positive thing I'll say for working there: I liked the people. My fellow fundraisers were all friendly people - and all, as it happens, desperate enough for money to have to take on such a job. But most of them resented the job, and felt powerless when they sprang things like that extra hour on us. They present themselves as a company who really do care deeply about the issues they're addressing through their fundraising, and I do believe that this was the case. They seemed genuine. But the image they give you of the enthusiastic fundraiser, passionate about changing the world, is pretty laughable when you get down to the people doing the actual work, who appear to have become disillusioned with the company extremely soon after being hired.

To get these amazing bonuses they tell you so much about, you're expected to exceed your 'target' of two sign-ups per day, every week. This is more difficult than it sounds. During my week there, not one person got two sign-ups a day, not even the team leader. In theory, they are not lying about the potential to earn lots of money; there really are people there who have made quite a living out of it. One guy with a very outgoing and tenacious personality was getting upwards of 25 sign-ups in a week, and earning loads. However, this is extremely rare, and almost everyone either leaves or is sacked for not meeting their target of two a day. A good number of people in my team were 'on probation' for not being able to meet these targets, and this may be why Home are pretty desperate for employees and have such a high rate of 'staff turnover', i.e. sacking people. You can tell this from the fact that they post around twelve ads on Gumtree and other job sites every single day, all promising ridiculously high salary.

Some more things I'll add about the work: you may be stuck for upwards of five hours without the use of a bathroom. This is probably why the vast majority of employees were men, because plenty of women would be unsuited to such work if they were on their period, for instance, or even just for the sake of basic health! You will also have to bring a lunchbox, otherwise you'll spend all you earn on food for the day. You get one half-hour break at 5:30 in which to eat whatever you've brought with you, or a sandwich from whatever shop is nearby.

So in the end, I hated the job and couldn't leave fast enough. My only regret was that I very much liked my 'colleagues' and so it was sad to leave them. Only do it if you love cold-calling saleswork, have no other commitments and are great at this kind of job.

[Skeppy]

from my experience they expect waaaay to much and will fire you if you dont deliver... I actually attended the full training and didnt continue with the job.. what they are asking you to do is all luck and they have very high expectations and seem ignorant to the fact that people knocking on other peoples doors asking for money and expecting a donation is a hard task to do. And its not like they are asking for a one of donation they want a minimum of a year direct debit commitment! obviously giving to charity is good and I encourage it but they are asking people for £5 a week! at atime where most people dont have much money.

My friend works for them and he hates it he hardly get any signups and they come down hard on him. They make the job sound glitsy in the interview but actual fact its slave labour, you spend hours walking round and they dont pay you for the first hour of work PLUS you have to pay for your own travel to the locations its a joke. They will get you to learn a very long scripit which changes everytime an employee takes on a campaign and they give you no time atall to learn it. They claim their scripit isnt manipulative but it 100% is and if anyone came to my door speaking from the scripits they use I'd tell them to bugger off! they preasure people into signing up and from the employees I spoke to they said they had no job security atall. I was told that the job centre didnt have a good relationship with HFR because people signoff from the job centre and then within a week return with no job.

Im not telling anyone to avoid as its for a good cause and their campaigns are rasing much needed funds... all Im saying is know what you are getting into.